Category
Creative and Artistic
Description
The world of entertainment took the world by storm in the twentieth century, like a hurricane ravaging the gulf coast. The twentieth century brought many forms of entertainment that defined American culture. From sports like football and baseball, to radio shows, to television. Each one of these contributed their fair share of economic progress, but one that proved to have a great impact was the video game industry. Video games have changed drastically in its history, but not as big as the introduction of optical media in the early to mid 1990s, specifically CD-ROMs. CD-ROM stands for Compact Disc Read Only Memory. Throughout the late 1970s and 80s, video games were on ROM cartridges with limited storage (most had no save features), were expensive to produce, and sometimes had shortages at retail. CDs, offered ten times the amount of storage, were cheaper to produce, could be manufactured quicker, and had innovative features such as Full Motion Video (FMV) and stereo quality music. Although new at the time, CDs and CD technology proved to be a successful innovation that not only resulted in more sales, but greater popularity among consumers. The introduction of optical media in the 1990s revolutionized the video game industry with its unique innovations and technological capabilities.
“Welcome to the Next Level:” How Optical Media Revolutionized the Video Game Industry
Creative and Artistic
The world of entertainment took the world by storm in the twentieth century, like a hurricane ravaging the gulf coast. The twentieth century brought many forms of entertainment that defined American culture. From sports like football and baseball, to radio shows, to television. Each one of these contributed their fair share of economic progress, but one that proved to have a great impact was the video game industry. Video games have changed drastically in its history, but not as big as the introduction of optical media in the early to mid 1990s, specifically CD-ROMs. CD-ROM stands for Compact Disc Read Only Memory. Throughout the late 1970s and 80s, video games were on ROM cartridges with limited storage (most had no save features), were expensive to produce, and sometimes had shortages at retail. CDs, offered ten times the amount of storage, were cheaper to produce, could be manufactured quicker, and had innovative features such as Full Motion Video (FMV) and stereo quality music. Although new at the time, CDs and CD technology proved to be a successful innovation that not only resulted in more sales, but greater popularity among consumers. The introduction of optical media in the 1990s revolutionized the video game industry with its unique innovations and technological capabilities.
