VALVE CORPORATION: EXPLORATION INTO THE COMPANY - PART 3 - STEAM

[1] STEAM (2003) Steam's logo [Online Image] Available from: http://the-ripple.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Steam-Logo.png [Accessed 26/04/2014]

     Steam is currently the most popular digital distribution site, having over 75 million[2] registered users as of January 2014 with the daily number of users online, fluctuating between 3.5 Million to over 6 Million users[3]. The service is known for a large range of games, it’s mod workshop where the community help to provide mods to improve the game, friend features allowing for easy access into matches, insane sales with amazing offers, early access allowing developer to fund their game while in development and gaming statics allowing us to see what are currently the most popular games and how many people are playing them.

    In 2001, Gabe Newell left the development of Half-Life 2 to work on Steam[4]. It’s theorised that some of services’s initial foundations were built on the concepts originally conceived in the development of Prospero[5]; if you didn't read my first blog into the Exploration of the Valve Corporation where I spoke about this concept, you can find it here, but for this post I’ll be repeating information about it. 

The Two Bots, One Wrench Experiment
[6] VALVE (2008) Two robots from the Two Bots, One wrench experiment [Online Image] http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110522173627/half-life/en/images/e/ed/Two_bots_urine_bottle.jpg [Accessed 26/04/2014]

    The theory that some of Steam’s concept came from the Prospero project, is because Valve is known to reuse concepts from previous works, such as the Two Bots, One Wrench directed design experiment (COINED BY GABE NEWALL)[7]. The results of this experiment was used in Portal 2 and Left 4 Dead. The visual aspects of this excise was implemented into Portal 2, where the A.I. results, ended up being scripted into Left 4 Dead. The goal of the technology demo was to further story telling, by getting the A.I. to react to the player’s actions, unscripted[8][9][10].
    The original concept of Prospero involved having it distributed online. Steam’s main function now was more than likely, an natural evolution of this element. With distribution the main element, a friend list would be the next course of action, and then the ability to get into matches with them. Valve also originally had issues with updating their online games, causing many users to be disconnected for a long periods of time. To get around this, the service would allow games to update automatically and implement a stronger anti-piracy and anti cheat measurement[11]. 

    Steam was announced in March 2002 at the Game Developers Conference in San Jose, California. It was presented as a distribution network, with the code name being Grid and Gazelle.
    After a successful beta with over 75,000 testers[12], the service was launched to the public on September 12th 2003, getting ready for the release of Half-Life 2. The service before the release of this game, was only really useful for playing mods such as Counter-Strike or Day of Defeat[13]. When Half-Life 2 was released, Steam was mandatory to play the game, acting much like a DRM (Digital rights management) and Anti-Piracy. Though when some players logged on to play the PC version of the game, Steam’s servers crashed unable to cope with the flood of launch day users. This resulted in large delays and meant that some players couldn't even play the game, let alone install the game they’d been waiting five years for. One user even complained of not being able to log into his Steam accounts as it was just too busy[14].

Steam's Front Page in 2007
[15] STEAM (2007) Steam's Front Page in 2007 [Online] Valve. Available from: http://www.steampowered.com/v/static_web.php [Accessed 26/04/14]

    This is a long way from Steam now, being able to cope with millions of players online constantly, delivering updates for games on a daily basis, and being able to keep gamers connected in large multiplayer battles. Games from countless developers and publishers now line Steam’s shelves. Different genres, single or multiplayer, free-to-play or just buying the game itself. Steam will have games for you. But it wasn't like this, it took two years from it’s initial full release for third party games to reach Steam, with the first group of games being from the publisher Strategy First[16].
   
    As the popularity of Steam grew, it brought with it a huge community. We now get to use amazing free mods which are virus free, furthering our gaming experience and having reviews from the community, letting other’s warn us about their bad purchases.
    Tagging was added to Steam on the 12th of February 2014. The idea of tagging came across as Valve felt that the community could curate Steam better than they could. These tags could be used to recommend other games you might liked based on the games you have played recently[17]. The results of leaving people to create tags? Hilarity.

