1.
Video game industry
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The video game industry is the economic sector involved in the development, marketing and Monetizing of video games. It encompasses dozens of job disciplines and employs thousands of people worldwide, the computer and video game industry has grown from focused markets to mainstream. They took in about US$9.5 billion in the US in 2007,11.7 billion in 2008, sound cards were developed for addition of digital-quality sound to games and only later improved for music and audiophiles. Early on, graphics cards were developed for more colors, later, graphic cards were developed for graphical user interfaces and games, GUIs drove the need for high resolution, and games began using 3D acceleration. They also are one of the pieces of hardware to allow multiple hookups. Product and talent layer, includes developers, designers and artists, production and tools layer, generates content production tools, game development middleware, customizable game engines, and production management tools. Distribution layer, or the industry, involved in generating and marketing catalogs of games for retail. Hardware layer, or the providers of the platform, which may be console-based, accessed through online media. This layer now includes network infrastructure and non-hardware platforms such as machines, or software platforms such as browsers or even further Facebook. End-users layer, or the users/players of the games, the game industry employs those experienced in other traditional businesses, but some have experience tailored to the game industry. Some of the specific to the game industry include, game programmer, game designer, level designer, game producer, game artist. Most of these professionals are employed by video game developers or video game publishers, however, many hobbyists also produce computer games and sell them commercially. Recently, game developers have begun to employ those with extensive or long-term experience within the modding communities, prior to the 1970s, there was no significant commercial aspect of the video game industry, but many advances in computing would set the stage for the birth of the industry. In 1947 Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann filed a patent for a cathode ray tube amusement device and their game, which uses a cathode ray tube hooked to an oscilloscope display, challenges players to fire a gun at target. One of the first known examples is Spacewar, developed by Harvard and MIT employees Martin Graetz, Steve Russell, and Wayne Wiitanen. The introduction of easy-to-program languages like BASIC for mainframes allowed for more games to be developed. In 1971 the arcade game, Computer Space was released, the following year, Atari, Inc. released the first commercially successful video game, Pong, the original arcade version of which sold over 19,000 arcade cabinets. That same year saw the introduction of video games to the market with the release of the early video game console
2.
Banbury
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It had a population of 46,853 at the 2011 census. Banbury is a significant commercial and retail centre for the surrounding area, Banburys main industries are car components, electrical goods, plastics, food processing, and printing. Banbury is home to the worlds largest coffee-processing facility, built in 1964, the town is famed for Banbury cakes – similar to Eccles cakes but oval in shape. The name Banbury derives from Banna, a Saxon chieftain said to have built a stockade there in the 6th century, the name appears as Banesberie in Domesday Book. Another known spelling was Banesebury in Medieval times, during excavations for the construction of an office building in Hennef Way in 2002, the remains of a British Iron Age settlement with circular buildings dating back to 200 BC were found. The site contained around 150 pieces of pottery and stone, later there was a Roman villa at nearby Wykham Park. The area was settled by the Saxons around the late 5th century, in about 556 Banbury was the scene of a battle between the local Anglo-Saxons of Cynric and Ceawlin, and the local Romano-British. It was a centre for Anglo-Saxon settlement by the mid-6th century. Banbury developed in the Anglo-Saxon period under Danish influence, starting in the late 6th century and it was assessed at 50 hides in the Domesday survey and was then held by the Bishop of Lincoln. The Saxons built Banbury on the west bank of the River Cherwell, on the opposite bank they built Grimsbury, which was part of Northamptonshire but was incorporated into Banbury in 1889. Neithrop was one of the oldest areas in Banbury, having first been recorded as a hamlet in the 13th century and it was formally incorporated into the borough of Banbury in 1889. It continued through what is now Banburys High Street and towards the Fosse Way at Stow-on-the-Wold, Banburys mediæval prosperity was based on wool. Banbury Castle was built from 1135 by Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln, and survived into the Civil War, due to its proximity to Oxford, the Kings capital, Banbury was at one stage a Royalist town, but the inhabitants were known to be strongly Puritan. The castle was demolished after the war, the town was pro-Parliamentarian, but the castle was manned by a Royalist garrison who supported King Charles I. In 1645 during the Civil War, Parliamentary troops were billeted in nearby Hanwell for nine weeks, the opening of the Oxford Canal from Hawkesbury Junction to Banbury on 30 March 1778 gave the town a cheap and reliable supply of Warwickshire coal. In 1787 the Oxford Canal was extended southwards, finally opening to Oxford on 1 January 1790, the canals main boat yard was the original outlay of todays Tooleys Boatyard. Peoples Park was set up as a park in 1890 and opened in 1910. The land south of the Foscote Private Hospital in Calthorpe and Easington Farm were mostly farmland until the early 1960s as shown by the Ordnance Survey maps of 1964,1955 and 1947
3.
