Here's to Space Invaders

This is a nod to the 30th anniversary of the release of the arcade video game Space Invaders, which came out in 1978.

Running on an Intel 8080 microprocessor at 2 MHz, it featured 64-bit characters on a 224 x 240 pixel 2-color screen.  There was, of course, was no mistaking anything in that game for reality.  One would never have nightmares about being abducted by a 64-bit Space Invader alien.  Fast forward 30 years and take a stroll through your local electronic superstore and what do you see on the screen?  Is that a football game or is it Madden NFL ’08?  Is that an Extreme Games telecast or are we looking at a PS3 or Wii version of the latest skateboarding or snowboarding game.  Is that movie featuring real actors or are they CG?  (After watching “Beowulf”, I confess that I had to ask my son, who is much more knowledgeable about such things, which parts were CG.)

Where will gaming be in the next 30 years?  For more on where that is going, feel free to check out my article "Is Our Reality just a Big Video Game". 

   

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Categories: Gaming | General | Programmed Reality

Posted by jim on March 20, 2008 16:19 57 Comments
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March 26. 2008 20:29

Red Dog

We are still talking about 2 dimensional representations of 3d environments. Once we make the transition into 3 dimensional simulations the question of what is real and CG will be harder to distinguish. Jeff Hawkins has less confidence that we will cross that boundry until we can suceed in defining "intelligence". The AI model based on Moore's law has flaws which he feels lays in the model of the CPU versus the brain. I'm more interested in our desire to create such a model, it feels like we are trying to create something larger than ourselves, as though we remember being more than these thoughts confined to these bodies. Maybe we are still asking the wrong question?

Red Dog

March 26. 2008 22:03

jim

Don't you think that 3D representations of reality have been around for a while in gaming? Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, etc.

I agree that CPUs don't work like the brain does, but it seems to me that stimulating the visual cortex with a 3D representation of an alternate reality should still completely fool us.

The singularity/transhumanism/futurism folks fully see this coming, some sooner that I do.

jim

May 31. 2008 21:55

Jessica Emilie

You all do great when you do what you do,so do what you do how you do it when you do it.
You open lots of minds i'm sure.
Happy thursday after all.
Peace-Jessica Emilie

Jessica Emilie

November 28. 2009 14:16

paranormal

Super-Duper site! I am loving it!! Will come back again - taking you feeds also, Thanks.

paranormal

 
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