The 10 biggest gaming innovations ever by meodia.com

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I had to use two posts because the whole article won't fit into one.

10: Accomplishment Rewards (Achievements)

Other than showing off or having a touch of OCD there was no reason to get 100% completion in a game. There was no real reason to use a weapon other than the one you had grown comfortable with, or use a different move-set when dispatching a group of enemies. You got nothing bar a couple of points for pulling off moves with grace and flair and worse still you couldn't show the world just how good you were. Then Microsoft's Live "Achievements" came around, offering you gamer points for performing well in videogames. It changed the way people played games, even if you don't think you go after achievements I'm sure most of you figured "I'll just change my weapon here so I get an achievement for killing 30 enemies with it" or maybe thought "yes I'll play through the game on a harder difficulty section to get the achievement because my friend has". That's the beauty of it, while on its own the additional gamer points are nothing more impressive than a high-score on a leader-board; your score is displayed next to your name for the world to see. Connect online and everybody can see just how good you are at gaming which of course leads you to revisit games to get those "easy" achievements and before you know if you've started competing against people, comparing their games to yours and seeing just who comes out on top. I'm sure there are many of you thinking "well this isn't me, I don't care about them" but many people do, I think it was a year after Xbox Live got Achievements when the PSN suddenly got "Trophies", which while legally completely different is extremely similar. Sony isn't the only one that copied, Nintendo has tried it in a couple of games like Metroid Prime 3 and developers seem to love the idea so much that they'll include achievement-like rewards on the Wii when it has no support, like in the Wii version of Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands. They're still fun to attempt but because they're locked in a single game if just fails to capture what it's like on the other consoles.

So what's it done for gaming? Accomplishment Rewards adds greater challenge to games, it forces people to play through them again in different ways and it generally helps them appreciate their games more. It also creates friendly rivalries and competition which gamers are hard-wired for. Remember the more play time you get out of a game the better value for money and to top-it-all, it's all extra; no reason to do it at all.

9: Downloadable Content Since the advent of the internet people have thought, and perchance dreamt, about getting free content for their favourite games. PC gamers have been creating their own maps and mods for their favourite games since before consoles even realised the potential of connecting to the interwebs. It was really this selection of dedicated fans that make the game developers think "what if we could do that for all of our games, wouldn't that be cool?" The Dreamcast was the first to provide Downloadable content as we know it. The service was very limited as the Dreamcast had no built-in hard drive and internet connections throughout the world were still predominately using 56K modems. As such most of the content was menu themes, an additional weapon or two and maybe a new maps if you were lucky, all for free, but the seeds of the future were sown. Then it happened, in 2002 the game Mech Assault charged the user for downloading the additional content. This of course make all developers much more interested in the whole DLC scene and the next generation (this one encase you're not following) it became the norm to release extra stuff for a "small" fee. Of course with the case of Guitar Hero and the Rock band series it also means that the game will always be up to date. Downloadable Content now allows developers to play around with their games long after deadlines, improve on things they just didn't have the time for and really push the boundaries after they've already got their pay checks. For the end user that can mean brand new campaigns, more multiplayer maps, additional challenges and missions, weapons, costumes, different modes or maybe just an unlock code. DLC can be a force of good for the gamer, providing additional content they crave for their favourite games or a force of greater capitalism. Where developers, publishers and (in the case of Microsoft) even the service providers can and do abuse the system to make players pay for ridiculous things or things that they already technically own. Love it or loathe it, it's here to stay.

So what's it done for gaming? Downloadable Content is really quite simple, it gives players what they want; more of the games they love. It allows developers a way to carry on with their games and get it to the consumer without the need or hassle of releasing a sequel or expansion pack. Provided it's used correctly it gives everybody what they want but there are times when I worry this innovation will also be the downfall of gaming as we know it.