Vancouver
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Vancouver is a coastal seaport city in Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2016 census recorded 631,486 people in the city, the Greater Vancouver area had a population of 2,463,431 in 2016, making it the third largest metropolitan area in Canada. Vancouver has the highest population density in Canada with over 5,400 people per square kilometre. With over 250,000 residents, Vancouver municipality is the fourth most densely populated city in North America behind New York City, San Francisco, and Mexico City according to the 2011 census. In that census, Vancouver was one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities in Canada, Vancouver is classed as a Beta global city. In 2014, following thirty years in California, the annual TED conference made Vancouver its indefinite home, several matches of the 2015 FIFA Womens World Cup were played in Vancouver, including the final at BC Place Stadium. From that first enterprise, other stores and some hotels quickly appeared along the waterfront to the west, Gastown became formally laid out as a registered townsite dubbed Granville, B. I. As of 2014, Port Metro Vancouver is the third largest port by tonnage in the Americas, 27th in the world, the busiest and largest in Canada, and the most diversified port in North America. While forestry remains its largest industry, Vancouver is well known as an urban centre surrounded by nature, archaeological records indicate the presence of Aboriginal people in the Vancouver area from 8,000 to 10,000 years ago. The city is located in the territories of the Squamish, Musqueam. They had villages in various parts of present-day Vancouver, such as Stanley Park, False Creek, Kitsilano, Point Grey, the city takes its name from George Vancouver, who explored the inner harbour of Burrard Inlet in 1792 and gave various places British names. The explorer and North West Company trader Simon Fraser and his became the first known Europeans to set foot on the site of the present-day city. In 1808, they travelled from the east down the Fraser River, perhaps as far as Point Grey. The Fraser Gold Rush of 1858 brought over 25,000 men, mainly from California, to nearby New Westminster on the Fraser River, on their way to the Fraser Canyon, a sawmill established at Moodyville in 1863, began the citys long relationship with logging. It was quickly followed by mills owned by Captain Edward Stamp on the shore of the inlet. This mill, known as the Hastings Mill, became the nucleus around which Vancouver formed, the mills central role in the city waned after the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the 1880s. It nevertheless remained important to the economy until it closed in the 1920s. The settlement which came to be called Gastown grew up quickly around the original makeshift tavern established by Gassy Jack Deighton in 1867 on the edge of the Hastings Mill property
4.
