Thursday, September 20, 2007

Early Video Game History

Today the video game industry is one of the largest and highest grossing entertainment mediums. The major releases have budgets in the millions of dollars, and due to their high selling price, there is a lot of chance for profit. Like every industry, the video game industry had humble beginnings, starting out as very basic games for primitive computers. The market for video games stagnated for around a decade, and when technology costs permitted, quickly expanded. Due to the young nature of the industry it was very unstable, with two crashes occurring in the first 10 years of it’s beginning as a major entertainment format.
The very first video games were built using primitive computer technology. The very first true computer game, completed in 1962, was used to test a new computer at MIT, this game was called “Spacewar!” and had two people controlling spaceships and shooting at each other. This game was so popular that it was programmed into all PDP computers, exposing colleges all over the nation to this new format of games. For a while there weren’t many other games, due to the cost of the hardware needed to play even the most simple games. Once the technology prices dropped there was a viable market for stand up arcade games.
Arcade games gained steam during the early 1970’s through the mid 80’s; while there were home systems during the 70’s they were expensive and didn’t have the variety that was found in arcades. Due to the large size of arcade machines more powerful hardware could be implemented, thus giving a better gaming experience for cheaper. The first home systems were quite a marvel of technology for the time; they were small, held a few games, and could be played in the home. It was not until the Atari 2600, with its interchangeable cartridges, that home video games began to take over the market from arcades.
There was a minor crash of the video game industry in 1977, due to many clones of popular games saturating the market, While this crash was minor it still impacted the developers to a fair degree. The system that brought the industry back to its feet was the Atari 2600. The 2600 was the first system to popularize third party development and the cartridge game format. The Atari had many defining games, such as pitfall, pong, and space invaders; it also had many games that are considered to be some of the worst produced, such as “E.T. the Extraterrestrial” which was so awful and over produced that all of the copies that weren’t sold had to be buried in New Mexico. Due to the over-anticipation of the video game market, publishers produced many more copies than the demand needed, causing a major crash in the market that could not be remedied by an American company.
The company to reinvigorate the market is the one that, for many years, was synonymous with video games, Nintendo. Surprising to most, Nintendo was established in 1889, and were originally a playing card manufacturer, and later a children’s toy maker. In the 1970’s Nintendo hired Shigeru Miyamoto, who is now the most respected game designer among fans, creating Donkey Kong, Zelda, Mario, and many more. Nintendo decided to start making electronic games when they saw the success of arcades in America. They began with arcade games, and then simple handheld games, and in 1983 the NES was released, NES standing for Nintendo Entertainment System. The NES had power similar to arcade games, while older home consoles had inferior graphics to arcades.
In America the video game crash of 1983 was in full effect, almost no home consoles were being supported and the founder of Atari had sold his company to Time Warner. In 1985 the NES was released in America and became an instant phenomenon, revitalizing the market and causing many other game makers to release opposing consoles. This was the birth of the American video game industry as we know it. Nintendo later went on to release many other consoles, losing the top spot to Sony’s Playstation in the early 90’s, and apparently regaining the top spot with their current console, the Wii.
The video game industry began with early computers, later blossoming into a fully-fledged industry. The relative newness of the early industry lent itself to instability, causing a major crash in 1983, which nearly destroyed the market. In 1985 the Nintendo entertainment system was released in America and revitalized the demand for video games. The video game console wars have been nearly as interesting as the wars fought on the screens of video games. After the NES came the Super NES, Sega Genesis, Playstation, N64, Sega Dreamcast, Nintendo Gamecube, Playstation 2, Xbox, Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360, and Playstation 3, not to mention the handhelds and the less successful consoles. The advancement of computer technology has caused the video games of today to have near photo-realistic graphics, massive worlds, and more pages of code than one would want to try and comprehend.

References

Kent, Steven L. The Ultimate History of Video Games. New York: Three Rivers Press (2001)
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blcomputer_videogames.htm
http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/gaming-evolution.ars/
http://www.nintendo.com/corp/history.jsp

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Rationalist Assignment.

1.The Rationalists and the Puritans had extremely differing ideas on god and his relationship to man, and consequently man's intelligence and how man should use it. The Puritans believed that if a man were to get sick it was god punishing that person; the Rationalists believed that keeping a person from sickness was merely keeping them from sickness, not going against the will of god. the Rationalists believed that god created the universe at the beginning and set it into motion, letting it play out due to natural laws. According to the Rationalists god gave humans intelligence, humans did not steal it from god, and we should use our intelligence to interpret and manipulate those natural laws that the universe is built on. The Puritans believed that god was displeased with our intelligence and that trying to figure out how the universe operated was like deconstructing god's work. A similar argument in today's society would be the arguments for and against evolution being taught in schools. The Christians believe that if evolution is taught in schools intelligent design, the idea that our anatomy at too complex for there not to have been a prior intelligent creator A.K.A. god, should be given just as much time.


2. Benjamin Franklin was a rationalist of the highest degree, overcoming obstacles using logic instead of faith, such as his thirteen virtues that he wished to improve about himself. A good example of Franklin's scientific logic can be seen in this excerpt from his autobiography, "I made a little book, in which I allotted a page for each of the [thirteen] virtues....I might mark, by a little black spot, every fault found upon examination to have committed respecting that virtue upon that day."


