Early history of video games

The history of video games spans a period of time between the invention of the first electronic games and today, covering a long period of invention and changes. Video gaming would not reach mainstream popularity until the 1970s and 1980s, when arcade video games, gaming consoles and home computer games were introduced to the general public. Since then, video gaming has become a popular form of entertainment and a part of modern culture in most parts of the world. The early history of video games, therefore, covers the period of time between the first interactive electronic game with an electronic display in 1947 and the first true video games in the early 1950s, and the rise of early arcade video games with Pong and the beginning of the first generation of video game consoles with the Magnavox Odyssey, both in 1972. In between these two points in time was a wide range of devices and inventions corresponding with large advances in computing technology, and the actual first video game is dependent on the definition of "video game" used.

Video game

A video game is an electronic game that involves human interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device such as a TV screen or computer monitor. The word video in video game traditionally referred to a raster display device, but it now implies any type of display device that can produce two- or three-dimensional images. Video games are sometimes believed to be a form of art, but this designation is controversial.

The electronic systems used to play video games are known as platforms; examples of these are personal computers and video game consoles. These platforms range from large mainframe computers to small handheld computing devices. Specialized video games such as arcade games, while common in the 1980s, have gradually declined in use due to the widespread availability of home video game devices (e.g., PlayStation 4 and Xbox One) and video games on desktop and laptop computers and smartphones.

The input device used for games, the game controller, varies across platforms. Common controllers include gamepads, mouses, keyboards, joysticks, the touchscreens of mobile devices and buttons. In addition to video and (in most cases) audio feedback, some games include haptic, vibration or force feedback peripherals.

Marvel 2099: One Nation Under Doom

Marvel 2099: One Nation Under Doom was a cancelled game for the PlayStation developed by Mindscape Inc. It was to be loosely based on the "One Nation Under Doom" storyline in Marvel's Doom 2099 comic. It was envisioned as a 2D side-scroller with 3D rendered characters.

In February 1996, Mindscape announced they would produce a video game based on the Marvel 2099 universe. Promoted as one of their top five games for the year, the game would be released on December 1, 1996, just in time for the Christmas rush. Two versions were announced: PlayStation and Windows 95.

By May 1996, CD-ROM and VHS video demos were being shipped to game magazines for pre-release reviews, along with a one-page color brochure. The first public demo was shown at the E3 show, and featured a playable single level of the Punisher 2099 fighting SHIELD troops, and also opening menus and some cut scenes. Electronic Gaming Monthly had a quarter-page preview of the game in their July 1996 issue and a half page preview in their August 1996 issue, showing screenshots of actual gameplay, and a group shot of the player characters. At the 1996 San Diego Comicon, the Mindscape booth handed out brochures, and raffled off One Nation Under Doom pins, shirts, and posters. Some attendees were even allowed to play the demo at the booth, although no copies of the demo were distributed. September 1996 issue of 3D Design magazine had a cover story on the Marvel 2099 game. After July, due to financial troubles, ongoing production of the game slowed down, and eventually stopped, though the game was never officially canceled.

2048 (video game)

2048 is a single-player puzzle game created in March 2014 by 19-year-old Italian web developer Gabriele Cirulli, in which the objective is to slide numbered tiles on a grid to combine them and create a tile with the number 2048. It is a type of sliding block puzzle, and is very similar to the Threes app released a month earlier. Cirulli created the game in a single weekend as a test to see if he could program a game from scratch, describing it as a clone of Veewo Studios' app 1024, and was surprised when his game received over 4 million visitors in less than a week, especially since it was just a weekend project. "It was a way to pass the time", he said. The game is free to play, Cirulli having said that he was unwilling to make money from "something that [he] didn’t invent". He released a free app version of the game for iOS and Android in May 2014.

2048 became a viral hit. The game has been described by the Wall Street Journal as "almost like Candy Crush for math geeks", and Business Insider called it "Threes on steroids". Due to the popularity of 2048, it is sometimes claimed that Threes! is a clone of it, rather than the other way around.