Punched card
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A punched card or punch card is a piece of stiff paper that can be used to contain digital information represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions. The information might be data for data processing applications or, in earlier examples, the terms IBM card, or Hollerith card specifically refer to punched cards used in semiautomatic data processing. Many early digital computers used punched cards, often prepared using keypunch machines, while punched cards are now obsolete as a recording medium, as of 2012, some voting machines still use punched cards to record votes. Basile Bouchon developed the control of a loom by punched holes in paper tape in 1725, in 1801 Joseph Marie Jacquard demonstrated a mechanism to automate loom operation. A number of punched cards were linked into a chain of any length, each card held the instructions for shedding and selecting the shuttle for a single pass. It is considered an important step in the history of computing hardware, semen Korsakov was reputedly the first to use the punched cards in informatics for information store and search. Korsakov announced his new method and machines in September 1832, rather than seeking patents, charles Babbage proposed the use of Number Cards, pierced with certain holes and stand opposite levers connected with a set of figure wheels. Advanced they push in those levers opposite to which there are no holes on the card, Herman Hollerith invented the recording of data on a medium that could then be read by a machine. Prior uses of machine readable media, such as those above, had been for control, after some initial trials with paper tape, he settled on punched cards. Developing punched card data processing technology for the 1890 US census, other companies entering the punched card business included the Powers Accounting Machine Company, Remington Rand, and Groupe Bull. Both IBM and Remington Rand tied punched card purchases to machine leases, in 1932, the US government took both to court on this issue. IBM viewed its business as providing a service and that the cards were part of the machine, IBM fought all the way to the Supreme Court and lost in 1936, the court ruling that IBM could only set card specifications. According to the IBM Archives, By 1937, IBM had 32 presses at work in Endicott, N. Y. printing, cutting and stacking five to 10 million punched cards every day. Punched cards were used as legal documents, such as U. S. Government checks. Punched card technology developed into a tool for business data-processing. By 1950 punched cards had become ubiquitous in industry and government, do not fold, spindle or mutilate, a generalized version of the warning that appeared on some punched cards, became a motto for the post-World War II era. In 1955 IBM signed a consent decree requiring, amongst other things, tom Watson Jr. s decision to sign this decree, where IBM saw the punched card provisions as the most significant point, completed the transfer of power to him from Thomas Watson, Sr. The UNITYPER introduced magnetic tape for data entry in the 1950s, during the 1960s, the punched card was gradually replaced as the primary means for data storage by magnetic tape, as better, more capable computers became available
5.
Commodore PET
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The Commodore PET is a line of home/personal computers produced starting in 1977 by Commodore International. The first model, which was named the PET2001, was the personal computer ever made available to retail consumers, after the Apple II. In the 1970s Commodore was one of many companies selling calculators designed around Dallas-based Texas Instruments chips. Commodore responded to this by searching for a set they could purchase outright. At Commodore, Peddle convinced Jack Tramiel that calculators were a dead-end, in September 1976 Peddle got a demonstration of Jobs and Wozniaks Apple II prototype, when Jobs was offering to sell it to Commodore, but Commodore considered Jobs offer too expensive. Tramiel demanded that Peddle, Bill Seiler, and John Feagans create a computer in time for the June 1977 Consumer Electronics Show, tramiels son, Leonard, helped design the PETSCII graphic characters and acted as quality control. The result was the first all-in-one home computer, the PET and its 6502 processor controlled the screen, keyboard, cassette tape recorders and any peripherals connected to one of the computers several expansion ports. The machine also included a built-in Datasette for data storage located on the front of the case, the data transfer rate to cassette tape was 1500 baud, but the data was recorded to tape twice for safety, giving an effective rate of 750 baud. The PET2001 was announced at the Winter CES in January 1977, however, the PET was back-ordered for months and to ease deliveries, early in 1978 Commodore decided to cancel the 4 kB version. However, this took six months to finally happen, during which time Microsoft lost money. At the end of the year, the company was saved by Apples decision to license Microsoft BASIC for the Apple II line. The key tops also tended to rub off easily, reliability was fairly poor, although that was not atypical of many early microcomputers. Because of the keyboard on the PET, external replacement ones quickly appeared. On the other hand, Commodore was a year behind Apple, in 1979, Commodore replaced the original PET2001 with an improved model known as the 2001-N. The new machine used a standard green-phosphor monitor in place of the blue in the original 2001. It now had a conventional, full-sized keyboard and no longer sported the built-in cassette recorder, the kernel ROM was upgraded to add support for Commodores newly introduced disk drive line. It was offered in 8kB, 16kB, or 32kB models as the 2001-N8, 2001-N16, the 2001-N switched to using conventional DRAM instead of the 6550 SRAM in the original model. PET 2001-8Ns had eight 2108 DRAMs and 2001-16Ns used sixteen 2108s, the PET4016 used eight 4116 chips
6.
