From Pong To Warcraft

Hard to believe that the industry started as a video version of ping pong today is larger than the movie, TV or radio industry in annual revenue. Yes, we’re talking video games which are in the news today as World of Warcraft inks a deal with Netease in China for its popular online game. Hard to believe that video games began in a more humble way…I want to take you on a little journey down video game memory lane…if you can handle it. From the days of the first video games to today’s interactive “movie-like” experiences.

The Top 10 Moments In Video Game History (I’ve played every one of them!):

#1 Pong
The first time I came across Pong I was just a kid. The local Sears department store had the game plugged in next to the escalator (why? who knows!). I remember looking forward to going to Sears so my brother or sister and I could challenge each other on Pong. Looking back, Pong was a very simple game (not even in color). But in a world dominated by board games and a 3-network TV choice, Pong was the only interactive media going. Atari went on to sell 19,000 Pong units, installed in stores across the USA. Here’s a glimpse:

#2 Space Invaders.
Aliens advancing down the screen to a monotone beeping sound. Now suddenly you were pitted against the unknown advance of offworld spaceships shooting at you. The drama quotient went up rapidly vs. Pong.

#3 Pac-Man.
The turning point for arcade games was the little yellow gobbler that had to eat as much as possible before being killed by rival eaters. The Pac-Man music is now classic. Not sure what the idea says about culture of the 1980s: eat or be eaten?

#4 Atari 2600.
There were a lot of home video game consoles launched in the late 1970s and early 80s. The standout by far is the Atari 2600. Now, for the first time ever, those cool arcade games could be brought home. Pac-Man, Chopper Command, and Adventure. I remember playing Adventure and finding the hidden “Easter egg” which the programmers hid behind the wall along the journey.

#5 Mainframes.
Nothing like a bored programmer to write his/her own adventure game. And that’s exactly what one did at a major technology company where my sister worked. I used to go to work with her on the graveyard shift (11PM – 7AM) and play a textbased game called “Quest” that you controlled entirely by keyboard commands. In other word, “E” was to go East, “W” to go West, etc. Occasionally you would bump into an object and “P” pick it up. When you did, the object type would be revealed, such as “a shiny bright box.”

#6 Mattel.
Some of the first handhelds were from Mattel. One of the most popular was Football in which you would move little red-colored LED “players” around the screen to score points. This game was by far the most popular in my high school. It even sold out in local stores. Kids would play it in class and at recess. I ended up buying another Mattel handheld that had an LED light you raced up the screen by passing other cars. My best time was about 21 seconds.

#7 Playstation.
With the advances in graphics, computing power and storytelling the Sony Playstation took video gaming by storm. As kids that grew up with games we all were ready for more complex adventures, stories, challenges. On March 31, 2005, Playstation became the first video game console system to sell more than 100 million units. Ridge Racer kept many people awake at night testing their car racing skills. Parties became PS parties, not movie parties. Beer, chips and Playstation.

#8 Nintendo handhelds.
Game Boy and DS hit the offspring of first-gen gamers in force. Cool games, good graphics, Mario. What kid could resist? Nintendo’s DS crushed the competition on price and fun games. Hats off to Mario.

#9 Wii.
‘Nuff said? from sports to Star Wars, pinball (yes, you can play the Williams pinball games on Wii and it’s a blast), they’re all here. Wii was a game changer, taking gaming from the trigger style stationary controller to the moving hand, arm and body controller.

#10 Online.
What began as one of the world’s first first-person shooter games, DOOM in the mid 1990s turned into something much larger and diverse. Multi-player online gaming is now taking the world by storm 15 years later. Activision Blizzard’s World of Warcraft debuted in 1994 as Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, at a time when Internet connection speeds averaged 9600 baud. Today, in a world of broadband almost everywhere World of Warcraft is a global phenom with more than 11.5 million monthly subscribers. It holds 62% of the world market for online multiplayer games. Just last week the game partnered with Netease in China to bring its 1 million Chinese World of Warcraft players to Netease. In the US, Europe and North America console-based gaming is popular. However, in China and Korea, many players play at Internet cafes on PCs. China has more than 100,000 cafes serving more than 40 million players.

As video gaming is now more popular than the movie industry, what began with a simple ping pong ball is a pong heard ’round the world.