3. if I had to think of thirteen virtues I need to work on these would be them, in no specific order:

1) Temperance-Do not overeat, oversleep, overindulge, or consume anything harmful in excess.
2) Selflessness-Seek to help those in need and use all the power I possess to do so.
3) Equality-Treat strangers with the politeness I would hope for them to treat me with, also trust those close to me to know how to live their lives.
4) Silence-Only speak when it is for the benefit of myself or others, refrain from gossiping and idle chat
5) Continual Improvement-Always train some part of my body or mind, for example walking differently than I am used to to build different muscles, or trying to manipulate objects outside of my range of sight to train proprioception.
6) Exercise-Use all of the calories I consume in a manner that will best aid my ability to move.
7) Nutrition-Eat foods that provide me with all the nutrients I need without an excess of that which I don't need.
8) Knowledge-Seek to use all idle time to further my view of the universe and all of it's inhabitants.
9) Speech-Speak in a direct manner that conveys ideas accurately and without confusion.
10) Punctuality-Arrive promptly and without delay.
11) Perspective-Seek to understand that my actions do not affect much in the long run but that I still must maintain my life at a comfortable standard because of it's affect on those I care about.
12) Patience-To keep from frustration when things take longer than I expect.
13) Realize My Effect on Others-All my actions effect people, try to maximize that effect to help and not harm.

5. The declaration of independence is a good example of rationalist thought, it lists all of the problems with Great Britain in no uncertain terms. there also seems to not be a tone of anger towards Great Britain, but instead a tone of reason, the First passage in the declaration states, "When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation." the Declaration of Independence takes a very methodical approach to discussing one's problems. The Rationalists that penned the Declaration of Independence believed that all humans were born with rights that government should never infringe upon, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Puritans

1. The puritans had a very pessimistic view on god and his relationship to mankind. They believed that god was angry because Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, and he had just enough mercy to keep from casting everyone into hell for the “Original sin” of Adam and Eve. Only a select few were allowed to go to heaven; anyone else, no matter how righteous they lived, went to hell. The puritans thought any deviant behavior, no matter how slight, was highly unsavory; for instance in an early puritan settlement misbehavior of a child was punishable by death, the law was never enforced but it was still in the books.


2. Puritans believed that, through Adam and Eve’s eating of the forbidden fruit, everyone was born a sinner. As most are aware the forbidden fruit gave Adam and Eve knowledge. The belief that god hates us for gaining knowledge is an extremely flawed idea, it breeds the idea that intelligence is bad and should be looked down upon, and that complacency without question is a good thing. It seems to me that this belief structure is very effective for keeping the powerful in power. Instead of keeping the information from the public, they make the public not want the information, very clever indeed.
The idea of a born sinner is also a flawed one, the idea that god hates us for what our ancestors did thousands of years ago. God holds one serious grudge. It seems strange to me that if god made man in his image wouldn’t man have the same values as god? If a human did the things that the puritan god does he would be considered extremely disturbed, if not criminally insane. If the puritan god is in fact the one true god, and god is perfect, then we should really be more cruel and unforgiving. By the puritan rationale all of the ancestors of slaves should have either killed or tortured all the ancestors of slaveholders for the sins that happened so very long ago.
Puritans believed that only a select few were going to go to heaven and the vast majority of people were going to hell. With this belief came the thought that these select few could interpret the word of god, giving the majority of power to a few people, much like the issues between the catholic and protestant churches. When more power is given to some people other people suffer, if everyone is as powerful as everyone else then no one can be taken advantage of.
Because of these beliefs the puritans were not extravagant or flamboyant, they were more concerned with efficiency and usefulness, something to be admired. This idea of function over form may have had a flawed origin but it was still perfect for the environment in which they were living. The saying, “everything in moderation” would be a serious overstatement in relation to the puritans, the puritans were positively no frills, because frills take away from god. A better stance to take would be no frills because frills don’t really serve a purpose other than to impress, rather than because frills are against god.
The puritans had an interesting stance on god and his relationship to man. On one hand they believed intelligence to be an undesirable trait, because of the fall of Adam and Eve, and instead put all their faith into god. On the other hand, the Puritans extreme conservatism and anti-flamboyant nature helped them to survive the harsh Massachusetts winters. Their utilitarian attitude is admirable but the utility was not out of necessity, instead it was out of respect of a god who they thought despised them. Like someone begging forgiveness from their abusive spouse, the puritans were misguided in their efforts to please god.