Dungeons & Dragons
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Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997 and it was derived from miniature wargames with a variation of the Chainmail game serving as the initial rule system. D&Ds publication is commonly recognized as the beginning of modern role-playing games, D&D departs from traditional wargaming and assigns each player a specific character to play instead of a military formation. These characters embark upon imaginary adventures within a fantasy setting, a Dungeon Master serves as the games referee and storyteller, while maintaining the setting in which the adventures occur and playing the role of the inhabitants. The characters form a party that interacts with the settings inhabitants, together they solve dilemmas, engage in battles and gather treasure and knowledge. In the process the characters experience points to become increasingly powerful over a series of sessions. The early success of Dungeons & Dragons led to a proliferation of game systems. Despite this competition, D&D remains the leader in the role-playing game industry. In 1977, the game was split into two branches, the relatively rules-light game system of Dungeons & Dragons and the more structured, AD&D 2nd Edition was published in 1989. In 2000, the line of the game was discontinued. These rules formed the basis of the d20 System which is available under the Open Game License for use by other publishers, Dungeons & Dragons version 3.5 was released in June 2003, with a 4th edition in June 2008. A 5th edition was released during the half of 2014. The game has been supplemented by many adventures as well as commercial campaign settings suitable for use by regular gaming groups. The game has won awards and has been translated into many languages beyond the original English. Dungeons & Dragons is a structured yet open-ended role-playing game and it is normally played indoors with the participants seated around a tabletop. Typically, each player only a single character, which represents an individual in a fictional setting. During the course of play, each player directs the actions of their character, a game often continues over a series of meetings to complete a single adventure, and longer into a series of related gaming adventures, called a campaign. The results of the choices and the overall storyline for the game are determined by the Dungeon Master according to the rules of the game
7.
Commodore VIC-20
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The VIC-20 is an 8-bit home computer that was sold by Commodore Business Machines. The VIC-20 was announced in 1980, roughly three years after Commodores first personal computer, the PET, the VIC-20 was the first computer of any description to sell one million units. The VIC-20 was intended to be more economical than the PET computer and it was equipped with 5 KB of static RAM and used the same MOS6502 CPU as the PET. As the Apple II gained momentum with the advent of VisiCalc in 1979, Jack Tramiel wanted a product that would compete in the same segment, for this reason Chuck Peddle and Bill Seiler started to design a computer named TOI. The TOI computer failed to materialize, mostly because it required an 80-column character display which in turn required the MOS Technology 6564 chip, however, the chip could not be used in the TOI since it required very expensive static RAM to operate fast enough. The serial IEEE 488-derivative CBM-488 interface was designed by Glen Stark, some features, like the memory add-in board, were designed by Bill Seiler. Altogether, the VIC20 development team consisted of five people, wed swipe whatever equipment we needed to get our jobs done. There was no way to get the work done. Theyd discover it was missing and they would just order more stuff from the warehouse, at the time, Commodore had an oversupply of 1 kbit×4 SRAM chips, so Tramiel decided that these should be used in the new computer. The end result was closer to the PET or TOI computers than to Yannes prototype. The original Revision A system board found in all silver-label VIC-20s used 2114 SRAMs and due to their tiny size, ten of them were required to reach 5k of system RAM. The Revision B system board, found in rainbow logo VIC-20s switched to larger 2048 byte SRAMs which reduced the count to five chips,2 x 2048 bytes chips +3 x 2114 chips. VIC-20s went through several variations in their 3-1/2 years of production, first-year models had a PET-style keyboard with a blocky font while most VIC-20s made during 1982 had a slightly different keyboard also shared with early C64s. The rainbow logo VIC-20 was introduced in early 1983 and has the newer C64 keyboard with gray function keys and it has a similar power supply to the C64 PSU, although the amperage is slightly lower. Older Revision A VIC-20s cannot use a C64 PSU or vice versa as their power requirement is too high, in April 1980, at a meeting of general managers outside London, Jack Tramiel declared that he wanted a low-cost color computer. When most of the GMs argued against it, he said, The Japanese are coming and this was in keeping with Tramiels philosophy which was to make computers for the masses, not the classes. Then, the project was given to Commodore Japan, a team led by Yash Terakura created the VIC-1001 for the Japanese market. The VIC-20 was marketed in Japan as VIC-1001 before VIC-20 was introduced to the US, when they returned to California from that meeting, Tomczyk wrote a 30-page memo detailing recommendations for the new computer, and presented it to Tramiel
8.