8: Lock-On Target System1998, that's when the world first got to experience the abilities to lock the camera onto an enemy and then skilfully dispatch it in a blur of sword strokes. It was a ground breaking game that gave us the abilities and everybody (and I mean everybody) loved it. I'm of course talking about The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Naturally it wasn't the only revolutionary technique the game brought to the table, it also founded the 3D adventure genre we know and also contextual based buttons that the Assassin's Creed series is such a fan of but the Lock-on system was sheer brilliance. After the jump from 2D graphics to 3D, game developers all over had one major problem; the camera. Before you had it fixed showing a cross section of the world or you fixed it behind showing the world in front but now with the ability to freely move around in all three planes everything became a bit harder. Then how do you get players to look at what you want, how do you provide a good view in combat and yet not restrict control from the player. The solution, provide a system where the player themselves are alerted to areas of interest and then give them the option to zoom in on them and focus the camera on them. This had the dual effect of providing a good view of the attack but also aimed the character towards the enemy (or object) so you weren't just randomly waving your sword around near enemies in the hopes of hitting them. Pretty much every game now has a form of lock-on. From the current Zelda, to Fallout 3, from GTA IV, to Red Steel 2. You probably don't even realise you're doing it anymore it's become such a natural response, see enemy, press button and then let loose the dogs of war as all your attacks head in the direction you wanted it to.

So what's it done for gaming? It provided a reliable, adaptive and durable camera. This in turn made games a lot more fluid and fun. Everybody copied it and out of it brilliant games where made, simple as that.

7: 3D GraphicsBy the 90's the world was ready for a new generation of consoles, and with it a new way of viewing games. We wanted fully rendered 3D landscapes and any game that didn't feature them, well we weren't going to buy them. Sure games like Star Fox and Virtual Fighter did manage 3D gaming environments beforehand this was when all the big boys appeared. Mario 64 on the N64, Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast(okay the DC is 6th gen), Tomb Raider for the Sega Saturn and Crash bandicoot for the Playstation. They showed the world just what was possible with the ability of a third plane, and as the Lock-On System above showed it wasn't without its problems. Many games just couldn't manage the transition, developers that make excellent 2D games just couldn't get their heads around this new scary 3D world and there were a lot of very poor games made as everybody struggled to keep up with the advancing technology. It was worth the hassle though, with this new age of gaming everything opened up. The traditional RPG suddenly exploded with possibilities when Finial Fantasy VII appeared. As mentioned the action/adventure genre was created with Zelda: OoT, platforming was brought up to new heights with Mario 64. Then the fledgling FPS on the home consoles was born and Goldeneye showed the world the future with its excellent multiplayer.

So what's it done for gaming? 3D gaming forced every genre to evolve and adapt or die out. The result is the games we play today, I don't think I have to say anything more.

6: D-PadIt's hard to imagine a world without the humble D-pad, really, I wasn't born before it appeared on the scene and probably many of you weren't either (first appeared in 1982 if you want to know). Before that games either made do with separate buttons controlling your direction or bulky joysticks. This was no good for Nintendo's Gunpei Yokoi, he required something small and easy to use in his "Game and Watch" series. Seeing something similar used on the game "Cosmic Hunter", on Milton Bradley's Microvision portable console, Gunpei Yokoi adapted the control scheme to that of a single pad on top of four buttons that controlled a characters movement. This provided precision control just by using just your thumb with the added bonus of being small and only slightly protruding out of surfaces. The D-pad became the staple of control for all consoles afterwards, all Nintendo products used it, including the NES and Game Boy. And while the D-pad has since been over taken (keep reading) Yokoi's legacy lives on, I can look and see a D-pad proudly placed on the Wiimote, on the Xbox 360 controller and a similar looking set of four buttons on the PS3 controller. Not forgetting the fact that despite the touchscreen and new analogue stick there is still one on the new 3DS.

So what's it done for gaming? Provided gamers with a standard and easy way to control every character in every game. No longer would they need to learn different button combinations or deal with stubborn joysticks, they could just pick up and play.

