Videogame (Technical?) Achievements.

[killergorilla]

Just been thinking, and I want to know so of the achievements of games over the years.

I mean achievements as in

First ever Videogame: Spacewar!
First ever Arcade: Computer Space
First 4 player game: Pong Doubles

not achievements such as:

First game to sell over 1000 copies etc. etc.

Other examples could be first game to use polygons/rotoscoping/digitised characters.

Seems like quite an interesting idea to list as many as possible?

[Fred the Fop]

Fist ever simian to play a video game:
Killer Gorilla

[fiath]

first game to use polygons: Asteroids? (whatever game first used a vector monitor I guess)
first game to use rotoscoping: Prince of Persia?

[killergorilla]

Yeah but surely Vectors don't count as polygons? They're not solid objects surely?

Although:

The First Vector Arcade game: Space Wars
The First Colour Vector Arcade game: Tempest

First game to feature a High Score table: Space Invaders
First game to have a High Score table where you could put your initials in: Asteroids
The First Game To Have Recorded A Nine-Digit High Score: Robotron: 2084

[Dizzy]

First game to suck: E.T.

[fiath]

Originally posted by killergorilla
Yeah but surely Vectors don't count as polygons? They're not solid objects surely?

That entirely depends on how you define it.

Mathematically, there is not any difference. A polygon is just a "surface" - i.e. coordinates are stored for each point. So an asteroid in Asteroids is a polygon - though they are 2D (and so obviously just two coordinates per point). Maybe something like Star Wars being 3D geometry (at least visually) - so the sides of the H fighters are all polygons. I wouldn't like to think how they could calculate that in 2D - but one game certainly did it - Battle Zone - that was fake 3D, but then you only moved in 2 dimensions anyway.

You could say that you wanted to know the first game to use hardware driven polygons (maybe Asteroids/Star Wars do though) or perhaps they have to be solid polygons to qualify.

In this case, the first game I know of to do this is I-Robot.

[Amiga1992]

Yup I think the first game with SOLID polygons/vectors was Atari's "I: Robot"

NOw, what was the first cartridge game that included extra chipsetry for added functionality? I think the Konami's SCC chip for the MSX, despite all those stupid claims by Nintendo about their SuperFX, and Sega with their VR thingy in Virtua RAcing.

[killergorilla]

Yeah I should have defined it as a solid polygon. Now I look silly

I really like vector games, I thin Elite, Battlezone and the like all looked superb and I like the vector look. Rez goes someway to making the vector look cool again!

More random first facts:

First game to be made into a film or tv program: Tron

First film/program to be made into a game: Deathrace (from the film Deathrace 2000)

First game to be taken off the market for being too violent: Deathrace (AGAIN)

First game designed by a woman: Centipede

First game to be made into a cartoon: Pac-Man

First cartoon to be made into a game: Popeye

[T_hairy_bootson]

Originally posted by killergorilla

First game to be made into a film or tv program: Tron

Wasnt it the other way around, movie was made into the game

[Dizzy]

Okay KG you got the info from here http://www.atarihq.com/othersec/library/vgfirsts.html

The First Person To Die Playing A Video Game
Galactic warrior Peter Bukowski had a heart attack on April 3, 1982, in Calumet City, Illinois -- at the Friar Tuck game room, River Oaks Shopping Center. The game he was playing was Berzerk.

[killergorilla]

Yeah I know I did.

But some of them are shite so I didn't post em. And besides, I want more! I thought people would already know some!

[Dizzy]

hehehe they are from 1984.....

the first game I took out of the diskdrev and throw into the wall: Kick Off (Damn I hate that game )

[killergorilla]

Originally posted by Dizzy
hehehe they are from 1984.....

Hehe.

That's the good thing! Firsts never go outta date! Unless you lied about your first girlfriend because she was a mule and then you had to own up later.

