The Most Revolutionary Videogames Of All Time

These 14 groundbreaking games forever changed the way we play.

 

Think “Rock Band” is revolutionary? Well, not compared to the first video music game ever: “PaRappa the Rapper.” First released in Japan in late 1996 for the original Sony PlayStation, “PaRappa” was the first music (or rhythm) game ever. Featuring an animated rapping dog, PaRappa was eventually released in North America in October 1997 and went on to sell hundreds of thousands of copies, paving the way for mega-hits like “Guitar Hero” (2005) and the “Rock Band” series (2007).

The trailblazing games on this list are not necessarily the “best” games ever made or even best sellers. Some, like “Dune II” (1992), were out-and-out commercial flops. But they all have one feature in common–they changed the way people play. Some introduced innovative controls or enhanced graphics. Others defined a genre or expanded gaming to entirely new audiences. All altered the industry).

The oldest game on our list is also the first videogame ever made–“Spacewar!” (1962). Created by Steve Russell, a computer programmer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the game originally ran on a PDP-1, a minicomputer from the Digital Equipment Corporation, which used paper tape as its primary storage system).

In the game, two players controlled spaceships contending with the effects of gravity from a nearby star while firing missiles at each other. The game proved popular, both as a means of testing PDP-1s for potential bugs and among computer nerds looking to blow off steam. Russell could be credited with launching the $11.7 billion (2008 U.S. sales) videogame industry although he himself never saw a dime from “SpaceWar!” )

On the other end of the spectrum, the newest game on our list is Wii Sports, which was released in 2006. Bundled with Nintendo’s Wii videogame console, Wii Sports was designed to show off the revolutionary motion capture capability of the Wii Remote. Players used realistic motions to swing virtual tennis rackets and golf clubs and along the way Wii Sports launched a whole new trend of “exer-gaming”–yes, exercising by playing video games–that culminated in Wii Fit).

First released in Japan at the end of 2007, Wii Fit–in which players can simulate doing activities ranging from yoga to ski jumping–is currently the second best-selling videogame of all time).

Which game is most revolutionary? According to our experts, it’s a tossup between two classics, “Super Mario 64” (1996) and the “Legend of Zelda” (1986).

Mario is the slight favorite–it is widely considered the first game to properly use a three-dimensional perspective, and it is credited by many with resurrecting the home videogame industry. But Zelda also has its fans, who point to its open structure–players could go wherever they wanted!–the fact that there were multiple ways to win the game, features that figure prominently in later game hits, particularly the Grand Theft Auto series from Rockstar Games).

As Chris Garcia, curator at the Computer History Museum puts it, “People tend to think of Mario first and Zelda second. I would argue that from a game play point of view Zelda is probably more significant. In a way you can trace through Zelda all the way through to ‘Grand Theft Auto III.'”).

To draw up our list of the most revolutionary videogames of all time we consulted with a panel of experts. In addition to Chris Garcia from the Computer History Museum, we drew upon the collective wisdom of Adam Sessler, co-host and editor of G4’s X-Play; legendary professional gamer Johnathan ‘Fatal1ty’ Wendel; Carl Goodman, curator at the Museum of the Moving Image; Laffy Taylor, senior producer at Bethesda Softworks; and Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities).

Virgin Galactic unveils commercial spaceship

The sleek, bullet-shaped spacecraft is about the size of a large business jet — with wide windows and seats for six well-heeled passengers to take a thrill ride into space.

It’s billed as the world’s first commercial spaceship, designed to be carried aloft by an exotic jet before firing its rocket engine to climb beyond the Earth’s atmosphere.

In a Hollywood-style rollout, Virgin Galactic on Monday took the cloak off SpaceShipTwo, which had been under secret development for two years in the Mojave Desert. The company plans to sell suborbital space rides for $200,000 a ticket, offering passengers 2 1/2-hour flights that include about five minutes of weightlessness.

Blaring music and a laser show heralded the rollout of SpaceShipTwo as it glided down a runway mated to its mothership and came to a stop before a throng of wannabe astronauts, dignitaries and VIPs who shivered in the desert cold for the splashy unveil.

“Isn’t this the sexist spaceship ever?” said British billionaire and Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson, who partnered with famed aviation designer Burt Rutan on the venture.

