Codex Gamicus
Explore
Main Page
Discuss
All Pages
Interactive Maps
navigation
Main page
Community portal
Recent changes
Random page
Admin noticeboard
Forums
Company Index
Character Index
Hardware Index
In-Game Index
Ratings Index
Video Game Index
Fandom
Gamepedia support
Report a bad ad
Help Wiki
Contact us
FANDOM
Fan Central
BETA
Games
Anime
Movies
TV
Video
Wikis
Explore Wikis
Community Central
Start a Wiki
Don't have an account?
Register
Sign In
Sign In
Register
Fandom's centric source of video game knowledge
42,423
pages
Explore
Main Page
Discuss
All Pages
Interactive Maps
navigation
Main page
Community portal
Recent changes
Random page
Admin noticeboard
Forums
Company Index
Character Index
Hardware Index
In-Game Index
Ratings Index
Video Game Index
Fandom
Gamepedia support
Report a bad ad
Help Wiki
Contact us
Editing
Early mainframe games
(section)
Back to page
Edit
VisualEditor
View history
Talk (0)
Edit Page
Early mainframe games
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
==Background== [[File:IBM System360 Model 30.jpg|thumb|right|A 1965 [[IBM System/360|IBM System/360 Model 30]] [[mainframe computer]] at the [[Computer History Museum]]]] [[Mainframe computer]]s are powerful [[computer]]s used primarily by large organizations for computational work, especially large-scale, multi-user processes. The term originally referred to the large cabinets called "main frames" that housed the [[central processing unit]] and main [[computer memory|memory]] of early computers. Prior to the rise of [[personal computer]]s, first termed [[microcomputer]]s, in the 1970s, they were the primary type of computer in use, and at the beginning of the 1960s they were the only type of computer available for public purchase.<ref name="namesource"/><ref name="comptypes"/> [[Minicomputer]]s were relatively smaller and cheaper mainframe computers prevalent in the 1960s and 1970s, though they were still not intended for personal use. One definition from 1970 required a minicomputer to cost less than US$25,000.<ref name="Smith 1970"/> In contrast, regular mainframes could cost more than US$1,000,000.<ref name="comptypes"/> By the end of the 1960s, mainframe computers and minicomputers were present in many academic research institutions and large companies such as [[Bell Labs]].<ref name="comptypes"/><ref name="ST_BL"/> While the commercial [[video game industry]] did not yet exist at that point in the [[early history of video games]] and would not until the early 1970s, programmers at these companies created several small games to be played on their mainframe computers. Most of these spread only to other users of the same type of computer and therefore did not persist as older computer models were discontinued; several, however, inspired future games, or were later released in modified versions on more modern systems or languages.<ref name="KSmainframe"/> These early mainframe games were largely created between 1968 and 1971; while earlier games were created they were limited to small, academic audiences. Mainframe games also continued to be developed through the 1970s, but the rise of the commercial video game industry, focused on [[arcade games|arcade video games]] and [[home video game console]]s, followed by the rise of personal computers later in the decade, meant that beginning in the 1970s the audience and developers of video games began to shift away from mainframe computers or minicomputers, and the spread of general-purpose programming languages such as the [[BASIC]] programming language meant that later mainframe games could generally be run on personal computers with minimal changes, even if initially developed on a mainframe.<ref name="TIME"/>
Summary:
Please note that all contributions to the Codex Gamicus are considered to be released under the CC BY-SA 3.0
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)
Follow on IG
TikTok
Join Fan Lab