The tags on Final Fantasy VII when the tagging was first implemented.
[18] STEAM (2014) Tagging system before the report system was introduced [Online Image] Available from: http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--KPtP912V--/c_fit,fl_progressive,w_636/19fl35j0kkp5hpng.png [Accessed 26/04/2014]

    ‘Nanomachines, son’, ‘Procedural Death Labyrinth’, ‘Git Gud or Die Tryin’’, ‘Walking Simulator’ and ‘Hats’(One of my personal favourites) are a some of my favourite tags which sprung up within hours of this implementation. But some tags, were just outright abusive. ‘Diva Dev’(Relating to the incident involving Phil Fish leaving the Industry) and ‘Not a Game’ (On Dear Esther) were some of the tags that ended up warranting a report system, implemented two days later[19][20]. Most of the abusive and nonsensical tags were removed from Steam, even taking the arguably helpful, ‘Nanomachines, son’ (This meant that the main character was a mixture of a human and a robot) away. But this hasn’t been the only incident that has happened this year.
    There’s currently a debacle occurring with Steam’s front page, where games from years ago are being put as brand new releases. Although these old games are new releases to Steam, there should be an option where you can only see the games that are brand new and haven’t been released in the past. The issue with quality control with the release dates actually go back to as far as 2010 as I've found, where the original Sonic the Hedgehog game for the Sega Mega Drive or Sega Genesis, was released on June 23 1991[21], while Steam says 26 of October 2010 was it’s release date[22].
    But this hasn't been the worse part, recently the quality control of Steam has fallen drastically, with games that could be considered shovel ware showing up on the front page, but some of the worse offenders has been publishers, selling other publishers games via Steam. This is odd, as to get your game on Steam in the past you had to show you we’re highly reputed[23]. This has lead to the Steam community complaining about this issue[24] as well as many known figures on the internet talking about this issue, such as John ‘Totalbiscuit’ Baine and Jim Sterling[25], a writer for Destructoid and the Escapist Magazine. Developers themselves have spoken up about this flooding of Old games onto Steam. Mel Kirk of Zen Studios spoke to Totalbiscuit about these issues, saying:

 “ Your item text ... Being on the front of the new release list or any type of visibility on the store front is extremely valuable, and yes, we always see a lift in sales when we are in this position. There is no doubt you will see better sales when you are in these key positions.”

Steam's Front page on March 19th 2013
[26] STEAM (2013) Steam's front page as of March 19th 2013 [Online Image] Available from: http://web.archive.org/web/20130319072119/http://store.steampowered.com/ [Accessed 26/04/2014]

    Steam is still an obvious role model for Digital Distribution Service. Having a layout which shows us up coming games, games currently being released, their insane sales, featured games, top sellers, games under a certain price and Early Access games, all presented in a orderly fashion. But back when it was difficult to get on Steam was the best time. It showed that quality control was there and that the consumer was protected to a certain point, especially with the review system, the quality assurance was there and as a consumer, I felt protected. Now, I have to go back to doing heavy research on a game, just so I'm not scammed out of money by the publisher and left with a game I can barely play.
    But with this going on, I'm not going to stop using Steam. Steam has so much right, the community loves and respects it, and the reason we complain about this massive flood is because we don’t want our favourite thing to be ruined. Fearing it will turn into a dumping ground of shovel ware, and losing all prestige it had before for games.

Bibliography

[1] - STEAM (2003) Steam's logo [Online Image] Available from: http://the-ripple.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Steam-Logo.png [Accessed 26/04/2014]

[2] - CONDITT. J (2014) Steam has 75 million active accounts [Online] JOUSTIQ. Available from: http://www.joystiq.com/2014/01/15/steam-has-75-million-active-users-valve-announces-at-dev-days/ [Accessed 26/04/2014]
[3] - STEAM (2014) Steam's user stats [Online] VALVE. Available from: http://store.steampowered.com/stats/?snr=1_steam_4__110 [Accessed 26/04/2014]

[4] - ANONYMOUS (2006) Development of Half-life 2 [Online] HALF-LIFE WIKI. Available from: http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Development_of_Half-Life_2 [Accessed 26/04/2014]

[5] - HODGSON, D. (2004) Anomalous Materials. In: HODGSON, D. et al. Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar - A Behind the Scenes Look: Prima's Official Insider's Guide. Roseville: Prima Games. pp. 9 - 11

