Help with my History of Video Games class

[Saint Nick]

I'm taking a History of Video Games course as part of the Computer Science program at my university. We have an upcoming paper due in a couple weeks, but we have to have our topics picked out by next Tuesday--a week from today. It can be anything, really. Anything regarding video games. It could be a biography, or history of a product, or history of a graphics engine, or anything. I just need some ideas for topics that have pretty accessable information and still would be interesting to write a paper about.

Thanks in advance!

Cliffe's:
1) Need topic suggestions for a research paper regarding the history of video games, can be biographies, history of a console or graphics engine, and anything regarding video games in general.

So far I have these ideas:
[*]John Carmack
[*]John Romero
[*]StarCraft
[*]Source Engine
[*]Zelda series
[*]Shareware
[*]Doom
[*]Half-Life

 

[waggy]

a history of video games? WTF? sigh

 

[2Xtreme21]

Do the evolution of a popular series.

Eg: Doom, Quake, Unreal, Half-Life, Warcraft

 

[Saint Nick]

Originally posted by: waggy
a history of video games? WTF? sigh

I get that kind of reaction from a lot of people. But, believe it or not, it does have its place in school. Its good for people who are interested in going into the gaming industry. In order to go into the game industry, its important to have a knowledge of games and where they came from.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Hahahahahahahahaha! I wish I could say that's the worst course I've ever heard of, but it isn't.

 

[drum]

you just wanted to brag you are taking a history of video games class...
nicely done

 

[raystorm]

What about the big video game crash of the early 80's and the rise of Nintendo?

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: pOwder

Originally posted by: waggy
a history of video games? WTF? sigh

I get that kind of reaction from a lot of people. But, believe it or not, it does have its place in school. Its good for people who are interested in going into the gaming industry. In order to go into the game industry, its important to have a knowledge of games and where they came from.

I guess it would be good for someone going into that.

but wow never thought there would be a class on it

 

[Heisenberg]

Originally posted by: waggy
a history of video games? WTF? sigh

Lol, that was my first reaction too. I think it's just a sign I've gotten old.

 

[Saint Nick]

Originally posted by: raystorm
What about the big video game crash of the early 80's and the rise of Nintendo?

Yeah, we covered that in class recently, actually. I am sure I could find a lot more information about it--not to mention use my textbook as a source

 

[thesurge]

Do you go to Stanford by any chance?

I know they have a "history of computer games" class.

 

[Xyo II]

That would be a fun class to take I almost took a chess class here :laugh:

 

[Saint Nick]

Originally posted by: thesurge
Do you go to Stanford by any chance?

I know they have a "history of computer games" class.

University of Nebraska at Omaha, currently pursuing an MIS degree, but likely to change back to CS at the end of the semester.

 

[rubix]

"how to escape the -1 world in super mario bros." by p0wder.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: Heisenberg

Originally posted by: waggy
a history of video games? WTF? sigh

Lol, that was my first reaction too. I think it's just a sign I've gotten old.

shush. just because when many of us whent tgo college they didn't have such classes. and more likely then not most of us played those games new when they came out heh.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: waggy

Originally posted by: pOwder

Originally posted by: waggy
a history of video games? WTF? sigh

I get that kind of reaction from a lot of people. But, believe it or not, it does have its place in school. Its good for people who are interested in going into the gaming industry. In order to go into the game industry, its important to have a knowledge of games and where they came from.

I guess it would be good for someone going into that.

but wow never thought there would be a class on it

Eh, it's a multibillion dollar industry. I'm surprised classes on the history of it aren't standard fare. I guess it must have taken a while for history of film/TV classes to be considered legitimate as well.

 

[sonambulo]

if i was you id write about espionage and trade secret theft in the industry. or, you know, you could write about pong.

 

[preslove]

Do it on starcraft and its popularity in Korea. That is freaking crazy interesting. I mean, it's a sport over there. My korean co-worker watches it at work.

 

[MechaSheeba]

Masters of Doom by David Kushner. Excellent book, I've read it like 90 times, would make a great reference if you decide to do it on iD/Carmack/Romero.

 

[ScottyB]

How about video game references in media? Then you can talk about Futurama, Family Guy, etc.

 

[Cooler]

History and Impact of RTS games.

 

[nitsuj3580]

do it on Everquest and its effects on people

 

[ViRGE]

Daikatana

 

[hypn0tik]

Do it on the MK3 fatalities.

 

[spikespiegal]

Pop quiz everybody:

What was the first player -vs- player real time (not text based) combat game?