Task 3. Evolution is purely a matter of when

The 1980’s were primarily the integration of computer games into the home. The creation of interactive fiction brought a form of computer game story something quite similar to the books with 'turn to page X if you want to run away' These were initially text based adventures but soon games like The Hobbit were made with some areas illustrated onto the screen.
The ZX spectrum was creating a new generation of home programmers and the commodore 64 supplied us with tape based gaming for a minimal price with high quality graphics and sound.
This decade also saw the advances in IBM PCs in both graphics and sound, making them an equal to their console cousins for game playing.
This decade also saw the creation of Mr Game and Watch handheld consoles bringing adaptations of arcade classics into the home and later on the release of the game boy in 89 again left Nintendo the head of the handheld market.

The 'Third Generation' era was dominated by the NES and the industry standard game pad was set in place. The roots of some vastly popular series even today were formed during this first era including: Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy, Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda.

The 90's brought demos, CD ROMs, 3D graphics and cheaper processors. There was also the creation of industry standards like the FPS (First Person Shooter) RTS (Real Time Strategy)
and also the MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Role Playing Game)
Modding also appeared, the most popular being the half life mod, counter strike being made in 1999.

The 'Fourth Generation' was the cartridge battle between the Sega mega drive and the super NES and then showed the evolution of integrating CD drives on both consoles.

This then led to the 'Fifth Generation' which began with the Playstation and Sega Saturn clash and later saw the Nintendo’s N64 console making a splash boasting its 64-bit graphics in comparison to the other two consoles 32-bit technology. This generation saw some of the most famous and best games created ever in which I would even consider still today. 007 GoldenEye dominating the FPS category with its sumptuous graphics and addictive game play. Final Fantasy 7 taking the RPG slot giving gamers what I would consider is arguably the best game story ever created. Metal Gear Solid was considered a market innovator creating stealth category. The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was bringing action and adventure along with mind boggling puzzles and finally Mario 64 setting a new standard for platform gaming. The creation of these historic titles and with the introduction of all these new categories for games it meant that gaming offered games to a much wider audience this began what I feel was a real buzz in the market making gaming much more popular.

The evolution of the games from the 80's through to the 90's was that of both a graphical perspective and a great advance with more complex gameplay and new ideas revolutionising the market. Hardware was firstly trying to get into homes and was then changing to accommodate larger storage mediums allowing more to be put into a game and with the lowering prices of processors and the creation of new graphics cards increasing the graphical potential.

This week’s personal history section I wish to focus on particular games that really affected my gaming life. First off would be Sonic the Hedgehog this is the mother of my entire gaming life. This is the one that got me hooked to gaming and kept me hooked to the series. Final Fantasy VII which I mentioned last week was very important to me. It made my gaming more complex with tactical thinking required when setting up your characters for a battle. It also showed me how games can also be used to tell very intricate story lines, this soon became a pinnacle point in which I rate games today. Metal Gear Solid for the Playstation introduced a more ‘live in the moment’ approach to gaming which I continued to enjoy when I began playing very intense two player races on Sonic Adventure 2 for the Dreamcast, with its amazing storyline and breakneck speed this contained the adrenaline pumping action along with the storyline I crave when playing my games. My Dreamcast also introduced me to internet gaming with Phantasy Star Online this was when I gained my now permanent online alter ego ‘Stratus Hunter’ (That explains the blog name). My Playstation 2 brought to me Devil May Cry, another adrenaline pumped storyline based game and following the same pattern brought me the Soul Reaver series. Finally when I moved onto PC gaming Guild Wars with its genius no monthly fee captured my attention in which Stratus made his second online gaming debut and the creation of ‘The Knight of the Ebon Sphere’ guild now dominated my gaming timetable. I feel Guild Wars had the biggest effect on my life as I have made loads of friends and in the good old days we were a very tightly knit guild, almost brothers in arms, having fun over team speak and even getting in the top 300 guilds in the world!