Ask most people what fun things they can do with their computing devices and a common answer emerges: games. After the words have been processed, the sheets spread and the emails sent, turning one’s high-powered number-crunching machine into a facilitator of frivolous entertainment seems to be an extremely popular pursuit.
Before the Internet became a household necessity, games were played mostly between a computer and its owner. Text-only games like Star Trek were played without eye-popping graphics, living mainly in the imaginations of the players, while games like Duke Nukem and Prince of Persia took players on challenging visual adventures.
The 1980’s saw the rise of home computing using affordable machines from Apple, IBM, Commodore and Radio Shack at the same time that video game arcades became wildly popular, with hordes of gaming enthusiasts shoving quarters into stand-alone video games at a breathtaking rate. Hoping to capture some of the quarter-per-game mania, many home computers came out with their own versions of arcade games.
Arcade games like Donkey Kong, Tempest, Galaga, Frogger, Asteroids, Joust, Defender, Space Invaders, Dig Dug, Missile Command and Moon Patrol were quickly cloned for most every home computer platform. What were arguably the two most popular video games of their time also found their way onto home computers: Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man.
As computing power has dramatically increased over the years, so have computer games become more complex and visually realistic. The two-dimensional games of the 80’s and 90’s have given way to intricate plotlines, 3-D scenery and Hollywood-style computer animation that looks so realistic it’s almost impossible to separate it from the real thing.
While dedicated video game “platforms” like the Xbox, Playstation and Wii dominate the home video game market, modern hard-core “gamers” still gravitate towards fully-blown gaming computers costing many thousands of dollars, complete with audiophile surround-sound systems, multiple High Definition screens, specialized gaming keyboard/mouse/joystick combinations and water-cooled microprocessors.
In no particular order, and in all deference to any games I may be overlooking, a few of the top computer games of the past 15 years are: the Final Fantasy series; World of Warcraft; Everquest; World of Goo; Ms. Pac-man; Guild Wars; Far Cry; the Call of Duty; Half-Life; The Sims; Need for Speed; Assassin’s Creed; The Elder Scrolls; Halo; Doom; Flight Simulator; The Oregon Trail; Grand Theft Auto; Minecraft; Quake; Eve Online; Myst, among others.
Send me an email and let me know what your favorites are. Perhaps I should also mention what is, in my opinion, the number one computer game of all times: Solitaire.