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8 Most Interesting Facts about the History of Gaming

by Innov8tiv.com

According to experts, the global gaming market will be worth $256.97 by 2025. This is a lot of money and it makes gaming one of the fastest-growing industries around. We’re sure you know a lot about video games but why not dig a bit deeper and learn more about the history of gaming? Listed below you’ll find our eight most interesting facts about the history of gaming.

PlayStation 1 was almost a Nintendo console

With so much talk about the new PlayStation 5 console, let’s take a step back and look at the legendary PlayStation 1. Did you know it was almost a Nintendo console when it was originally developed? Sony and Nintendo discussed partnering up and they almost developed this console together. Still, the folks at Nintendo saw cartridges as a better tool for fighting piracy and they ended up developing a console of their own. Sony, however, didn’t want all hard work to go to waste and that’s how the original PlayStation console was born.

James Bond game had a secret code

Back in the days, GoldenEye 007 for Nintendo was a massive project. The game was supposed to include Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, and Sean Connery as playable characters. However, the developers have scrapped the idea and the game was released without these characters. While the game came with only Pierce Brosnan as a playable character, the codes for other characters still existed. In 2005, a group called The Rare Witch Project cracked the code behind the game and unlocked all other James Bonds in the game.

The original Street Fighter was a mess

Anyone who’s into fighting games has heard about Street Fighter. It’s one of the best franchises in the fighting genre and the latest installment Street Fighter V has been a huge success. Still, when the original Street Fighter was designed, things didn’t look that bright. Many saw the game as unplayable as something simple as moving your character around was extremely difficult. Luckily, the people at Capcom went back to the drawing board and changed things up. They developed Street Fighter II which was a massive upgrade and huge success. In fact, many people forgot the game was a sequel at all.

The first ever slot game was the Liberty Bell

iGaming is huge right now and the number of slot players online continues to increase. However, slot machines have been around way longer than both PCs and consoles. In fact, the history of slot machines is extremely long and one of the most fun reads you’ll find. What you probably didn’t know about them was that the first slot machine was invented in 1895. The machine was called the Liberty Bell and it came with three spinning reels and four symbols. You can find images of the Liberty Bell slot online but you can also find one at the Liberty Belle Saloon & Restaurant in Reno, Nevada.

One game on all consoles

Most sports fans have played Madden NFL at some point. The franchise is older than half the players currently in the NFL and it’s one of the most popular series in the sports genre. The last few installments have been a huge hit and the game is once again available on PC. What you probably don’t know about the franchise is that it has appeared on 34 different consoles throughout the past few decades. The list includes everything from Windows and PlayStation 5 to Turbo Duo and 3DO.

The first eSports event took place in 1972

What’s known as the first eSports tournament took place at Stanford University in 1972. Sure, it may have looked a lot different from eSports events you can watch Twitch but it was indeed the first-ever gaming competition. The players got a chance to showcase their skills in the game called Space Invaders which is considered one of the best classics around. The tournament attracted over 10,000 participants and was covered by media. A few decades later and eSports has got to an entirely new level. Competitions now attract millions of viewers and it looks like the industry will only continue to grow.

Lara Croft was almost named Laura Cruz

Tomb Raider was one of the most successful releases in the early years of 3D gaming. Additionally, Lara Croft is one of the most popular female characters in the history of gaming. What you probably didn’t know about her was that she wasn’t always Lara Croft. The developers wanted the main character to be a male treasure hunter but their character was deemed too close to Indiana Jones. Then, they decided to make the character female and Laura Cruz was born. In the end, they wanted a more UK-friendly name and decide to change it again. After going through the list of last names in a phonebook, they settled on Croft.

The first-ever cereal video game

Chex Quest is a game based on the Doom series engine. It’s a non-violent first-person game that was originally released as a Chex cereal promotion. This makes it one of the most unique releases in the history of gaming. The game was included as a cereal box prize and it was a huge hit among children aged 6 to 9. Another fun fact about cereal and video games is that Donkey Kong was the first video game character to get his own cereal.

The bottom line

It’s fun seeing how some of the most popular games and consoles came to be but there’s a lot more. These are just some of the most interesting facts you’ll find about the gaming world.

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