[6] - VALVE (2008) Two robots from the Two Bots, One wrench experiment [Online Image] http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110522173627/half-life/en/images/e/ed/Two_bots_urine_bottle.jpg [Accessed 26/04/2014]

 [7] - ANONYMOUS (2006) Directed Design Experiments [Online] HALF-LIFE WIKI. Available from: http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Directed_Design_Experiments [Accessed 26/04/2014]

[8] - COMBINE OVERWIKI (2011) Two Bots, One Wrench Video #1: Bathrooms and Urine [Online video] Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUEVA1BZfuE&hd=1 [Accessed 26/04/2014]

[9] - COMBINE OVERWIKI (2011) Two Bots, One Wrench Video #2: Danger: Crane Over Head, Shabby Crate and Random Items [Online video] Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD9g8Fu9vt4&hd=1 [Accessed 26/04/2014]

[10] - COMBINE OVERWIKI (2011) Two Bots, One Wrench Video #3: Urine and Leprechaun [Online video] Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4cs56s0e-Q&hd=1 Accessed 26/04/2014]

[11] - LEE. J (2008) The Last of Independents? [Online] GAMESINDUSTRY. Available from: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/the-last-of-the-independents- [Accessed 26/04/2014]

[12] - WALKER. T (2002) GDC 2002: Valve unveils Steam [Online] GAMESPOT. Available from: http://www.gamespot.com/articles/gdc-2002-valve-unveils-steam/1100-2857298/ [Accessed 26/04/2014]

[13] - PLUNKETT. L (2013) Steam is 10 Today. Remember When It Sucked? [Online] KOTAKU. Available from: http://kotaku.com/steam-is-10-today-remember-when-it-sucked-1297594444 [Accessed 26/04/14]

[14] - http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33791921

[15] - STEAM (2007) Steam's Front Page in 2007 [Online] Valve. Available from: http://www.steampowered.com/v/static_web.php [Accessed 26/04/14]

[16] - STRATEGY FIRST (2005) Strategy First to Deliver Multiple Titles On-line via Steam. [Online] Available from: http://www.strategyfirst.com/press/1924-strategy-first-to-deliver-multiple-titles-on-line-via-steam.html [Accessed 26/04/13]

[17] - STEAM (2014) Tagging Overview [Online] Valve. Available from: http://store.steampowered.com/tag [Accessed 26/04/14]

[18] -  STEAM (2014) Tagging system before the report system was introduced [Online Image] Available from: http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--KPtP912V--/c_fit,fl_progressive,w_636/19fl35j0kkp5hpng.png [Accessed 26/04/2014]

[19] - HERNANDEZ. P (2014) The First Day of Steam Tags Is Both Funny and Sad. [Online] Kotaku http://kotaku.com/the-first-day-of-steam-tags-will-make-you-laugh-and-cr-1522262945 [Accessed 26/04/14]

[20] - JASKO. J (2014} 10 Steam Tags that Proved This is a Bad Idea. [Online] GAMEZEBO Available from: http://www.gamezebo.com/news/2014/02/13/10-steam-tags-prove-bad-idea [Accessed 26/04/14]

[21] - DOBSON. J (2006) Sonic the Hedgehog Celebrates 15th Anniversary. [Online] GAMASUTRA Available from: http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=9832 [Accessed 26/04/14]

[22] - http://store.steampowered.com/app/71113/?snr=1_7_7_151_150_1

[23] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLNh5HPbQPo  

[24] - http://steamcommunity.com/app/281260/discussions/0/558750985835487258/?insideModal=1

[25] - http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/8753-Steam-Needs-Quality-Control

[26] - STEAM (2013) Steam's front page as of March 19th 2013 [Online Image] Available from: http://web.archive.org/web/20130319072119/http://store.steampowered.com/ [Accessed 26/04/2014]

VALVE CORPORATION: EXPLORATION INTO THE COMPANY - PART 1 - THE BEGINNING, THE DELAYS AND THE TRUTH

[1] VALVE (1998) Valve Logo [Online Image] Avaliable from: http://semiaccurate.com/assets/uploads/2011/09/valve-logo.png [24/04/2014]

    Valve, the brain child of Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington[2]. Throughout the years, many talented and creative men and women came together to produce some of the most memorable and creative games. Doug Lambardi, Robin Walker, Marc Laidlaw, all the programmers, artists and writers that spent years making Half-Life, Portal, Counterstrike, DoTA, Left4Dead, games that have made such an impact on the community and video games themselves, changing the way first person shooters and cinematic narrative is now presented.

