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They say graphics aren't important - but every[br]game I've ever played has had them.

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Game visuals are the most obvious indicator[br]of their technology.

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From naive origins, to an explosion of arcades[br]and home consoles, and the emergence and refinement

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of three-dimensional games: graphics have[br]come a long way over the course of video game

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history.

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So, what are the most important graphical[br]milestones?

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How has available technology shaped the type[br]of games we play?

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And shouldn't it be about the gameplay instead?

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In their earliest days, video games amounted[br]to little more than electronic novelties.

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These pixel pioneers broke new ground with[br]every step - in an era when simply moving

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a flicker of light across a television screen[br]was incredible.

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Games like Pong were a space age wonder, tapping[br]in to a surge in sci-fi interest and becoming

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the earliest major success of the video game[br]industry.

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For the first time ever, video games were[br]cool.

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It wouldn't last forever, of course - and[br]once the novelty wore off, the need for more

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advanced hardware - and more impressive visuals[br]- became clear.

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Full-colour graphics were an early threshold[br]for arcade games: and while colour television

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had existed since before the second world[br]war, most early video games were limited to

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a monochrome display.

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Some games used coloured overlays to spruce[br]up their playfields - a translucent plastic

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sheet applied on top of a black and white[br]display.

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Obviously quite a limited solution, but it[br]was at least a cheap one: and while monochrome

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games continued to rake in coins, technology[br]would have a chance to catch up.

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The very first arcade game to use a coloured[br]display is difficult to pin down - some existed

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only as prototypes, such as a colour variant[br]of Gotcha!

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Some early multiplayer racing games used colour[br]to differentiate each player's car: Indy 4

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in 1976 is one early example, and Car Polo[br]in 1977 was the very first colour arcade game

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to use a microprocessor.

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These early examples are normally glossed[br]over in favour of the first truly successful

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RGB colour game: Galaxian.

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Essentially a fancier version of Space Invaders,[br]each of the brightly-coloured alien ships

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could flit freely across the screen: and perhaps[br]more impressive were the multiple colours

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used in each sprite - for its time, the game[br]was an audiovisual treat.

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By 1980, colour graphics were the norm: Pac-Man[br]just wouldn't be the same without its colourful

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ghosts and the familiar yellow protagonist.

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Pixels haven't always been the norm.

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In the early days of the arcade, there were[br]two principal paradigms for rendering an image

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on the screen: raster and vector.

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Raster comes from the latin word 'rastrum'[br]meaning rake, - and today is the more familiar

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method of drawing on-screen.

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The electron beam rapidly sweeps every line[br]of the display in sequence, forming a grid:

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and line-by-line, a picture is assembled.

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Vector graphics directly manipulate the electron[br]beam to form their images, in a similar manner

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to an oscilloscope: indeed, very early games[br]like Tennis For Two used an oscilloscope display.

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The most famous vector arcade title is Asteroids:[br]and while its graphics might be sparse, the

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perfectly smooth polygons do boast a certain[br]charm.

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Compare the appearance of two similar games[br]using each of these methods: the smooth vector

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lines of Space War! versus the blockier pixels[br]of Star Cruiser.

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Vector graphics are cleaner, but less versatile:[br]while raster images can't reproduce smooth

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lines, their ability to render more complex[br]scenes and filled shapes helped to secure

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the pixel's dominance.

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Early arcade games normally had fixed playfields:[br]a game's arena was sized to fit the screen.

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Scrolling the display to slowly reveal a level[br]required more grunt: it demands the ability

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to shift around large chunks of memory.

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Early driving titles like Speed Race were[br]the first to introduce scrolling, although

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the hardware limitations did force some concessions:[br]mirrored tracksides and a rather spartan roadway.

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Defender in 1980 was an evolution of the space[br]shooter, and set the scene for future side-scrolling

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shoot-em-ups: despite its simple graphics,[br]it offered freedom of movement across a planet's

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surface - along with a host of aliens to shoot.

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Similarly, the top-down view seen in Xevious[br]is often cited as the origin of the vertically

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scrolling shoot-em-up: with the player's ship[br]at the bottom of the screen shooting upwards

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as the scenery slowly unravels below.

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SEGA's Zaxxon was the first isometric game,[br]complete with isometric scrolling: simulating

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3 dimensions with a 2:1 dimetric projection.

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This technique was employed by many later[br]games - particularly strategy games of the

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early 90s - with a psuedo-3D appearance that[br]still fits the pixel grid.

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Similarly, the use of sprite scaling - resizing[br]images on the fly - is sometimes seen in games

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attempting to lend their otherwise flat graphics[br]a sense of depth.

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Early Nintendo shooter Radar Scope shrank[br]sprites in the distance to give the impression

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that you were gazing across a plane of space:[br]the goal to repel any invaders.

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More impressive was the scenery in 1981's[br]Turbo: although painted in garish colours,

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and with quite some distortion - the effect[br]is nonetheless outstanding when compared to

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other games from a similar time.

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The advent of 16-bit arcade hardware brought[br]about more colours, and the ability to shift

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more pixels than ever before: and SEGA's 'Super[br]Scaler' tech in the mid-1980s blew everything

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else out of the water.

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Truly, a new era was beginning.

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Hang-On combined smooth sprite scaling with[br]blistering frame rates - and alongside its

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impressive lean-to-steer motorbike cabinet,[br]it certainly made an impact at the arcades.

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Running on the same hardware was Space Harrier:[br]an into-the-screen rail shooter that would

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set a benchmark in sound and graphics: as[br]well as establishing the basis for the Top-Gun

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inspired After Burner.

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Perhaps the most incredible graphics of the[br]early 1980s were those seen in Dragon's Lair:

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leveraging the huge storage potential of laserdisc[br]technology, it was a bona-fide interactive

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movie.

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Too bad it wasn't much fun to play.

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The middle of the 1980s saw the end of the[br]arcade's golden era, and the rise of the home

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consoles instead.

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Arcades would still rule the roost as far[br]as graphical power was concerned, but the

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ground they broke earlier meant that cost-reduced[br]home consoles could deliver both colourful

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graphics and smooth scrolling.

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Join me in part two for the next stage of[br]video game graphic development: a time when

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two-dimensional games reigned supreme; and[br]sprites were in their prime.

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Until then, farewell.