Everyone:
Next week, we will discuss the golden age of arcade video games, which is the time period beginning in the late 1970s to the early 1980s where video games grew from small-time amusements into mainstream entertainment phenomenons starting with the first blockbuster video game: Space Invaders. It is during this time that we saw the introduction of the classic Atari 2600 video console, which for the first time provided CPUs which enabled classic games such as: Galaxian, Pac-Man, Missile Command, Berzerk, and Defender. This era also saw experimentation with vector graphics, which lead to games such as Asteroids, Battlezone, and Tempest.
For this week, you are to read the Wikipedia article about the golden age of arcade video games, and then play a few of the games mentioned the article by using the Internet Archive's Console Living Room. Limit yourself to the following consoles:
As you play a game, do some research on the history and story behind the game.
For this upcoming week, you are to consider the following question as you perform the readings, discuss in class, and play some old games:
What makes the games of the golden age so memorable? Is it just nostalgia or are there timeless lessons to learned from the classics? How do they stand up to modern games?
Your individual reflection should provide short reviews of the games you played, provided screenshots of gameplay, and ultimately answer this question.