Video game clone
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A video game clone is either a video game which is very similar to or heavily inspired by a previous popular game or series. It also applies to a third-party remake of a game console. The term is derogatory, implying a lack of originality and creativity, however. Accusing a game of being a clone carries the implication that its developers or publishers try to profit off of the exemplars success, in particularly bad cases this may be seen as a form of plagiarism or fraud and could be taken to court. Cloning a game in digital marketplaces is common, because it is hard to prevent, developers can copyright the graphics, title, story, and characters, but they cannot easily protect software design and game mechanics. A patent for the mechanics is possible, but acquiring one is expensive, within the field of video games, popular game concepts often lead to that concept becoming incorporated or expanded upon by other developers. In other cases, games may be developed with clear influence from one or more earlier games, such derivations are not always considered clones though the term may be used to make a comparison between games. As copyright law does not protect gameplay concepts, the reuse of such ideas is considered acceptable. The genre of endless runners is based on the success and simplicity of the game Canabalt, BYTE reported in December 1981 that at least eight clones of Atari, Inc. s arcade game Asteroids existed for personal computers. The magazine stated in December 1982 that that year few games broke new ground in either design or format, if the public really likes an idea, it is milked for all its worth, and numerous clones of a different color soon crowd the shelves. That is, until the public stops buying or something comes along. Companies who believe that games are the hula hoop of the 1980s only want to play Quick Profit. Such cloning of video games initially bore out from arcade games, a new resurgence in cloned video games came with the rise of social network games, typically which were offered as freemium titles to entice new players to play. More recently, the cost, ease and simplicity of the tools needed to develop mobile games has made cloning in that sector a significant problem. For example, Flappy Bird had been cloned numerous times due to programming code clearinghouses offering templated code that others could easily add their own art assets. Had spent several months to fine-tune their gameplay mechanics, but was overshadowed by 2048. In present-day law, it is held that game mechanics of a video game are part of its software. The United States Copyright Office specifically notes, Copyright does not protect the idea for a game, its name or title, nor does copyright protect any idea, system, method, device, or trademark material involved in developing, merchandising, or playing a game
9.
Fourth generation of video game consoles
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In the history of computer and video games, the fourth generation of games consoles began on October 30,1987 with the Japanese release of NEC Home Electronics PC Engine. This generation saw strong console wars, Nintendo was able to capitalize on its previous success in the third generation and managed to win the largest worldwide market share in the fourth generation as well. Sega was extremely successful in this generation and began a new franchise, Sonic the Hedgehog, several other companies released consoles in this generation, but none of them were widely successful. Nevertheless, several companies started to take notice of the maturing video game industry. This generation ended with the discontinuation of the Neo Geo in 2004 and it launched in North America during August 1989, under the name TurboGrafx-16. Initially, the PC Engine was quite successful in Japan, partly due to titles available on the then-new CD-ROM format, NEC released a CD add-on in 1990 and by 1992 had released a combination TurboGrafx and CD-ROM system known as the TurboDuo. In the United States, NEC used Bonk, a caveman, as their mascot. The TurboGrafx-16 failed to maintain its sales momentum or to make an impact in North America. The TurboGrafx-16 and its CD combination system, the Turbo Duo, ceased manufacturing in North America by 1994, though a small amount of software continued to trickle out for the platform. In Japan, a number of adult titles were also available for the PC Engine, such as a variety of strip mahjong games. The Mega Drive was released in Japan on October 29,1988, the console was released in New York City and Los Angeles on August 14,1989 under the name Sega Genesis, and in the rest of North America later that year. It was launched in Europe and Australia on November 30,1990 under its original name and their advertising was often directly adversarial, leading to commercials such as Genesis does what Nintendont and the SEGA. scream. Segas version of Mortal Kombat received generally favorable reviews in the gaming press. With the new ESRB rating system in place, Nintendo reconsidered its position for the release of Mortal Kombat II, the Toy Retail Sales Tracking Service reported that during the key shopping month of November 1994, 63% of all 16-bit video game consoles sold were Sega systems. The console was never popular in Japan, but still managed to sell 40 million units worldwide, by late 1995, Sega was supporting five different consoles and two add-ons, and Sega Enterprises chose to discontinue the Mega Drive in Japan to concentrate on the new Sega Saturn. Nintendos fourth-generation console, the Super Famicom, was released in Japan on November 21,1990, the machine reached North America as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System on August 23,1991, and Europe and Australia in April 1992. Later titles such as Star Fox and Donkey Kong Country would keep the Super Famicom/SNES relevant well into the fifth generation era of 32-, the CD-i format was announced in the late 80s, with the first machines compatible with the format being released in 1991. The Phillips CD-i main selling point was that it was more than a game machine, due to an agreement between Nintendo in Philips about an abortive CD add-on for the SNES, Philips also had rights to use some of Nintendo franchises
10.