    In August 1996, Newell and Harrington, two retired Microsoft Developers with 30 years under their belts, came together with a love of video games. Settling into an office in a small Seattle suburb of Kirkland, Washington, Valve hired it’s first employees. Taken from the ranks of the Quake Modding community, these young programmers and level designers, the essence of the gaming community, helped to produce one of the most ground breaking games, Half-life. With the licensing of the Quake engine in hand, the team was split into two and each, set forth in their production[3].

The heroine of Prospero
[4] VALVE (1996) The Heroine of Prospero [Online image] Avaliable from: http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100418212431/half-life/en/images/b/b2/Aleph_1.jpg [Accessed 24/04/2014]

    One team worked on ‘Prospero’. A game which was originally concepted to come out after Half-life. It was exploration based with an intricate storyline and psionic combat. While the other team worked on ‘Quiver’. A first person shooter which emphasised on Aliens and Adrenaline. This was the base for Half-Life.
    As Quiver started to take over some of the initial goals of Prospero’s, morphing the latter into a Massive Multiplayer game. The game would have a mixture of Valve and user-created worlds, each running on a different server. Other elements for Prospero were concepted, such as online distribution for it, a server browser and a friend finder. These elements were later implimented into Steam, which I’ll be speaking about in depth in later posts. As Prospero mixed with Quiver, it’s atmosphere and narrative was adapted into the game[5].
    During the production of Half-Life, the Quake 1 Engine had to be heavily modified, with most of the code being rewritten such as the A.I. and the audio output had to be heavily modified. This became the GoldScr engine[6].

Half-Life 1, Sector C's Front Desk
[7] VALVE (1998) Sector C's Front Desk [Online Image]. Avaliable from: http://cd1.leviathyn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/halflife.jpg [Accessed 24/04/2014]

    As Half-Life was set to be released in 1997, Newall and Harrington could see that the game was still incomplete. With the addition of Prospero’s atmosphere and narrative, the game needed to be refined. An extra year was given to the dev team as the founders felt Half-Life was not going to be good enough for release. On November 19th 1998, Half-Life was released through Sierra, who went on to create the expansions to this series as Valve started to work on a new engine, Source.
    Development of Half-life 2 begun in June 1999. Ideas about the sequel involved Gordon fighting the combine forces on Zen, and the version we know, eastern European city setting. Two years later, Newell left the development to work on Steam, allowing the dev team to work by themselves and explore ideas. The following year Newall announced Steam to the public[8].

Half-life 2, Dr. Breen's office
[9] VALVE (2004) Lighting effects in Breen's office from Half-Life 2 [Online Image] Avaliable from: http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090604225421/half-life/en/images/5/5e/Half-Life_2_Dr_Breen_Office.jpg [Accessed 24/04/2014]

    During 2003, Newell announced Half-Life 2 at E3 in February, with Steam releasing the same year on the 12th of September. But something marred this year. A hacking. Source’s code was leaked online as well as the Half-Life 2 maps, showing that Half-life 2 is nowhere near completion. In October, Newell wrote an apology letter for now having to hold back Half-Life’s release date from September to April 2004, due to the leaked levels and coding. As April came around, Half-Life 2 was once again delayed, causing Kevin “Fragmaster” Bowen, the founder of Planet Half-Life, to leak inside information he was holding about the theft. It turns out that the hacking had nothing to do with Half-Life’s delay, and was used as an convenient excuse for the reason that the game was not going to be finished before September 2003[10].
    Pressure begun to grow within Valve, since the release of the information, so Newell let the truth out. The leaks had nothing to so with the delay of Half-Life 2, while emitting that the delays was his fault. He was too unrealistic about it’s progress, and the closer they got to the release date the more obvious it was that the game wasn’t going to be finished in time. But later that year, November 16th, we finally got Half-Life 2.