5: Analogue StickThe D-pad was great, it's on this list for starters so that's got to tell you something but that doesn't mean it was perfect. The analogue stick was the natural progression, the D-Pad initially only offered four directions, later versions provided a whopping 16 directions but it still wasn't enough with the advent of 360 3D gaming. Yes 3D gaming once again appeared and found the technology at the time just wasn't good enough, allowing the analogue stick to become king. When compiling this list there was quite a bit of debate over who came up with the analogue stick and then who made it popular? The first answer is simple enough, in same year the D-pad was created (1982) the Atari 5200 was released and showed the world its first true Analogue Stick. Problem being that is was rubbish, people playing the games found that the stick would, er, stick and their movements on screen didn't match the movements they were making and as such the Analogue was forgotten for more than 10 years. The second question "who made it popular?" is a bit harder. Many say Nintendo with the N64, the problem being that it isn't technically an Analogue stick. Maybe Sony then, who released their Dual-Analogue stick for the Playstation in 1997? Either way the D-pad was overthrown as we can clearly see.

So what's it done for gaming? The Analogue Stick provided free 360 control which is perfect for movement in 3D worlds and with the innovation the Dual-Analogue Stick it enabled free movement and free control over the camera which just opened up more gameplay options, that I sure fans of FPS genre are aware of.Ah Motion Controls the big debate, Motion Controls aren't a new idea; people have been playing around with the concept since the computer came about and over the years a couple of attempts have been had trying to do away with the controller and have us waving our arms around like idiots. The Wii isn't even Nintendo's first attempt, The Power Glove anyone? Yeah that was pretty bad wasn't it?

4: Motion ControlsAh Motion Controls the big debate, Motion Controls aren't a new idea; people have been playing around with the concept since the computer came about and over the years a couple of attempts have been had trying to do away with the controller and have us waving our arms around like idiots. The Wii isn't even Nintendo's first attempt, The Power Glove anyone? Yeah that was pretty bad wasn't it? It's safe to say though that when it comes to motion controls we've never had it so good and just around the corner is Sony's Playstation Move and Microsoft's Kinect that will bring motion controls to a whole new level. The big question though, is it any good? The Wii has become pretty infamous for the number of rubbish "causal" games that litter its library and then people get really worry when they look at the line-up for Kinect and see a bunch of dance games, fitness games and a game where you play with the faces of animals. Sony has attempted to keep the "hardcore" games and have gone out of their way to show how awesome the controls will be for their hit-titles but didn't Nintendo also promise that when the Wii launched?

So what's it done for gaming? Nothing yet really, we are currently on the forefront, we are either to be witness to a gaming revolution like when 3D graphics appeared or we're going to see the biggest balls-up since the 1983 crash. The Wii's code name was The Revolution and they couldn't have been a better name, Nintendo have managed to change the whole direction of gaming. For better or worse.

3: CDs t took a long time for CD's to be successful in the world of video games, the first one being the terrible Philips CD-i in 1986 (lower case I's have always been cool apparently), then you've got the Commodore CDTV appearing in 1991, or maybe you prefer the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer and Pioneer LaserActive in 1993. Not forgetting the failure of the Sega Mega-CD in 1991 and if you want to be mean, the Sega Saturn in 1994. Of course it was 1994 that Sony appeared in the console market with their brand new Playstation and the future was set. Nintendo was still blindly going with the cartridge and it wasn't until the GameCube where they would admit their mistake and move to a disk-format (although bizarrely choosing mini-disks). The advantage clear to see was the increased disk space. As games become more and more complicated they required more and more space and cartridges just couldn't match the size of the mighty CD. With the extra space something could be done that was almost impossible beforehand. CGI cut-scenes burst on the screen providing jaw-dropping (at the time) realism and it allowed better graphics in general over the cartridge. Games became more realistic and with the cheaper to produce format it allowed lower cost games to be made.

So what's it done for gaming? Of course the CD has long since gone, replaced by the DVD, Blue-Ray and fully downloadable games but it appeared at a point when without it the games would have stagnated and Sony would have never appeared as the driving force of the console market. Which in turn caused Sega to fall out of the consoling making business, made Nintendo a second-bit player that forced them to innovate and create the Wii. This at the time created a vacuum for decent opposition that Microsoft filled with the Xbox.