Sega
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Nonetheless, Sega remains the worlds most prolific arcade producer, with over 500 games in over 70 franchises on more than 20 different arcade system boards since 1981. Sega, along with their sub-studios, are known for their multi-million selling game franchises, such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Virtua Fighter, Phantasy Star, Yakuza, Segas head offices are located in Tokyo. Segas North American division, Sega of America, is headquartered in Irvine, California, Segas European division, Sega Europe, is headquartered in London. After the war, the founders sold that company and established a new distributor called Service Games and this company provided coin-operated slot machines to U. S. bases in Japan and changed its name again to Service Games of Japan by 1953. David Rosen, an American officer in the United States Air Force stationed in Japan and this company eventually became Rosen Enterprises, and in 1957, began importing coin-operated games to Japan. On May 31,1960, Service Games Japan was closed, Three days later, two new companies were established to take over its business activities, Nihon Goraku Bussan and Nihon Kikai Seizo. By 1965, Rosen Enterprises grew to a chain of over 200 arcades, Rosen then orchestrated a merger between Rosen Enterprises and Nihon Goraku Bussan, becoming chief executive of the new company, Sega Enterprises, which derived its name from Service Games. Within a year, Sega began the transition from importer to manufacturer, with the release of the submarine simulator game, the game sported light and sound effects considered innovative for that time, eventually becoming quite successful in Japan. It was soon exported to both Europe and the United States, becoming the first arcade game in the US to cost 25 cents per play, in 1969, Rosen sold Sega to American conglomerate Gulf and Western Industries, although he remained as CEO following the sale. Under Rosens leadership, Sega continued to grow and prosper, and in 1974, Gulf and Western made Sega Enterprises, a subsidiary of an American company renamed Sega Enterprises, Inc. allowing them to take the companys stock public. Sega prospered heavily from the gaming boom of the late 1970s. In 1982, Segas revenues surpassed $214 million and that year they introduced the first game with isometric graphics, Zaxxon, the industrys first stereoscopic 3D game, SubRoc 3D, and the first laserdisc video game, Astron Belt. Astron Belt wasnt released in the U. S. until 1983, other notable games from Sega during this period are Head On, Monaco GP, Carnival, Turbo, Space Fury, Astro Blaster, and Pengo. In 1983-4, Sega published Atari 2600 versions of some of its arcade games, Carnival, Space Fury, Turbo, and Zaxxon were licensed to Coleco as launch titles for the ColecoVision console in 1982. Some of these and other titles were licensed to different companies for 8-bit computer versions, the Atari 8-bit computer port of Zaxxon is from Datasoft, for example, while the Commodore 64 port is from Synapse. An overabundance of games in 1983 led to the game crash. Seeking an alternate source of revenue from the arcade market, Sega designed and released its first home video game console. G&W sold the U. S. assets of Sega Enterprises that same year to pinball manufacturer Bally Manufacturing, nakayama became the new CEO of Sega, Robert Deith chairman of the board, and Rosen became head of its subsidiary in the United States
11.
