Gabe Hoffman
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thread 1/20
An examination on the evolution of video games and their place in pop culture #ThreadChallenge
01:55 PM - May 18, 2023
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Gabe Hoffman
A
thread 2/20
As I play The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, I cannot help but stand back and reflect on just how far video games have come over the past few decades for being such a relatively young medium.
01:56 PM - May 18, 2023
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Gabe Hoffman
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thread 3/20
The roots of video games can be traced back to the 1960s with Spacewar! A basic duel between two spaceships around a star with a surprisingly realistic physics model. It would be a key influential title that would pave the way for the first commercial video games Galaxy Game and Computer Space.
02:01 PM - May 18, 2023
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Gabe Hoffman
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thread 4/20
The 1970s saw the first commercial home video game system the Magnavox Odyssey. The brainchild of Ralph H Baer. The Odyssey marked the beginning of the 1st generation of video game consoles and would be instrumental in the rise of the commercial video game industry.
02:06 PM - May 18, 2023
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Gabe Hoffman
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thread 5/20
The late 70s and early 80s saw the modern game industry begin to take shape with the rise of Atari who was a major force in this era with a steady stream of arcade smash hits including Pong, Asteroids, Centipede, and Tempest.
02:12 PM - May 18, 2023
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Gabe Hoffman
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thread 6/20
Atari would also prove a key force in the home console market with the Atari VCS/2600 which helped popularize features that have become gaming standards.

The modern third-party game industry began to take shape with the debut of Activision one of the 1st major third-party video game developers.
02:19 PM - May 18, 2023
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Gabe Hoffman
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thread 7/20
However, by the early 80s Atari would soon find itself quickly falling as fast as it had risen thanks to a series of poor management and bad business decisions coupled with a glut of poor-quality software due to lack of quality control which would culminate in the Video Game Crash of 1983.
02:28 PM - May 18, 2023
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Gabe Hoffman
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thread 8/20
A few years later though The American video games market would be given new life thanks to the debut of the Nintendo Entertainment System which was based off Nintendo's Famicom Video Game system that had released in Japan a few years earlier. Many iconic franchises were born during this era.
02:34 PM - May 18, 2023
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Gabe Hoffman
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thread 9/20
The NES era also would mark a notable shift in game direction and design with games starting to shift away from their high score chasing arcade roots in favor of more in depth experiences thanks to increasing ROM sizes, and more capable hardware that allowed for larger expansive games.
02:37 PM - May 18, 2023
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Gabe Hoffman
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thread 10/20
The 16 bit era is often considered gaming's golden age. Nintendo found its first serious challenger in the form of Sega and their Genesis/Mega Drive system with Mario finding his biggest rival in the form of Sonic the Hedgehog. Many 8 bit series also continued to grow and evolve here.
02:44 PM - May 18, 2023
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Gabe Hoffman
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thread 11/20
The late 90s saw the rise of 3D gaming with new ground being broken as well as serious mistakes being made. Games also started gaining more mainstream acceptance being seen more as a medium that was capable of telling compelling stories thanks in large part to the Sony PlayStation.
02:53 PM - May 18, 2023
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Gabe Hoffman
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thread 12/20
The 6th generation of the early 2000s saw continued evolution and growing pains with Nintendo struggling in the face of Sony who continued to build upon their success with the PlayStation 2. Microsoft entered the gaming market filling the void left by Sega's exit from the console industry.
04:25 PM - May 18, 2023
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Gabe Hoffman
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thread 13/20
Generation 7 saw new innovations in gameplay as Nintendo found new success with the Wii and motion-controlled gaming while the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 ushered in the advent of HD graphics pushing video game visuals to new heights.
04:34 PM - May 18, 2023
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Gabe Hoffman
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thread 14/20
Gen 8 was arguably dominated by Sony and the PS4. Meanwhile Nintendo and Microsoft struggled with their respective systems the Wii U and Xbox One thanks to a myriad of unfortunate factors. Gen 8 can be considered a refinement of Generation 7 with higher graphical fidelity the biggest improvement.
04:40 PM - May 18, 2023
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Gabe Hoffman
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thread 15/20
Nintendo however would then redeem itself after the Wii U's failure with the Nintendo Switch an innovative system that would break down the boundaries between console and handheld gaming.
04:53 PM - May 18, 2023
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Gabe Hoffman
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thread 16/20
And now Sony and Microsoft have officially ushered in Generation 9 with thew PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S bringing new hardware innovations with SSD technology completely changing the way developers build game worlds. Meanwhile the lines between video games and film continue to blur ever more.
05:12 PM - May 18, 2023
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Gabe Hoffman
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thread 17/20
Video Games have always fascinated me because of how perfectly they tend to reflect the technology of their time period. Older game consoles are almost like technological time capsules illustrating the technology of that era.
05:22 PM - May 18, 2023
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Gabe Hoffman
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thread 18/20
I often see people question if video games are art. Personally, I do believe video games are art in their own unique way in how they blend visual mediums with principles of programming and design. Its this fact that cements video games as the most prime example of interactive media.
06:38 PM - May 18, 2023
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Gabe Hoffman
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thread 19/20
I also at times can't help but notice how there is an overlap of sorts between animation and game development. Both are highly demanding fields that often take some pretty specific skill sets and don't get nearly the amount of recognition and respect they deserve.
06:41 PM - May 18, 2023
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Gabe Hoffman
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thread 20/20
As I end this thread I still look forward to what the future of gaming has to offer and I surely hope one day video games are respected on the same level as films. Thankfully seeing all the successful film and TV game adaptions right now gives me new hope.
06:44 PM - May 18, 2023
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Will Ralston
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My first system was the Odyssey 3000! 1 toggle switch, 3 settings: Pong, tennis, and "hockey!"
In response to Gabe Hoffman.
07:37 PM - Jun 18, 2023
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Gabe Hoffman
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In response to Will Ralston.
I started off at Gen 6. First console was Nintendo GameCube
07:40 PM - Jun 18, 2023
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