Posted by Rebecca O'Connor in Inside NGC on April 16, 2013

"Simple video games have been around since 1947, but it was in the 1980s that video games truly arrived on the market. When you think of 80s arcade video games, Pac-Man is probably the first game that comes to mind. Pac-Man fever swept the nation, partially because it was a video game that girls loved to play too. Pac-Man may have been one of the first video games to capture a female market, but it would not be the last. Like so many aspects of the 80s, video games would quickly become something we could indulge in and even do it in our own space whether that was on a PC, a game console or hand-held devices. This was only the beginning of the game evolution, however. Check out how we got from Pac-Man to WOW.

Video games continue to evolve, but there is no doubt that 80s had a tremendous influence on the games we play today. Tonight marks the end of the three-night event, The 80s: The Decade That Made Us.. so we’d be remiss not to keep the nostalgia pumping with one more nod to the decade that made us. Did you have a favorite video game in the 80s?  Here are three you are sure to remember.

Three 80s Video Games You Should Still Be Playing

Centipede

“Centipede” was introduced to arcades in 1981. The goal was to shoot a centipede as it winds its way down the screen and to also destroy the occasional spider. Centipede was another game that had a female fan base and this might be because it was the first video game designed by a woman. Donna Bailey was the only female programmer at Atari at the time and definitely brought a different style and flair to its design. Centipede is an Atari classic and is still worth your quarters!

Super Mario Bros

Mario Bros began as an arcade game, but in 1985, Super Mario Bros, a “prequel” to the arcade game was bundled with the Nintendo Entertainment System. Super Mario Bros was not only the one of the most popular games in the 80s, but it is the bestselling video game of all time. It continues to be popular and even spawned a franchise with a movie and cartoons based on the characters and storyline. Today many gamers still enjoy racing through the Mushroom Kingdom, avoiding Bowser′s forces and saving Princess Toadstool. Unless, of course, the princess is in another castle…

Gauntlet

Did you love Dungeons and Dragons? Are you a fan of World of Warcraft now? Chances are you would be playing Gauntlet in the 80s. This arcade game was introduced in 1985 and was one of the first “dungeon crawl” multi-player arcade games. Up to four players could play together and each had the choice of playing Thor the Warrior, Merlin the Wizard, Questor the elf or Thyra the Valkyrie. All of these characters had individual weaknesses and strengths. One of the most memorable features of the game was the narrator, a deep-voiced dungeon master who would chide characters at times “Remember, don’t shoot food” and report when a character was about to die. “Green Valkyrie needs food badly.”

Gauntlet still holds a place in the heart of 1980s gamers and gaming history and was without a doubt  the beginning of the evolution to multi-player online games like World of Warcraft. Gauntlet doesn’t quite compare, but everything has it’s beginnings, right?!

If it wasn’t for the 80s, we wouldn’t have the video games we play today. Tune in to The 80s: The Decade that Made us on Monday April 15^th and Tuesday April 16^th at 9PM et/pt and discover even more reasons you can celebrate and still love the 80s!"

http://tvblogs.nationalgeographic.com/2013/04/16/from-pac-man-to-wow-the-evolution-of-video-games/

Kain's Note: Click the link for the full size full detail image. It wouldn't post so I had to upload it to Tiny Pic and it was reduced in size, but at least I could embed it here.

http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/t.66ma.3uiOU4cFglb1SXQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NQ--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/sbs/sbc/Business2Community/NatGeo_VideoGames_FINAL_edits.fw_.png

Kain's Comment: I love that Halo is on the list, but it seems strange that Doom didn't make it. It also seems odd that Sonic is nowhere to be found.

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EDIT: I added the full text of the article and added some perspective to the thread title.

Weird that Kinect has it's own bullet point, but that there is NO mention of the Wii. You would think Kinect, the Wii Mote, and Move could have shared there own bullet.

GC,DC,PS2 64bit machines ? :S

You're right. While Kinect is a more impressive tech it's not the first motion controll. The Power Glove was trash, but it did it before the Wii. Maybe Kinect is mentioned because it has more future applications.

so Kinect and Halo and NO Wiimote or WiiSports?


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Yeah.... and the xbox.com source? Where did this come from?

Edit: Just noticed the Sony contribution "PlayStation 2 - best selling console of all time" ...and that's it lol. Poor Sony.

Yeah, it's weird, the criteria isn't constant. They start with games that pioneered things (Pong, Pac-Man, Mario), then in the 90's they switch to games that become popular, like Starcraft.

And not a single racing game, not even Pole Position...

Halo is epic and amazing and everyone should play it. But yeah, Kinect should have just been lumped together with Wiimote and Move as a motion control bullet point. The only reason I can see Kinect being included alone is that it has future applications that other motion control may not.

I doubt they used any scientific method when making the timeline. It looks to me like a short list of the biggest things that have had a lasting effect on the industry as a whole. The lack of racing games probably doens't mean anything other than the timeline is too small to list everything.

no. 

(not Halo part, I like it)