Nintendo
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Nintendo Co. Ltd. is a Japanese multinational consumer electronics and video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. Nintendo is one of the worlds largest video game companies by market capitalization, founded on 23 September 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it originally produced handmade hanafuda playing cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small businesses, such as cab services. The word Nintendo can be translated from Japanese to English as leave luck to heaven. From 1992 until 2016, Nintendo was also the majority shareholder of Major League Baseballs Seattle Mariners, as of 31 March 2014, Nintendo has cumulative sales of over 670.43 million hardware units and 4.23 billion software units. The company has created and released some of the best-known and top-selling video game franchises, such as Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Nintendo was founded as a card company in late 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi. Based in Kyoto, Japan, the produced and marketed a playing card game called Hanafuda. The handmade cards soon became popular, and Yamauchi hired assistants to mass-produce cards to satisfy demand, in 1949, the company adopted the name Nintendo Karuta Co. Ltd. doing business as The Nintendo Playing Card Co. outside Japan. Nintendo continues to manufacture playing cards in Japan and organizes its own contract bridge tournament called the Nintendo Cup. In 1956, Hiroshi Yamauchi, grandson of Fusajiro Yamauchi, visited the U. S. to talk with the United States Playing Card Company and he found that the biggest playing card company in the world was using only a small office. Yamauchis realization that the card business had limited potential was a turning point. He then acquired the license to use Disney characters on playing cards to drive sales, in 1963, Yamauchi renamed Nintendo Playing Card Co. Ltd. to Nintendo Co. Ltd. The company then began to experiment in other areas of business using newly injected capital during the period of time between 1963 and 1968, Nintendo set up a taxi company called Daiya. However, Nintendo was forced to sell it because problems with the unions were making it too expensive to run the service. It also set up a hotel chain, a TV network. All of these ventures failed, and after the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, playing card sales dropped. In 1966, Nintendo moved into the Japanese toy industry with the Ultra Hand, Yokoi was moved from maintenance to the new Nintendo Games department as a product developer. Nintendo continued to produce toys, including the Ultra Machine, Love Tester
12.
ROM cartridge
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ROM cartridges can be used to load software such as video games or other application programs. The cartridge slot could also be used for additions, for example speech synthesis. Some cartridges had battery-backed static random-access memory, allowing a user to save data such as game progress or scores between uses, an advantage for the manufacturer was the relative security of the software in cartridge form, which was difficult for end users to replicate. However, cartridges were expensive to manufacture compared to making a floppy disk or CD-ROM, as disk drives became more common and software expanded beyond the practical limits of ROM size, cartridge slots disappeared from later game consoles and personal computers. Cartridges are still used today with handheld gaming consoles such as the Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, due to its widespread usage for video gaming, ROM cartridges were often colloquially referred to as a game cartridge. ROM cartridges were popularized by early home computers which featured a special bus port for the insertion of cartridges containing software in ROM. Notable computers using cartridges in addition to magnetic media were the Commodore VIC-20 and 64, MSX standard, the Atari 8-bit family, the Texas Instruments TI-99/4A, some arcade system boards, such as Capcoms CP System and SNKs Neo Geo, also used ROM cartridges. The modern take on game cartridges was invented by Jerry Lawson as part of the Fairchild Channel F home console in 1976, the cartridge approach gained more popularity with the Atari 2600 released the following year. From the late 1970s to mid-1990s, the majority of video game systems were cartridge-based. As compact disc technology came to be used widely for data storage, Nintendo remained the lone hold-out, using cartridges for their Nintendo 64 system, the company did not transition to optical media until 2001s GameCube. SNK still released games on the cartridge based Neo Geo until 2004, ROM cartridges can not only carry software, but additional hardware expansion as well. Examples include the Super FX coprocessor chip in some Super NES game paks, micro Machines 2 on the Genesis/Mega Drive used a custom J-Cart cartridge design by Codemasters which incorporated two additional gamepad ports. This allowed players to have up to four gamepads connected to the console without the need for an additional multi-controller adapter, the ROM cartridge slot principle continues in various mobile devices, thanks to the development of high density low-cost flash memory. For example, a GPS navigation device might allow user updates of maps by inserting a memory chip into an expansion slot. An E-book reader can store the text of several books on a flash chip. Personal computers may allow the user to boot and install a system off a USB flash drive instead of CD ROM or floppy disks. Digital cameras with flash drive slots allow users to exchange cards when full. Storing software on ROM cartridges has a number of advantages over other methods of storage like floppy disks, software run directly from ROM typically uses less RAM, leaving memory free for other processes
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