    Although I condemn Newell actions in lying about the leaking being the main issue of Half-Life 2’s delay, I can completely understand why he did it. He probably got excited about Half-Life 2 with all of the brilliant work they were putting into it, and so announced an extremely optimistic release date which turned out they couldn’t make. Developers often get abuse, just for making a game or being in the public eye. So saying that the leak affected development time is a legitimate reason for making your fans wait and minimising the amount of abuse. If your game was leaked, changing it would be for the best, as people would have seen the screenshots, and if the game worked, played it. When it came out he lied, the employees at Valve, especially Newell, all would have faced abuse. All of this due to his fear of disappointing the fans and receiving more harassment.
    Being transparent in situations like this is the best. By not trying to hid anything from the fans, they will have more respect for you in the long run. You’re fan base will grow. With them knowing your not there to cheat them, they can enjoy your games, instead of going in with a shield up, wondering what you’ve done to ruin their franchise. They are the people who will stand by you. If you have to delay a game to make it better, do that and explain why. Transparency is the best cause, and no matter what you’ll do, expect backlash. Valve now as an amazing reputation for making games, even if we have to wait, we’re not disappointed by them, and of course, Steam with it’s sales. I feel Valve learnt a lesson from this, and that's why we have limited information on Half-Life 3. The team doesn’t want to let us fans down, and so feel it better not to confirm or deny it’s existence.
    As I feel like I’ve now rambled on for far too long, I want to leave you with a line that’s stuck with me, said by none other than Gabe Newell in 2004:
   

“10 years from now, people will look back at Valve and see a company who genuinely cares about the games and the people who play games. We did not cut corners and yeah may never have shipped on time, but at least lived up to it’s responsibilities to moving things forward.”[11]

Biblography

[1] - VALVE (1998) Valve Logo [Online Image] Avaliable from: http://semiaccurate.com/assets/uploads/2011/09/valve-logo.png [24/04/2014]

[2] - CAPRIOLE, A. (2008) The History of Valve [Online] PLANET HALF-LIFE. Available from: http://planethalflife.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Articles.Detail&id=121 [Accessed 23/04/2014]

[3] - HODGSON, D. (2004) Anomalous Materials. In: HODGSON, D. et al. Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar - A Behind the Scenes Look: Prima's Official Insider's Guide. Roseville: Prima Games. pp. 8

[4] - VALVE (1996) The Heroine of Prospero [Online image] Avaliable from: http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100418212431/half-life/en/images/b/b2/Aleph_1.jpg [Accessed 24/04/2014]

[5] - HODGSON, D. (2004) Anomalous Materials. In: HODGSON, D. et al. Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar - A Behind the Scenes Look: Prima's Official Insider's Guide. Roseville: Prima Games. pp. 9 - 11

[6] - BOKITCH, C. (2002) Half-Life Code Basis [Online] VERC Collective. Available from: http://web.archive.org/web/20070301012630/http://collective.valve-erc.com/index.php?go=q1_or_q2 [Accessed 23/04/2014]

[7] - VALVE (1998) Sector C's Front Desk [Online Image]. Avaliable from: http://cd1.leviathyn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/halflife.jpg [Accessed 24/04/2014]

[8] - HALF-LIFE WIKI (2006) Development of Half-Life 2 [Online] Available from: http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Development_of_Half-Life_2 [Accessed 23/04/2014]

[9] - VALVE (2004) Lighting effects in Breen's office from Half-Life 2 [Online Image] Avaliable from: http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090604225421/half-life/en/images/5/5e/Half-Life_2_Dr_Breen_Office.jpg [Accessed 24/04/2014]

[10] - CAPRIOLE, A. (2008) The History of Valve [Online] PLANET HALF-LIFE. Available from: http://planethalflife.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Articles.Detail&id=121 [Accessed 23/04/2014]

[11] - REDDIT (2014) Gabe Newells Quote [Online Image] Avaliable from: http://i.imgur.com/mSFmMM1.jpg [Accessed 23/04/2014]

EARLY ADVANCEMENTS IN THE PLAYSTATION - PART 1: HISTORY

    Over the next two blog posts I’ll be talking about Sony’s Playstation, involving the graphical evolution of the early games to maximise the processing power of the console as well as its interesting history.

