I.T Essay draft 2

Computer and Video Game Innovations
By Christopher Cullen
3D Game Design

This is an essay on my interpretation of computer and video game innovations.
In 1936, Konrad Zuse began development of the first programmable computer and called it the Z1 Computer, it was the first in the series, later followed the Z2 and Z3.The computer itself was a mechanical calculator that was programmed by inserting punched tape. The Z1 used binary floating numbers and Boolean logic, the Z1 was completed in 1938, but sadly was destroyed in December of 1943 in Berlin during world war two. Then in 1942, John Atanasoff & Clifford Berry developed the Atanasoff–Berry Computer aka the ABC computer was successfully tested, However it was unreliable, the idea for such a device was conceived in 1937. The ABC was a pioneer for important elements of today’s modern computing such binary arithmetic, electronic switching elements and stored programs, In 1994 the ABC computer was designated an IEEE ( Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers ) Milestone.

In 1944, the Harvard Mark I Computer or Mark1 as it is commonly known as, was developed by IBM( International Business Machines Corporation ) and built by Howard Aiken & Grace Hopper. Like the Z1 and ABC computers before it, it was an electro mechanical computer using decimal numeral system and it also used punched paper tape.In 1946, the ENIAC I which stood for Electrical Numerical Integrator And Calculator Was developed by John Mauchly and John Presper Eckert, they were funded by the American military. The military wanted a computer to calculate firing tables for artillery. In John Mauchly and John Presper Eckert went on to develop the UNIVersal Automatic Computer I or more commonly known as the UNIVAC I which was the first commercially produced computer in the USA.

In 1954, the first successful programming language was developed by IBM they called it FORTRA, It was designed to program numeric and scientific computing, it dominated the programming area for more than half a century. It was also use for a number of other functions such as analysis, weather prediction and physics. In 1958, the Integrated Circuit also commonly known as the microchip was developed by Jack Kilby & Robert Noyce, integrated circuits are still being used in today’s electronic devices.

 In 1958, Steve Russell developed the first computer game called spacewar! at MIT and it was released in 1962. In 1969, J. C. R. Licklider developed the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network or more commonly known as ARPANET, what is known today as the original Internet. The ARPANET was funded by the department of defence. In 1970, Intel released the Intel 1103, it was the first DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) chip. Between 1973 and 1974 Xerox PARC where developing the Ethernet, the concept was inspired by ALOHAnet which was developed at the university of Hawaii. In 1980, the operating system 86-DOS was developed by the Seattle Computer Products and written by Tim Paterson, the operating system had an application based programming interface and and command structure. Mircosoft bought the operating system for $75,000 and renamed it to what it is more commonly known as MS-DOS.
In 1989 prince of Persia was released by its developer Jordan Mechner for the apple 2, after its successful release it was ported over to a wide range of platforms.
 In 1983 Apple Computer released the Apple lisa, it was the first personal computer released by Apple. In 2001, Microsoft released Windows XP, which is a operating system for personal computers and was built on windows NT kernel. The windows XP project was called Whistler, it was the successor to windows me and  windows 2000.
 In 1999, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver was developed by Crystal Dynamics and published by Eidos interactive, Crystal Dynamics started development on soul reaver in 1997. The game was praised for its high quality graphics. Some of the game features where inspired by the poem paradise lost.

 In 2006, Microsoft released the Xbox 360, it is  the seventh generation console competing with the playstation 3 and Wii. The console was sold out upon its release in 2006, the 2010 released version has a integrated 802.11 wifi, it has five USB 2.0 ports and a 250 GB hard drive. In 2009, Microsoft had released Windows 7, like windows XP it also had a codename which was blackcomb then Vienna in 2006 and finally in 2007 it was renamed to windows 7. Windows 7 is the successor to windows XP.

 In 1999, the playstation 2 was announced by sony. The playstation 2 was released in 2000, to this day the playstation 2 is the bestselling video game console of all time. In 2006, sony released the playstation 3, it was first unveiled at E3 in 2005. The playstation had one HDMI port, four USB ports, Wifi, flash card, and one Ethernet port. The playstation came with two versions an 20gb model or a 60gb model which costs €499 and €599.

 In 1998, valve released half-life, the game is a horror based first person shooter, it was the first game of the series. In 2000, Perfect Dark was developed by rare and published by rare and Nintendo, it was a first person shooter genre. The game features a single player campaign and a multiplayer mode, it was release on the Nintendo 64 game console it also featured high resolution graphics and surround sound.In 1998, the game boy colour was released by Nintendo, It had a 8 bit processor,32KB ram and it could support up to 56 COS (colours on screen) , it had 4 buttons A, B, Start and Select.

In 1986, Metroid was developed and release by Nintendo, it’s a science fiction based genre it sold over 16 million copies, it is also praised for having unique music, non-linear exploration. In 1985, super mario was developed and release by Nintendo,it was a very popular series and critically acclaimed, it was released on the NES ( Nintendo entertainment system), the levels are very linear.


Web bibliography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ALOHAnet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z1_%28computer%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atanasoff%E2%80%93Berry_Computer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacewar!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-Life_%28series%29