As many people may know, the first video game in the world was born in Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), which conducted nuclear tests. It was called “Tennis for Two”.
After that, the emergence of the computer programming language led us to the Atari and arcade era. Then, with the popularity of color TV and the generations of computers, home hosts such as red and white machines appeared. The promotion of household computers and generations of image chips have brought PC games and 3D games.
Communication technology has been upgraded to the broadband era, where online games have be playing a leading role. With the update of mobile communication technology and smartphones, the era of mobile games comes. With the development of technology, players today have been able to play 3A masterpieces with movie-level picture quality, and achieve online competition for a large number of people at the same time on the mobile side. In this process, the popularization of 4G networks, the improvement of cloud service infrastructure and the continuous improvement of software and hardware performance are indispensable.
Tracing back the change of game forms, we will find that the game has been progressing with the development of the whole Internet, software and hardware technology.
Technological progress has changed not only the form, but also the way of playing. Without the rapid iteration of 3D graphics cards, RTS games, which started at the end of last century, would be difficult to develop. Similarly, multiplayer competitive games such as MOBA and FPS can only be popular in the broadband era with low delay. If there is no progress in mobile phone chip and display technology, we may still be playing the stand-alone versions of “Cut Fruit” and “Candy Crush” more than ten years ago. It’s hard for us to imagine the appearance of a masterpiece with such picture quality and dynamic effect as Black Myth Wukong.
In fact, the relationship between video games and technology is not only a one-way promotion of technology transformation, but also a kind of promotion with the gradual expansion of the industry. The requirements of practitioners and players for game pictures and game experiences are constantly improving, which also makes games an important promoter of science and technology.
The most intuitive development is that of the chip. To some extent, it can be said that games prompt many ordinary consumers to demand high-performance chips, which makes these chips go out of laboratories and professional workstations, and move towards a broad consumer market for better development through hosts, PCs and mobile phones. At the same time, due to the gradual increasing requirements of games for scenes and technologies, the relationship between the game industry and the chip industry has changed from the initial unilateral application to the current mutual promotion and symbiotic development.
In addition to chips, with the continuous integration of virtual and real world, this positive cycle originated from players’ infinite experience needs is deepening, which can connect basic disciplines such as chips, communication, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and virtual reality to promote the development of the whole technology chain.
To sum up, the game is a carrier combining technology and culture. Cutting-edge technology provides infrastructure for more immersive and interactive games, and games continue to promote the exploration and development of new technologies