The stubby-winged spaceship possesses a slender fuselage that narrows at the nose and tail. Once in space, its unique twin tail booms can pivot upward to increase drag and allow the spaceship to plunge like a shuttlecock back into the atmosphere.

SpaceShipTwo’s debut marks the first public appearance of a commercial passenger spacecraft. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson were on hand to christen it “VSS Enterprise” by breaking champagne bottles on the craft’s nose.

Branson hopes to begin passenger flights out of New Mexico sometime in 2011 after a series of rigorous safety tests. The entrepreneur said he, his family and Rutan will be the first to fly on SpaceShipTwo.

SpaceShipTwo is based on Rutan’s design of a prototype called SpaceShipOne. In 2004, SpaceShipOne captured the $10 million Ansari X Prize by becoming the first privately manned craft to reach space.

Since that historic feat, engineers from Rutan’s Scaled Composites LLC have been laboring in the Mojave Desert on a larger design suitable for commercial use.

Rutan, who has always stressed safety, said his goal is to make his private spaceflight venture safer than government space programs and on par with the early commercial airliners.

Some 300 clients have paid the $200,000 ticket or placed a deposit, according to Virgin Galactic.

The last time there was this level of hoopla in the high desert was a little more than a year ago when Branson and Rutan trotted out to great fanfare the twin-fuselage mothership, White Knight Two, that will carry SpaceShipTwo.

This latest affair was far more elaborate. Two tent complexes were custom-built for the occasion. Virgin Galactic also handed out free black windbreakers and hats with its logo. Servers passed around pastries and finger food before the unveiling and champagne afterward.

The one thing Virgin Galactic failed to choreograph was the weather. Branson and his deputies repeatedly apologized to guests for the howling winds that shook the see-through tent.

Despite the hype, hard work lies ahead before space journeys could become as routine as air travel.

Flight testing of White Knight Two has been ongoing for the past year. The first SpaceShipTwo test flights are expected to start next year, with full-fledged space launches to its maximum altitude in 2011.

SpaceShipTwo, built from lightweight composite materials and powered by a rocket engine, is similar to its prototype cousin with three exceptions. It’s twice as large, measuring 60 feet long with a roomy cabin about the size of a Falcon 900 executive jet. It also has more windows including overhead portholes. And while SpaceShipOne was designed for three people, SpaceShipTwo can carry six passengers and two pilots.

“It’s a big and beautiful vehicle,” said X Prize founder Peter Diamandis, who has seen SpaceShipTwo during various stages of development.

Space travel has been limited so far to astronauts and a handful of wealthy people who have shelled out millions to ride Russian rockets to the international space station.

The debut of Branson’s craft could not come sooner for the scores of wannabe astronauts eager to pay big money to experience zero gravity.

Rene Kaerskov, a 43-year-old would-be space tourist who splits his time between Los Angeles and Hong Kong, said he choked up at the sight and could not wait to climb aboard.

“It will be a top-of-the-line adventure,” he said.

After SpaceShipOne’s history-making flights, many space advocates believed private companies would offer suborbital space joyrides before the end of this decade. Virgin Galactic once predicted passengers could fly into space by 2007.

George Washington University space policy scholar John Logsdon called the milestones “measured progress.” He was not surprised the commercial space industry is still in its infancy.

“Their business will collapse if they had an accident in one of the early flights. I’m sure they’re being cautious,” he said.

Tragedy struck in 2007 when an explosion killed three of Rutan’s engineers during a routine test of SpaceShipTwo’s propellant system. The accident delayed the engine’s development.

Virgin Galactic plans to operate commercial space flights out of a taxpayer-funded spaceport under construction in New Mexico.

SpaceShipTwo will be carried aloft by White Knight Two and released at 50,000 feet. The craft’s rocket engine then burns a combination of nitrous oxide and a rubber-based solid fuel to climb more than 65 miles above the Earth’s surface.

After reaching the top of its trajectory, the craft will fall back into the atmosphere and glide to a landing like an airplane. Its descent is controlled by “feathering” its wings to maximize aerodynamic drag.

Virgin Galactic expects to spend more than $400 million for a fleet of five commercial spaceships and launch vehicles.

It’s not the only player in the commercial space race. A handful of entrepreneurs including Amazon.com Inc. Chief Executive Jeff Bezos, computer game programmer John Carmack and rocketeer Jeff Greason are building their own suborbital rockets.