1990's

The history of video games (1990’s)

The 1990’s was considered a decade of innovation in terms of video games, it was the decade that saw the beginnings of 3D graphics being introduced into games. New genres arose from the new 3D element in gameplay, including first person shooters, and MMO. Home consoles become more common than the declining arcade games. The games industry became a mainstream form of entertainment in the 90’s. Other forms of mainstream entertainment started to contribute to the video game industry, e.g. the soundtrack for the game ‘Wipeout’ was chosen specifically for the club-going, music-buying audience, so a lot of dance/electronica artists such as orbital and the chemical brothers were asked to create additional songs to the games soundtrack.

People in the early 90’s was still using the ‘fourth generation consoles’, and the rivalry between saga and Nintendo was still going strong with the console war battling on between the two company’s home systems, the SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) released in 1990 and the Sega Megadrive released two years earlier. It was in this decade that introduced a new alternative to the standard game cartridge, one with a lot more capabilities, the CD-ROM.  Sega incorporated the CD-ROM for the Megadrive console by releasing the CD add-on in 1991. This meant it had an edge over the SNES that still used the cartridge, even so it continued to use it for their next console, the Nintendo 64, the only ‘fifth generation console’ to still use cartridges. The fifth generation consoles appeared approximately from 1993, with such consoles as the Atari jaguar, the Sega Saturn in 1995 and the N64. However it was console newcomer Sony that would outsell all its competitors with the release of the Sony Playstation. The Playstation’s success was due to its impressive technology and heavy marketing budget, not to mention the variety of quality games that were playable on the console. It released hit games for all genres, with ‘crash bandicoot’ as its top 3D platforming game, ‘final fantasy’ as its top RPG etc. by the end of the decade and indeed the century, the industry saw the cusp of what was to be the 6^th generation consoles. Sega’s dreamcast in its beginnings was a hit, with its impressive graphics and a good set of launch game titles. However the dreamcasts success was to be short-lived with the arrival of the ps2 in 1999, which overshadowed the dreamcast with its third party support, its high reputation from the previous predecessor, and its ability to play its predecessors games. Taking a look back to the beginning to the eighties you can see the development and evolution of the games industry changed dramatically. From the time when 8 bit games were being programmed by a single person, to games being created by huge developing teams, making intricate costly games, some costing more than films to make. It showed that it was an industry that was constantly growing, and grabbing people’s attention more than ever.