I know a lot of you readers may think any computer game that came before 2005 is ancient, but there’s a long history behind video games! One of the first games I enjoyed playing with my friends was Oregon Trail (1981), but as old as the original Oregon Trail seems – it doesn’t even begin to compare to some of the first video games ever made.
Would you believe that the world’s first video game dates back to 1947… hard to imagine! The “Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device” was a lot different than what a player in today’s world would think of a game. Developed by Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr and Estle Ray Mann, this game was a missile simulator inspired by combat in World War II. Analog circuitry was used instead of digital to display the cathode ray tube beam on the screen, and players would aim the beam at a target drawn on a sheet of paper that was placed over the screen. Why paper? They didn’t have the ability to generate game graphics yet!
Remember the classic Atari game Pong? That may seem like an older video game, but there’s actually a similar much earlier predecessor! A man named William Higinbotham created a game in 1958 called Tennis for Two. Made to entertain visitors at the Brookhaven National Library, Tennis for Two had simple graphics displaying a tennis court. This two-player game required a ball to be passed over the virtual “net”, and to do so, each player held a box-shaped controller with a knob and a button to “hit” the ball back to their opponent.
Photo by Wikia
In later years, scholars at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) took the concept of video games further with titles like Mouse in the Maze, HAX, and Tic-Tac-Toe. These games, created from 1959-1961, incorporated simple computer graphics. Later from MIT came Spacewar! This game is credited as the first influential video game, because it was placed on new computers of its time and was even traded on a very early version of the internet.
We’ve come a long way with internet gaming since Spacewar! but without titles like these, there would be no Wizard101 or Pirate101 today! If you’re interested in learning more about the history behind gaming, check out this cool timeline created by the International Center for the History of Electronic Games. There’s definitely a lot more history behind gaming than I could put into this blog post!
Do you have a favorite “classic” video game from your past?
Did you know that March 2nd is “Old Stuff Day”? We had never heard of this strange holiday before, but sure enough, there it was, listed on daysoftheyear.com – complete with five fun ways you can celebrate this unique day of the year:
- Be nostalgic
- Appreciate vintage items
- Declutter
- Learn
- Reflect
We know we have a lot of faithful players who’ve been playing right from the beginning, or even before the beginning, in the Beta testing phase. Leah Ruben, our Senior Producer for Wizard101, was right there as well . . . only at the time she was the Associate Producer.
When asked about those old days she had a couple of fun thoughts to share, “At the time, KingsIsle was a lot smaller, and we wore lots of hats. During an average week before launch, I might have been addressing labels for our alpha discs, in game placing sound effects, ordering dinner for people who were working late, helping to design the prototype for our first website and message boards, or in our VO booth, screaming like a banshee!” She continued, “It’s fun to look back at those old times, and when I hold an old Alpha Disc in my hands, those memories come flooding back.” (You may have seen Moolinda Wu showing off one of these discs in the recent KI Live.)
A lot of players have also been great collectors from day one, gaining several items that are very hard to get these days. Items like the FOG Staff, which was a promotional weapon only available by code from the Fun Online Games (thus F.O.G. Staff) magazine. You’ll see us from time-to-time breaking out old items for a special Throwback Thursday sale in Wizard101 or through a fan site promotion. What’s old can always become new again!
Along with time comes clutter! We understand it can be hard on your inventory space when you’re an avid collector of fun old items. Remember when you couldn’t put that FOG Staff on the walls of your house and had to keep it in the bank? We know you do! It’s quite amazing to see all the features that have been added over time to help deal with the daily clutter of farming and collecting items in Wizard101. Seed vaults, mannequins, weapons on housing walls . . . who knows what the future will hold to further help you? One thing is for sure: today is a great day to head to the Bazaar or your favorite vendor to offload some old items you just don’t need to keep around anymore.
As for learning from the past, there’s always valuable advice that’s still sound . . . even seven years later! Check out this old blog post from one of our original blogging stars, Tipa from Westkarana.com. Even today, it has great advice for building smaller decks and using the reshuffle card (even though some commentary on using pets for their cards is a bit dated with the invention of Advanced Pets).
And if you’re looking to reflect on Old Stuff Day today, we kindly ask you to leave a comment on this blog post and let us know what you’ve learned through all your years of playing Wizard101. If you’re looking for a tale to tell, maybe start with some of these questions to get you going:
- What’s the first house you ever purchased?
- What’s the first mount you ever rode?
- What’s the first plant you ever grew?
- What’s the oldest item in your backpack?
Let’s hear about your favorite old memory, item, or thought from the past years of playing Wizard101!
See you in the spiral, old timers.
It’s Throwback Thursday again, so why don’t we take a trip down memory lane in the Spiral? Hop in the B.O.X. with the Professor and let’s travel way, way back to this month seven years ago, in 2009!
Back in Wizard101’s second year, the game celebrated its first big milestone of one million players. To commemorate this achievement, a fountain was placed outside of Merle Ambrose’s house, dedicated to the millionth Wizard, Fiona AshBlood. For a limited time, players also received 101 Crowns to celebrate. It was an exciting time in the early days of the Spiral. Were you one of the first million Wizards to join the game before February 2009?
