Light Gun Shooter - History

History

Mechanical gun games existed before the emergence of electronic video games, as far back as the 1920s. The first light guns appeared in the 1930s, with the Seeburg Ray-O-Lite. Games using this toy rifle were mechanical and the rifle fired beams of light at targets wired with sensors. These evolved throughout subsequent decades, culminating in games such as Sega's Periscope (the company's first successful game, released in 1966), which required the player to target cardboard ships. Throughout the 1970s, mechanical arcade games were gradually replaced by electronic video games, following the release of Pong in 1972, with 1978's Space Invaders dealing a yet more powerful blow to the popularity of mechanical games. Light guns used in electronic video games work in the opposite manner to their mechanical counterparts: the sensor is in the gun and pulling the trigger allows it to receive light from the on-screen targets. Computer light pens had been used for practical purposes at MIT in the early 1960s, and the Magnavox Odyssey, had a light gun accessory.

Light guns first became popularly used for video games in the mid-1980s, with Nintendo's Duck Hunt being a much-loved example. Sega's Virtua Cop, released in arcades in 1994, broke new ground, popularized the use of 3D polygons in shooter games, and led to a "Renaissance" in the popularity of arcade gun games. The game was inspired by the Clint Eastwood film Dirty Harry as well as a coffee advertisement in which a can of coffee grew larger in a gun's sights; in Virtua Cop the player had to shoot approaching targets as fast as possible. The acclaimed Time Crisis by Namco, released in Japanese arcades in 1995 and Sony's PlayStation console in 1997, introduced innovations such as simulated recoil and a foot pedal which when pressed caused the protagonist to take cover. The game's light gun controller, the GunCon, was also acclaimed. Namco also released Point Blank for the PlayStation in 1998 (previously available in Japanese arcades as Gun Bullet since 1994), a 2D sprite-based game featuring a unique minigame structure and quirky, humorous tone. The game was critically acclaimed and received two sequels, both for the PlayStation console.

Light guns were suppressed for a time in the U.S. after the 1999 Columbine High School massacre and its attendant controversy over video games and gun crime. Since the late 1980s light gun controllers have been generally manufactured to look like toys by painting them in bright colours. In Japan, which lacks the gun crime found in the U.S. and in which civilians cannot legally own guns, more realistic light guns are widely available.

Light gun shooters are less popular in the new millennium than in the 1990s, with new games in the genre seen as "old school". The Time Crisis and House of the Dead franchises continued to receive acclaimed installments, with the arcade machine for the latter's House of the Dead 4 Special (2006) featuring large screens enclosing the player, as well as swivelling, vibrating chairs. Some games attempted to incorporate elements of first person shooter or survival horror games through the use of less restricted character movement and exploration, with varying degrees of success. Others, however, unashamedly paid homage to 1990s arcade gameplay, even embracing a somewhat parodic style. Light guns are not compatible with modern high-definition televisions, leading developers to experiment with hybrid controllers, particularly with the Wii Remote for the Nintendo Wii, as well as the PlayStation 3's GunCon 3 peripheral used with Time Crisis 4. Others have used the PlayStation Move motion control system.