[1] - CARCERGAMING (????) Playstation [Online Image] Avaliable from: http://koikoikoi.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/04sony_playstation.jpg [Accessed 13/04/14]

    In 1994, Sony released its first console, the Playstation, after a deal between Sony and Nintendo in 1988 went south. The two companies were working together, developing an add on for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The add-on was planned to be produce due rise in usage of Disc based formats, along with the discs memory capabilities far succeeded the traditional cartridge memory format. This would allow games could have far more content within them to tell expansive stories and explore lore filled worlds. This wasn’t the first collaboration between these two companies though as one of Sony’s employees, Ken Kutaragi worked in secret to produce a new sound chip for the SNES[2]. This decision for him came about due to his interest in video games which developed by watching his daughter play the NES. All was going well in the production of the audio chip until the board of directors discovered what he was creating and wanted to put an end to it. Norio Ohga, the CEO of Sony stepped in and allowed Kutaragi to carry on developing the sound chip as long as the company was allowed to present it to Nintendo. The sound chip had the best audio quality of any of the competitors at the time and went on to be used in the SNES. This laid the foundations for the collaboration between the two developers, with Kutargi as the lead for the development project of the Super Disc add on[3].

The SNES featuring the CD addon.
[4] - DAILY TECH's JASON MICK (2014) SNES Disk Drive addon [Online] Avaliable from: http://images.dailytech.com/nimage/SNES_CD_Nintendo_and_Sony_Wide.jpg [Accessed 13/04/2014]

    With this collaboration, Sony was allowed to develop their own branded console which could run both cartridge and disc based SNES games as well as having large amount of control over licensing for the upcoming format. It was rumoured that Nintendo was not happy with the deal and turned to Philips, Sony’s rival, in secret to negotiate a more favourable deal for a CD based add-on. This deal gave Philips the right to use some of Nintendo’s most well known characters in their own games on the Philips CD-I.

Concept of Sony's Brand Console which could run both cartridges and CDs.
[5] - NINTENDO NERDS (2011) Concept of Sony's Prototype Console. Avaliable from: http://www.nintenerds.com.br/2011/01/prototipos-da-nintendo.html [Accessed 13/04/14]

    At the 1991 Summer Consumer Electronics show, the Nintendo Play Station was announced to the public, having a port for the SNES Cartridge, and a disk drive. The day after the announcement it was believed that Nintendo would confirm the collaboration with Sony, they instead announced a partnership with Sony’s rival, Philips. This betrayal of trust and infringement on the Japanese rules of business infuriated Ohga, but Kutaragi stood in and informed Ohga that the project could be savaged and a stand alone console could be produced. Ohga out of spite convinced the board of directors to continue with the project. Nintendo on the other hand did not have the rights to the Sound Chip, so the two companies had to retain friendly relations.
    As autumn 1992 was in full progress, the storm of the previous year between Sony and Nintendo had calmed and the contract between the two reworked[6]. Both companies CD drives would be compatible with one another while most of the licensing royalties was awarded to Nintendo. Either due to the restrictive nature of the contract, or the end of the cartridge era, the collaboration between the two giants came to an end, with Sony releasing the Playstation, and Nintendo following afterwards, two years later with the Nintendo 64. During this time Philips did not produce the desired add on for the SNES, ending the relationship between them and Nintendo.

 Bibliography

[1] - CARCERGAMING (????) Playstation [Online Image] Avaliable from: http://koikoikoi.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/04sony_playstation.jpg [Accessed 13/04/14]
 
[2] - DID YOU KNOW GAMING. (2014) Playstation - Did You Know Gaming? Feat. Caddicarus. Avaliable from: http://normalboots.com/video/playstation-know-gaming-feat-caddicarus/ [Accessed 13/04/2014]

[3] - MARY BELLIS (????) History of Sony Playstation [Online] Avaliable from: http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bl_playstation.htm [Accessed 13/04/2014]

[4] - DAILY TECH's JASON MICK (2014) SNES Disk Drive addon [Online] Avaliable from: http://images.dailytech.com/nimage/SNES_CD_Nintendo_and_Sony_Wide.jpg [Accessed 13/04/2014]

[5] - NINTENDO NERDS (2011) Concept of Sony's Prototype Console. Avaliable from: http://www.nintenerds.com.br/2011/01/prototipos-da-nintendo.html [Accessed 13/04/14]