[Dizzy]

They have some very interesting articles. Check out this Trivia


"WHAT DOES DONKEY KONG HAVE TO DO WITH MONKEYS?"
(And Other Gaming Trivia)


(Appeared in the Fall 1982 issue of "Video Games Player" Magazine)

RATINGS:
33-35 Simply Awesome
25-32 All Time Immortal
10-24 Video Jock
0- 9 Space Cadet

1. What does Donkey Kong have to do with donkeys?

2. Name the one video game that is made up of five video games.
What are they?

3. In 1976, a video game called Death Race hit the scene. Why was it so controversial?

4. How many dots are there on the Pac-Man board?

5. On its first day of existence, the original Pong game broke down. Why?

6. The control panel on Defender and Stargate are identical except for one thing. What?

7. What is RAM and what is ROM?

8. In which video game is the player represented by a paintbrush?

9. What do the following terms mean in video game jargon?

a. Bill Haley
b. Blue Light District
c. Four Course Meal
d. George Down
e. Mangiatorium

10. What is the name of the man you represent in Donkey Kong?

11. Name the two popular arcade games that were designed by the same person.

12. In Defender, how many points do you receive for the following?

a. Landers
b. Bombers
c. Mutants
d. Pods
e. Baiters

13. What does the word "ATARI" mean in Japanese?

14. Odyssey's Conquest of the World assigns each country a "power base value" which is based on a formula created by a former deputy director of intelligence for the CIA. What is the formula?

15. How do you pronounce QIX?

16. Name the arcade game that has the designer's signature right on the cabinet.

17. Name the Atari cartridge that has the designer's name right in the program.

18. What companies own the trademark to these games?

a. Galaxian
b. Stargate
c. Centipede
d. QIX
e. Scramble
f. Frogger

19. What two video games have the same names as plays by William Shakespeare?

20. What is the highest selling Atari cartridge of them all?

21. What happened on October 1, 1979 that influenced the history of video games?

22. How do you join the Activision "Bucket Brigade" and "Save the Chicken" Foundation?"

23. Name the video game companies you'll find in these cities...

a. Sunnyvale, California
b. Knoxville, Tennessee
c. Hawthorne, California
d. Columbus, Ohio

24. What do Craig Kubey, Michael Blanchet, Tom Hirschfeld and Ken Uston have in common?

25. What is the minimum number of Space Invaders on the screen for a Mother Ship to appear?

26. Name the most popular video game designed by a woman.

27. What does it mean to "turn a machine over?"

28. Who said, "My idea of retirement is to sit all day in a big, dark room playing Space Invaders?"

29. What is the heart of the nation's microcomputer chip center called?

30. Fill in the blank. Space Invaders is to Atari what __________ is to Intellivision and __________ is to Odyssey.

31. How many variations of Space Invaders can you play on your TV set?

32. What gave David Crane the inspiration to have a chicken cross the road in Freeway?

33. Name ten arcade games that have become home games.

34. Name four Atari cartridges that are no longer being made.

35. After the world is destroyed in arcade Missile Command, what does it say on the screen?


Answers

[Fred the Fop]

Originally posted by Akira
Yup I think the first game with SOLID polygons/vectors was Atari's "I: Robot"

NOw, what was the first cartridge game that included extra chipsetry for added functionality? I think the Konami's SCC chip for the MSX, despite all those stupid claims by Nintendo about their SuperFX, and Sega with their VR thingy in Virtua RAcing.

No way. I dunno about MSX, but the FX chip games were definitely released before the Sega VR stuff. Development may be another thing tho.

[FromWithin]

Originally posted by Dizzy
13. What does the word "ATARI" mean in Japanese?

13.
PREPARE TO BE ATTACKED!

But it just doesn't. It generally means (among other things) success.

[Amiga1992]

Originally posted by Frederic
No way. I dunno about MSX, but the FX chip games were definitely released before the Sega VR stuff. Development may be another thing tho.

The SCC chuip in Konami games dates YEARS before the Nintendo superfx crap. I'm talking 1980s here.

[gary]

Originally posted by fiath
first game to use rotoscoping: Prince of Persia?

irst Amiga game maybe. Karateka on the C64 used it too, therefore there may have been other 8 bit titles done a long before PoP. Also the Epyx 'running man' sprites (Summer Games/Impossible Mission) may have used the rotoscoping technique.

[killergorilla]

That's the whole point of this topic, to actually get the firsts!

Fair enough Pop wasn't so was it that C64 game???

[Amiga1992]

The otehr day I had my usual mammoth C64 playing sesh with my cousin, and we fired up some Epyx games like The Games:Winter Edition. I could not help but drop my jaw at the animatioN! If all that is done by hand, it's brilliant. But perhaps they DID use rotoscoping.

Wasn't Karateka made by the guy who created Prince too?