2: Saved GamesA long ago when the world was new and videogames where in the infancy, in the years of lore before 1980 there was no need to save any information about your videogame triumphs, bar maybe a set of initials and a high-score. As games progressed though and came away from the need to constantly insert quarters to keep playing, the requirement to play from the start again and again became a real pain. You either spent hours playing through your game in one session to see the end or you contented yourself with enjoying the first few levels. The only solution at the time was to have a series of passwords at the end of levels which you then had to write down and keep somewhere safe, that wasn't exactly ideal either. Then a game appeared in 1986, it's the second time this series has appeared on the list so you should be able to guess, The Legend of Zelda. Get this; the game allowed you to record or "save" what had accomplished in the game, which meant that the game could be a lot longer and more detailed than previous games. The implications where obvious; it did away with the need for 20 character passwords, you could now stop playing and carry on from the point you stopped so completing long games because actually possible and if you died you won't have to start from the beginning. The choice of saving system can also determine the difficulty of the game too. At first the saved material was stored on the games themselves; this made them a bit more expensive to make and not forgetting the extra effort you would have to put into your games when players weren't forced to play over the same levels over and over again. It soon became standard and the Sega Saturn was the first console with built-in storage for all your games while others opted for memory cards.

So what's it done for gaming? It allowed for longer games more complex games, it allowed for collectibles and additional skills other than power-ups. It did away with the Life count (for the most part) and it generally makes games a lot more enjoyable that you know you can stop at any point and know your progress won't be lost.

1: Online Multiplayer Yes number one is online multiplayer. Gaming was always antisocial; you were locked away in your room with the curtains drawn or in a darkened arcade surrounded by a booth while everybody else focused at their own screens, desperately aiming to avoid the kind of losers that spend all day in arcades. Now you're still spending all that time in your room with the curtains drawn but you're meeting up with people from the outside world. People from school, or workplaces, friends that live next door and for those friends and family that live vast distances away; you can get in contact with them, play a fun game with them and then lord over them that you just owned them. Online Multiplayer has brought the game outside of the room and into the masses, chances are that every male you meet under the age of 30 has a console somewhere and he predominantly owns it for one or two games. Generally it's Halo 3, Modern Warfare 2, Counter Strike or something very similar. It takes the pleasure of a day paintballing without any of the hassle of actually running around in the mud, it's a shared experience without the need for loads of organisation and you're rarely ever feel put out if somebody doesn't turn up or declines your request for a game. Of course that's just keep in contact with people you know, then you've got the whole world out there. You can meet up with the best players in the world and test you skill, become part of game-clan and make new friends purely based around your online games. Or you just lose yourself in the masses, enjoy a quick session against some random people. Of course that's just talking about FPS you've also got a whole genre built around online multiplayer. World Of Warcraft for example has over 11.5 million monthly subscriptions and it's all based around creating a virtual you and then meeting up with other people and then beating creatures senseless. Of course then you've things like Second Life where you attempt to create a virtual counterpart to yourself and then again meet up with other people also pretending to be something they're not. It's all a bit unhealthy and weird but extremely addictive.
So what's it done for gaming? Humans are social animals, we like to meet up, talk about shared interests and then experience events with those we like. That's human nature, so when games give us the ability to meet up with people who care our common interest (whether that be killing undead Nazis, killing Orcs, or just killing time) and then gives us the chance to share that experience with them we love it.

How is 3d innovative. It seems like it was actually bound to happen. More evoloutiary than revoloutionary.

This should be reworded to "The 10 biggest ideas that were on PC gaming first then ported over to consoles."

So what's it done for gaming? Accomplishment Rewards adds greater challenge to games, it forces people to play through them again in different ways and it generally helps them appreciate their games more. It also creates friendly rivalries and competition which gamers are hard-wired for. Remember the more play time you get out of a game the better value for money and to top-it-all, it's all extra; no reason to do it at all.