[6] - IGN STAFF (1998) History of the Playstaion [Online] Avaliable from: http://uk.ign.com/articles/1998/08/28/history-of-the-playstation [Accessed 13/04/2014]

The Legend of Famicom: The Nintendo Entertainment System

    I’ve never had any first hand experience with the Nintendo Famicom, so I’m definitely not the best to talk about the console, but I feel I have felt its influence on gaming. The way the stories were presented, the graphics and the gameplay with its two buttons and D-pad controller, has made it something I admire. And I admit it did have its far share of awful games like any console has. The games from this machine are used on Youtube by many different gaming channels, for retrospects and reviews, either praising them, or condemning them. The Angry Video Game Nerd, Egoraptor, Spoony and Jontron to mention a few, often go back to the times of the SNES and NES to create their content. Often, they grew up with the console, playing many of its games, becoming collectors of the cartridges to preserve them. I want to discover if the games themselves, will still be enjoyable in the years to come, if they really are as timeless as I’ve heard them to be. This console would become the origin console for some of the longest running game franchises of our time, franchises such as; Castlevania, Mario, Legend of Zelda and Megaman, with many gamers having played these games and experienced its adventures. And this is what I’d like to talk about the most in this post, even though the console itself had a pretty interesting history as well.

    The Nintendo Family Computer, often shortened to the Nintendo Famicom or just Famicom, was first released in 1983 on the 15th of July in Japan. It was marketed as a family console, while also in competition to SEGA. By the end of 1984 it became the best selling console within the country.
    The Famicom came with two fixed controllers, with the second one having an inbuilt microphone. The front of the console was designed to connect accessories to enhance the gameplay of a few games, such as the Gun for Duck Hunt. The Famicon also had a large red knob on the top, used to slide game out of the cartridge slot, minimising the cartridge or the console itself being damaged.
    The Famicom had its fair share of issues though. The cables that connected the controller to the console were quite short, meaning players had to sit fairly closer to the TV. Another issue which came with the earlier release of the console was it’s buttons, made out of rubber, the A and B button would wear down easily. The cartridges often glitches or stopped working as dirt would build up on the contacts. Nintendo did encourage users to clean them but the cartridges were often difficult to open.
    The console’s appearance in the American market featured a rebrand to the whole console. Renamed ‘Nintendo Entertainment System’, the NES’ whole rebranding was based on the resorting consumer confidence in the video game market which occured via the Video Game Crash. To combat this, they didn’t exaggerate features on the box, and tried to make it look anything else but a games system. The console specification also was not exaggerated in anyway. Another part of the rebranding was that the NES was branded as a children’s console, instead of the family orientated console. With all these in safety nets in place, Nintendo eventuality went on to own the monopoly of the video game market for a long time.

    As I spoke about at the beginning, I wanted to know why some NES games have stood the test of time. Games such as the Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Super Mario Bros. 3 and Castlevania, which are still held in high regard to this day. Playing some of games and watching Lets Plays, I believe it is all down to the story aspect and the gameplay. The story, on the surface, was simple, giving you enough reason to play, but gradually opening up throughout the game. But, taking the time to explore, you’ll be greeted with vague hints of exposition, such as in the Legend of Zelda. The land of Hyrule is almost completely devolved of humanity, as the land ravaged by monsters. The only form of human life you come across is in temple ruins, where you encounter an elderly man who will help you on your quest to restore the land. While searching the caves in the overworld will sometimes reveal merchants, or other elderly men and women willing to help. From this, the different players end up drawing similar, and at times, the same conclusion to you. For me, Hyrule was ravaged by a great evil, which you set out to destroy. The only existence of human life is the elderly, which would imply that they are the last remaining citizens of Hyrule, who have resorted to cave dwelling to escape Ganon.
    Another game I particularly enjoyed playing was Castlevania, a linear side scroller which involved traversing Dracula’s Castle, in order to confront and defeat him. The game is known for being relentless; patterned enemies which deal heavy damage, having to find health by breaking certain walls, and having to start from the beginning of the level if you lost all of your lives in the three stages. But still, this game was fun, it was a challenge, it pushed you to try to get further and further into the game, overcoming all obstacles and monsters it could throw at you. The colours, and the intensiness of the gameplay, all produced a scary, unnerving feel. The bright, vivid colours, contrasted the dark subject matter in both the decaying environment, and tense atmosphere.