Since that time, Wizard101 has continued to grow with millions more Wizards continuing to join the adventure in the Spiral. Later in 2009, the fountain was removed and a new statue added in Wizard City, to celebrate the 5-millionth player. You’ve no doubt seen it while fishing in the Commons pond. The statue features two Wizards and a piggle pet with an inscription that reads “Gratias Ago Vos.” This message means “thank you” in Latin and serves to honor all of the players who have helped make Wizard101 the wonderful game that it is today. In honor of the most recent milestone in 2014, players were given a gorgeous monolith housing item to celebrate 50 million players in the Spiral.
Another notable event in February 2009 was the game update that improved the True Friend system. True Friend codes are a great way to share Wizard101 with friends and family. When you generate the unique code and give it to someone, they can then enter it and will be added to your friends list with their name in green.
Booster Packs are common in Wizard101 today, but that wasn’t always the case. Back in 2009 the first ever Treasure Card Booster Pack, Eye of Bartleby, was introduced. Since then lots of new packs have been added with housing items, mounts, spells, jewels and more!
We hope you enjoyed this nostalgic trip through days of the Spiral’s past for this Throwback Thursday. Share your memories from the early days of Wizard101 in the comments!
Did you know that we’ve recently soft launched our second new mobile game? It’s true! AlphaCat is a brand new match-three game from KingsIsle that’s coming first to Canada and then to the world shortly after.
We’ve got a lot of great information in this blog post to get you started. Read on for the basics about AlphaCat, a couple of helpful starter tips and even some important links to social pages that you can ‘Like’ and ‘Follow’ to keep an eye on KingsIsle’s newest game.
But first things first–you have to check out all the awesome feline power featured in the official trailer:
To anyone wondering, “who is this AlphaCat anyway?” Well, the AlphaCat is planet Whiskar’s first space explorer tasked to battle and defeat your planet’s enemies! Playing as the AlphaCat you’ll seek out treasure, treats, and crew members across the galaxy while watching out for tough enemies on the prowl.
Watch out! Running into an opponent in a dungeon pulls you into battle. It takes matching strings of tiles to win—the longer the string of tiles you match, the more damage you and your crew members deliver. PURRFECT!
Here’s a helpful tip for new players: Don’t forget to take advantage of the abilities your crew members build up while in battle. Those cute buddies of yours can really pack a punch! Different crew members have different abilities, so try to find a diverse crew that will best help you with the mission at hand.
Here’s another helpful tip: Don’t forget to upgrade yourself and your crew members! As you progress, you’ll face tougher and tougher enemies and tricky obstacles.
Ready to pounce yet? If you are, AlphaCat is currently available in Canada with world launch coming in Spring 2016! If you’re in Canada, please find AlphaCat in the Google Play store, with Amazon and Apple Stores to follow, and be sure to review the game to let us know what you think. For the rest of you, follow us on our social media outlets for late-breaking information on the upcoming world release of AlphaCat.
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AlphaCatGame
- Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AlphaCatGame
- Google +: https://plus.google.com/111472241548100658155
If you’re looking for even more information, you’ll find a wealth of knowledge on AlphaCat’s homepage https://www.alphacatgame.com — planet Whiskar needs you!
Did you know today, February 16th, is Innovation Day? This is a special day that’s set apart and dedicated to paying tribute to all those amazing innovative ideas around us. Every day at KingsIsle we see innovation happening both from our employees and from our amazing players. Let’s take a look at a couple of amazing and recent innovations that have happened from both sides of the fence.
KingsIsle recently released a really cool bundle for fans of Wizard101 to purchase called, the Jewel Crafter’s Bundle. Josef Hall, vice president and creative director at KingsIsle Entertainment, wanted to have our Crystal Unicorn Mounts, crystal butterfly pets, and shard warrior armor and hammer be SHINY! In fact, he wanted them to be shinier than our light mapping techniques currently allowed. The team went to work so the shiny items wouldn’t fall flat and figured out a way to push the envelope a little more to bring those items to life – that new innovative technique is now integrated into Wizard101, and we’ll be able to use it on all kinds of things now (including a certain funny item coming up for April Fool’s Day).
Other innovations have also been made with the release of Polaris. We now have slippery ice and new NPC characters that blink their eyes! It’s the innovative touches like these that make Wizard101 get better and better with time.
Our players show innovation every day. We love the innovative efforts our player groups like the Mercenaries for Hire and Duelist101 put into figuring out strategies for beating those big bad cheating bosses in the Spiral. Not to mention that every day our players come up with very innovative strategies to duel each other in the PvP arenas. Our more creative fans even innovate with their fanart and fan fiction where they blend their personal talents with our original characters. It’s a lot of fun and makes for amazing pictures like this one from Aaron ShadowRider (aka Dark Rapier).
Currently, the final boss in Wizard101 is a big mean character known as Rasputin. This is a difficult instance that should require a group, but thanks to innovative players like Skelemystyk, there’s now a really innovative strategy to solo this very difficult boss. That’s innovation every soloing wizard101 player can appreciate.
Do you have an example of something innovative you do in Wizard101, Pirate101, or one of our mobile games? We’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Happy innovation day!
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