The Influence of Video Games on Modern Art: Talking About Postmodernism

While video games started appearing in the middle of the 20th century, one could argue that they didn’t become massively popular until the arcade craze of the 80s. Since the first video games, this new genre of art has taken the world by storm. According to the Academy of Animated Art, in 2023 alone, around 3.03 billion people worldwide play video games, or around 38% of the world’s total population. Though the craze for video games didn’t truly begin until the 1980s, the Supreme Court, only recently in 2012, ruled that video games can be considered a form of art. Throughout the creation of video games, there have been around eight distinctive generations of household consoles. For the sake of continuity, I won’t get into the heavy details of arcade machines and will instead focus on the consoles people had in their homes. Consoles started appearing around the end of the 1970s, mainly with the Atari 2600, which was released in 1977 for US families. Though Atari sold a total of 30 million units between its initial release in 1977 to its discontinuation in 1992 (BusinessWeek), it pales in comparison to the consoles released in the 80s to today. But I’m not here to talk about the technical details of consoles; let’s talk about the evolution of the first video games to the ones we know and love today.

Super Mario Bros, Nintendo Co., Ltd, Copyright of IGN.com

The 80s saw a rise in 8-bit games, or, to put it in more familiar terms, these games could only compute to the value of 255 (or 28); think of it like the maximum number of levels or potions a character could carry. Since games today are mainly on 64-bit processors, they can compute 264, or 1.8x1019, a ton compared to the maximum values of 255 that 8-bit games could process. Arguably, the first majorly popular console, the Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES for short, had many reputable 8-bit games, with 61.91 million units sold (Nintendo Co., Ltd). The most famous, Super Mario Bros, continues to be a classic household name even to this day. Released in 1985, Super Mario Bros garnered a total of 40.24 million copies sold (Kennedy). This massive spike in popularity meant that video games were becoming more and more prevalent, especially with younger generations. Because of the small amount of data these game files could hold, many games during this era had to rely on the player’s imagination, making it akin to the deconstruction philosophy of the post-modern era, where art is up to the viewer’s interpretation. Take, again, Super Mario Bros, whose flat, 2-D world was rich in story, but you had to key in all the details yourself (the Princess, the hidden conflicts with the Goombas, etc). And again, with The Legend of Zelda or Kirby, other popular games in the 80s.

Pokémon Blue, Nintendo Co., Ltd, Copyright of Wikipedia.org

Fast-forward to the late 80s and early 90s, and you see the first computer graphics engines and Gameboys emerge. These new consoles during this later era gave rise to new 16-bit processors, allowing games to process information faster while allowing developers to increase levels and carrying capacities of characters unbelievably more than 8-bit consoles could. The displays were still running on 8-bit displays, at least in the beginning, but the games’ data would be running through the 16-bit processors. The most popular game of this generation of consoles was probably Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow for the Gameboy, with 31.37 million sales (Terry 122). Pokémon was one of the first video games of its type. It had a semi-3d environment, where the player and character were no longer fixed on a scrolling screen, but could move around. The Legend of Zelda for the NES had the same concept but Pokémon really refined this idea. In the game, you can also see the enhanced graphics possible from the 16-bit processors despite the 8-bit display. There were smoother curves and more detail in different sprites. The display on Gameboys were still monochrome, but they comprised a 4-shade monochrome LCD, allowing better shading graphics for sprites and backgrounds (Fruttenboel).

Doom, id Software, Copyright of IMDB.com

As we entered the late 20th century, personal computers, or PCs, became more prevalent in the household, allowing gaming modules to integrate with modern technology. The mid to late 90s also saw the rise of Playstation, with the first one releasing in 1994. This new generation of video game consoles refined the 16-bit processors of the late 80s and turned them into the now 32-bit processors we recognize today. These new consoles shifted to using CD-ROMs instead of cartridges, allowing more data and more accessible storage of games (Waldron). One popular game from this generation of gaming modules was Doom in 1993. Often regarded as the father of first-person shooters, this game blended the 2D models of previous generations with 3D aspects, such as the 3D environment the character moves through. Though the player and enemies are still modeled with 2D sprites, this lent the game’s genre to be dubbed 2.5D. This generation of gaming modules were also some of the first to include more color in their displays. Earlier systems were limited in their visual displays due to how TV displays worked, but the advent of better quality color TV lead to gaming consoles increasing their graphics qualities. The same goes for PCs. They were better at computing colors, so games developed specifically for computers had the code to create more vibrant and colorful displays. And with the rise of higher-bit processors, game developers could now focus not only on the mechanics of the games but also on creating a storyline for these works. Doom once again is a game absolutely rich in storytelling as well as the complex visuals designed for the game. Rather than relying on context clues or leaving interpretations up to the viewer or player, developers and story designers could now create introductory screens, pieces of paper with lore, and other little pieces of lore throughout the games they created.

Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Bethesda Softworks, Copyright of GamesRadar+

The sixth generation of gaming consoles was essentially the Industrial Revolution of gaming. In the span of four years, the world saw the rise of some of the biggest gaming modules known to date. First Playstation released an upgraded model, the Playstation 2, including a new 64-bit processor, allowing even greater gameplays than previous generations ever managed. Nintendo then released their new system, the GameCube, which is still one of the most recognizable consoles of the early 2000s, and finally Microsoft finally released their own console, their Xbox. With the trifecta of gaming consoles on the rise, the world saw an increase in various gaming genres. Bethesda continued their Elder Scrolls games for the PC, Playstation had the Grand Theft Auto franchise, and Xbox started their Halo franchise. It seemed the modern gaming era finally begun. Elder Scrolls, or more specifically its third intsallment, Morrowind was an advancement in gaming all together. It’s fully 3D world combined the best parts of previous generations’ game designs. There was now a fully explorable world, ripe with non-player characters to talk to, quests to embark on, and foes to slay. This was all thanks in part to the innovations made to graphics cards. According to Main Leaf, in the late 90s, the invention of the 3dfx Voodoo Graphics card allowed CPUs to handle the graphics power needed to properly compute 3D modelled games. As such, designers and developers focused on created even more story driven works and commissioning more musicians to create original scores for these new games.

Bioshock, 2K Boston, Screenshot by Playstation

With the increasing popularity of video games, it’s no wonder that consoles and handheld devices were massively popular in the mid-2000s. With Playstation releasing yet another upgraded model and their Playstation Portable, to Xbox doing the same with their Xbox 360, and Nintendo releasing their most popular consoles, the Wii and the DS, it’s only logical that developers would go with the flow and upgrade their graphics as well. In this section of video game history, we start to see more realistic graphics. Though not immediately like real life, models started containing more polygons in their designs, leading to a smoother and more natural look to characters. We started to see the emergence of more online games, and the split lines between the common FPS and horror games created for the Xbox and Playstation, to the more indie-style games for Nintendo. One of these horror games was Bioshock. Arguably one of the most commonly recognised video games, the rich story telling and the smooth graphics, combined with the dramatic lighting and advanced shading, was top-of-the-line at this point in time. The franchise remains one of my personal favorites because of its intricate story line and the choices that effect what each character does. 

City Sample from the Unreal Engine Marketplace

Lastly, I want to talk about the modern age consoles, those that have released within the last decade. 64-bit processors continue to dominate our gaming modules, but the graphics cards and CPUs continue to be upgraded in ways we could never imagine. Just a few years ago in 2022, Unreal Engine, a prominent graphics design company, released their upgraded program, the UE 5. This engine produces near-photo realistic designs, with shading that’s dynamic and fluid to fit the position of light, like in the City Sample World from Unreal Engine's Marketplace (Unreal Engine). Modern games and a shift towards immersive storytelling also gave way to the current Indie Game trend. No longer are games focusing on shoot and kill, but rather they can expand into more domestic aspects like farming, or building a city, or playing as a cat exploring a cyberpunk future where humanity is replaced by robots. In the end, graphics designs and story telling in games have grown tremendously in the last 50 years, and it’s impossible to summarize all the innovations made in a single blog. I’ve decided to only showcase my personal favourite examples, and ones I personally own, but there is an untapped world of potential games.

Works Cited

Business Week. “A Brief History of Game Console Warfare.” Web.archive.org, 12 Oct. 2007, web.archive.org/web/20071012194914/images.businessweek.com:80/ss/06/10/game_consoles/source/3.htm. Accessed 1 Aug. 2024.

Epic Games. “Unreal Engine 5.” Unreal Engine, 2024, www.unrealengine.com/en-US/unreal-engine-5. Accessed 1 Aug. 2024.

Fruttenboel. “GameBoy : Using the GameBoy Skeleton for Serious Business.” Verhoeven272.nl, Dec. 2005, web.archive.org/web/20140921002517/verhoeven272.nl/cgi-bin/FSgz?fruttenboel%2FGameboy&Fruttenboel+Gameboy+section&GBtop&GBspec&GBcontent. Accessed 1 Aug. 2024.

Katatikarn, Jasmine. “Online Gaming Statistics and Facts: The Definitive Guide (2023).” Academy of Animated Art, 21 Sept. 2023, academyofanimatedart.com/gaming-statistics. Accessed 1 Aug. 2024.

Kennedy, Mike. “Top 10 Best Selling Games of the 1980’s.” Game Gavel, 6 July 2013, web.archive.org/web/20130720015702/www.gamegavel.com/reviews/2013/07/06/top-10-best-selling-games-of-the-1980s/. Accessed 1 Aug. 2024.

Main Leaf. “First 3D Game: A History of 3D Game Development.” Mainleaf.com, 12 June 2023, mainleaf.com/first-3d-game-a-history-of-3d-game-development/. Accessed 1 Aug. 2024.

Nintendo Co., Ltd. Consolidated Sales Transition by Region. Nintendo Co., Ltd, 2016, www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/library/historical_data/pdf/consolidated_sales_e1603.pdf. Accessed 2024.

Smithsonian. “Video Game History.” Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian Institution, 2019, www.si.edu/spotlight/the-father-of-the-video-game-the-ralph-baer-prototypes-and-electronic-games/video-game-history. Accessed 1 Aug. 2024.

Terry, Paul. Top 10 of Everything 2017. Hamlyn, 2016, p. 122, archive.org/details/unclejohnspresen0000terr/page/122/mode/2up. Accessed 1 Aug. 2024.

Tucker, Abigail. “The Art of Video Games.” Smithsonian, Smithsonian.com, Mar. 2012, www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-art-of-video-games-101131359/. Accessed 1 Aug. 2024.

Waldron, Valerie. “Fifth Generation (1993-2001).” CVGA Disassembled, University of Michigan, 2013, apps.lib.umich.edu/online-exhibits/exhibits/show/cvga-disassembled/gamegen5. Accessed 1 Aug. 2024.