    The cynic in me makes me think, there might be an overarching reason why the games had to be good, which leads back to the time of the Video Game Market Crash. As the market at the time was oversaturated with consoles, and pirated games, as well subpar ones. Consumer confidence was at an all time low. Nintendo succeeded in recovering this in their product. Having said that, that other part of me likes to think that its success was down to the fact that they perfected their craft.

Sources for this post:
http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/15/nintendo-famicom-30th-anniversary-nes/
http://famicomworld.com/system/
http://www.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/12380/features/history-of-nintendo-famicom-nes/
http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/15/nintendo-famicom-30th-anniversary-nes/
http://uk.ign.com/articles/2011/09/21/ten-facts-about-the-great-video-game-crash-of-83

Kind of Philosopical? I have no idea. An Early History of Computing.

    I’ve never been interested in modern history, finding more enjoyment in the mythological legends of heroes and gods. Stories and tales which have captured our imagination and continue to do so to this day. But now and again, I come across some parts of modern history that I’m fascinated by. What really grabbed me at first, was how early the conceptualisation of computers was occurring. It came as a surprise to me. The advancement of the industrial era lead to one of the first prototype of computers, the Difference Engine. In the mid 1800s the design of the difference engine was produced by Charles Babbage, it was the first conceptualised computer, designed to devise complex number equations and mathematical number charts, such as sine, and cosine tables.The machine would be able to press out its results on Plasticine which then could be used to create prints, while also creating an inked copy, so it could be checked to see if the device printed out correctly. The Difference Engine for a long time, only existed in it’s concept, due to the advancement of the machine at the time.
    I felt I should talk about the Difference Engine, not only because of the advancement of it for that age, but the mirroring of computers from recent history and now. Computers everyday produce and solve complex algebra equations and calculation while loading, using and rendering in programs, and the calculator app is always a feature that appears on computers. With an edition of a printer, we pretty much at the core, have an complicated version of the Difference Engine.
    With this the comparison, I realised that we look to the old, to see how we can advance the new, using ideas and concepts that had failed before, to see if it’s possible to make it happen with the knowledge and technical advancement we have now. We want to see how far we have advanced, how far we can take human imagination and invention. This isn’t the only realisation that occurred to me, but I’ll start with the next big creation.
    The audio oscillator 200a appearance had a large time gap between its creation by HP in 1939 and the Difference Engine conceptualisation back in 1833. Technological and mechanical achievements were occurring within households and industry, as well as weaponry and tactics when World War 1 occurred. The Oscillator was the one of the first advancements in mechanical computing since the Difference Engine, becoming the first electrical computer device.
    As World War 2 began, different electronical machines started being produced funded by the governments and its military in order to defeat its enemies. War tends to cause heavy advancements in elements such as different forms of weaponry, tactics and machinery, anything that would allow an advantage over the enemy. An arms race begins. Early machines involved creating code breaking equipment, and technology which could be used in extending the life of troops on the battlefields, such as flight simulators.
    After war time, technology evolved to the point where it became cheap enough and small enough, to manufacture for personal use in homes. Filtering down from the government, to large corporations, and then to the smaller ones. During this time, the emergence of video games occurred. Device were created in order to amuse people with this cheapened technology, through experimentation and looking at other creations at that time. One such product of this, was the Cathode Ray Tube device. The games concept was based off World War 2 radar displays, where incoming enemies could be detected in any situation. The game itself was pretty much this, the player uses the knobs to move the light beams, which indicate the missiles, and the player attempts to hit the targets printed on clear screen overlays. Again, we find ourselves looking at elements and concepts that existed and reusing them for different uses or advancing them to make them more useful.

    For this post, I felt that the elements learnt about philosophical side of this time period was more important than some of the technological advancements. I’ve learnt that looking back at the past, can provide a more updated version of an idea, perhaps an element emerging from that, which is only linked to it by the tiniest thread. But in the end, the core of this idea, originated from that old piece of history. 

Sources for this post:
http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/abouthp/histnfacts/museum/earlyinstruments/0002/
http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/d/diffengi.htm
http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects/computing_and_data_processing/1862-89.aspx
http://classicgames.about.com/od/classicvideogames101/p/CathodeDevice.htm