The History of Gaming?

[Nero D. Ace]

I never thought I'd say this but I'm taking an exam related to notable events in the Gaming Industry over the years and how it's developed into what it is as part of my Entrance Exam into a university.

Now, I'm not that big an expert on this kind of thing nor did I think I'd ever actually need the information but now it seems I do. So does anyone know of various important breakthroughs and facts in the History of Games?

[Vael]

if you asked me a couple of months ago I would've told yo a heap of info, because I read the "History of gaming" article on wikipedia, but I forgot it all because it was to long ago, but yeah read that article, and you'll find a few good points

[Nero D. Ace]

Okay, this might be a zetta noob question but i need a detailed difference between a video game PUBLISHER, DEVELOPER and DISTRIBUTOR.

They've used these 3 terms a lot in the interviews and exams and I want to have all my facts correct.

[ragnawind]

Okay, this might be a zetta noob question but i need a detailed difference between a video game PUBLISHER, DEVELOPER and DISTRIBUTOR.

They've used these 3 terms a lot in the interviews and exams and I want to have all my facts correct.

That is an easy question to answer. The Publisher is the company that either localizes the game from another region into their own region AND/OR print all the copies of the game that are sold. The developer actually goes through the process of creating the game and are the only ones involved in its creation, code-wise, graphics-wise, etc. The distributor just ships out all the games and is usually the same as either the Publisher or Developer, depending on where the game originated and where it is being released.

[† Anras Rune]

History of Gaming....hmm....I have an essay somewhere that I'll try to get to you sometime.

Publisher: The party involved in manufacturing and marketing of a game, including market research and advertising.

Distributer: Normally larger publishing companies, which have enough resources to distrbute a game to all vendors and market points. External distribuition companies can be contracted.

Developer: Again, many larger publishers have internel development teams or Studios but more often than not developers are a seperate team used to create games or at least parts of games to be used in the finished product. Most video games created by an external video game developer are paid for with periodic advances on royalties

[Nero D. Ace]

Thanks Rune and Ragna. This coupled with the Wikipedia articles was really helpful.

I got a few more questions it'd be great if someone could help me out with since I went over the interview history and these come quite a lot :-

1) Knowledge about careers in the 4 levels of the management?

2) Technology used in games like Mass Effect?

3) Hottest games/characters at the moment?