3. The puritans believed that only a select few were saved from damnation, the vast majority of people were going to hell; the people who went to heaven were predestined to go. This can be seen in a line from john Edwards sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, “They are already under a sentence of condemnation to hell. They do not only justly deserve to be cast down thither, but the sentence of the law of God, that eternal and immutable rule of righteousness that God has fixed between him and mankind, is gone out against them, and stands against them; so that they are bound over already to hell.”
The puritans also believed in the perseverance of the saints, those who are chosen by god have the power to interpret the will of god, William Bradford thought of himself as one of these saints. In the account, “Of Plymouth Plantation” William Bradford readily speaks about god and his relationship to man, whereas if a common person were to interpret the word of god they would be scorned. This interpretation can be seen in this passage, “What could now sustain them but the Spirit of God and His grace? May not and ought not the children of these fathers rightly say: "Our fathers were Englishmen which came over this great ocean, and were ready to perish in this wilderness; but they cried unto the Lord, and He heard their voice and looked on their adversity," etc. "Let them therefore praise the Lord, because He is good: and his mercies endure forever. Yea, let them which have been redeemed of the Lord, show how He hath delivered them from the hand of the oppressor.”

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Parkour analysis

Parkour is an art of movement, using only the body to overcome physical obstacles in a quick and efficient manner. A man named David Belle developed this discipline in the late 1980’s in Lisses, France, a suburb of Paris. David Belle was greatly influenced by his father, Raymond Belle, who was an elite military firefighter with great agility and strength. Raymond was also trained in gymnastics and known for amazing acts of heroism, such as scaling the walls of a burning cathedral to save people on the roof. David developed Parkour with the idea of being in an emergency situation and having to get from one place to the next as quickly as possible. While Parkour practitioners, called Traceurs, don’t like limit their movement to a set list of techniques there are many technques that have proven themselves more useful and versatile and have thus been given names.
Perhaps the most basic of movements is the vault. A vault consists of placing the hands on an obstacle and bringing the feet over the obstacle, to land on the other side. There is a vast array of different vaults used in Parkour, the monkey, kong, dash, speed, thief, kash, lazy, the list goes on and on. The Kong vault is probably the most widely used vault, it is extremely good for retaining momentum and is very versatile. The Kong vault has the Traceur running at an obstacle, throwing himself headfirst at it so he is almost parallel to the ground, then putting his weight on his hands and pulling his feet in-between his hands directly under his body. This vault can be used on extremely long obstacles, by diving farther out, or tall obstacles, by jumping up more.
The dash vault is much less versatile than the Kong but has much more aesthetic appeal. The dash vault has the Traceur running and jumping over the obstacle with his feet in front of him, the body and legs forming an L shape, while the body is directly over the obstacle he absorbs the impact with his hands on either side of the torso, then lands with his feet on the other side of the obstacle. This vault has its advantages in the dismount, because the legs are in front of the body you can continue running with less momentum lost due to the impact. One could write an entire paper on just the different vaults used in Parkour, but vaults alone are not the main focus of Parkour.
One of the most useful techniques used in Parkour is the wall-run. As the name implies this movement has you running up a vertical wall. Depending on the height of the wall the technique itself differs. For a relatively small wall, six to eight feet for example, one would run towards the wall, placing the first foot on the wall and pushing up and out to convert the forward momentum of the run to upward momentum. Soon after pushing off of the first foot both hands are placed on top of the wall, with the entire hand on top of the wall, almost simultaneous with this hand placement the second foot pushes up and away from the wall allowing the entire body to either land on top of the wall or go over the wall without the feet touching the top. On taller wall-runs the Traceur would push off the wall with a hand also and grip the top of the wall with only one hand.
Another of the most important techniques is the cat grab or cat leap, a way to position your body hanging from the top of a wall. If jumping from a standing position the Traceur jumps at the wall and swings his feet forward in a tucked position, grabbing the top of the wall with his hands. The Traceur is left with the bottom of his feet touching the side of the wall, knees near the chest, and the hands on top of the wall. The other part of this is the climb-up, With the bottoms of the feet touching the wall a traceur pushes off with his feet and pulls up with his arms, the critical moment coming when the chest is almost level with the top of the wall. At this juncture the traceur must have enough upward momentum to reposition his hands the entire surface of both hands is on top of the wall then pushing up and thus having the waist at the top of the wall. Very experienced Traceurs can hang from a wall and within less that a second they are on top of the wall.
While the discipline is defined by its movement that is not to say that there is not a mental aspect. Many very experienced Traceurs use the Parkour mindset to not only overcome physical obstacles but mental and emotional barriers as well. When one trains to overcome physical obstacles that seem insurmountable one stops thinking about what is possible and impossible, one only thinks about how best to overcome what is. The Parkour community also has a way of seeing all the good things in a bad situation. If shoes don’t grip well on walls then better technique is needed; is shoes don’t have much cushion then better technique is needed to keep from hurting your feet upon impact. This mindset goes farther than just with Parkour, essentially giving the mindset that anything that is difficult will reward you in some way.
From it’s humble beginnings in Lisses to it’s increasing popularity around the world, Parkour has benefited from modern technology, videos are spread via youtube and people meet each other through forums. It’s core philosophy of moving quickly and efficiently, without letting barriers and obstacles impede progress can be seen as a return to the natural movement we see animals, such as monkeys and lemurs, performing. Many of the names of movements are inspired by animals they imitate, the cat grab, monkey vault, and so on. Many people see Parkour as skateboarding without the board but I see it as so much more, a way to master my environment and move as best as I am able.