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I'm pretty sure people tried more difficult things and speedruns long before achievements came.

7: 3D Graphics

So what's it done for gaming? 3D gaming forced every genre to evolve and adapt or die out. The result is the games we play today, I don't think I have to say anything more.

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3D graphics wouldn't exactly be called an "innovation". I like how it says that every single genre had to evolve, that's why a 2d platformer was one of the best selling game last Holiday. And fighters like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat sucked in 2d amirite?

Online Multi at 1? The list is good no doubt, but the order is completely off.nintendo-4life

No offense, but online multiplayer probably is and always will be the biggest leap in gaming.

How is saved games second,something wrong with these people.Everything else is good except 1 and 2.genaroll

How is 3d innovative. It seems like it was actually bound to happen. More evoloutiary than revoloutionary.

nhh18

"The Dreamcast was the first to provide Downloadable content as we know it."

I've stopped reading there. The NES in Japan could actually go online and download game content. Also there were games that had their own collection of achievements before Xbox Live like the Battlefied series.

"The Dreamcast was the first to provide Downloadable content as we know it."

I've stopped reading there. The NES in Japan could actually go online and download game content. Also there were games that had their own collection of achievements before Xbox Live like the Battlefied series.

Nerkcon

How? Internet wasn't made public untill 1990 (world wide web in 1991) and i have hard time imagining the NES having any form of internet integration

I disagree with their idea of online multiplayer. If anything it has made things less social. Instead of getting together with a bunch of friends to play some games, I am forced to play with my only means of interaction over a mic.

How is saved games second,something wrong with these people.Everything else is good except 1 and 2.genaroll

This should be reworded to "The 10 biggest ideas that were on PC gaming first then ported over to consoles."

XaosII

[QUOTE="Nerkcon"]

"The Dreamcast was the first to provide Downloadable content as we know it."

I've stopped reading there. The NES in Japan could actually go online and download game content. Also there were games that had their own collection of achievements before Xbox Live like the Battlefied series.

DoomZaW

How? Internet wasn't made public untill 1990 (world wide web in 1991) and i have hard time imagining the NES having any form of internet integration

A lot of important things, but I think the order is wrong. Online at number 1? Not if single player experiences start to suffer because of it.

I actually agree with the entire list.

Achievements? Really?

I was a boyscout back when I was 10 and we'd get golden pearls for good behaviour and black pearls for swearing and generally being obnoxious.

Achievements are the same thing... Why the hell would I care if the game does'nt give me any reward apart from a virtual pat on my back?

Is'nt it funny how Pc gamers largely don't give a crap while console gamers think it's awesome? Yeah, that means lower standards.

In fact, the only game to make any practical use of achievements that I can think of is Mass Effect and they could have just used a regular savegame system for the same effect.

Achievements? Really?

I was a boyscout back when I was 10 and we'd get golden pearls for good behaviour and black pearls for swearing and generally being obnoxious.

Achievements are the same thing... Why the hell would I care if the game does'nt give me any reward apart from a virtual pat on my back?

Is'nt it funny how Pc gamers largely don't give a crap while console gamers think it's awesome? Yeah, that means lower standards.

Filthybastrd

Try getting the Perfect Achievement in Mrs. Pacman by eating all 4 Ghosts 4 times in one level. I had a 3rd live before I entered level 3. It made me a better Pacman Player.

But I do agree that it's no different than a Boyscout Badge and a Pat on the Back which I agree that it's at the bottom of the list.

Compared to the IGN lists I'm used too, this list is pretty decent. Perfect, no, but what really is.

i always have a problem with these because the only classics they know are atari,nintendo,sega.they should get should get a collector to write these.

the first analog wasn't 82,it was 77 astrocade.

the dpad reference isn't that bad.he mentioned 1982,probably referring to the circular disk.but that isn't accurate either.

the first two were bandai and intellivison.the bandai super vision released first.1979