Video games, as a form of mass entertainment, have been with us for around 35 years. But as hard as this may be for some of us to comprehend, creative genius has been around much longer. Before micro chip technology, however, some of the greatest minds the planet has ever seen were forced to channel their brilliance into other pursuits like painting, literature, science and war.
So let's say you could bring back one historical figure to work as a games designer. Who would it be and why? Which great poet, profound philosopher, or ground-breaking mathematician could have been a match for Miyamoto or Will Wright or Peter Molyneux? And what they have produced?
Here are three suggestions to get you going...
Leanardo Da Vinci (1452 – 1519) - mathematician, inventor, anatomist, painter
The Italian polymath pretty much invented everything except a videogame, so provided with the technology to do so he would have doubtless excelled. Given his status as the original renaissance man, I'd expect something epic in scope like Civilization or Sim City. Alternatively, a helicopter shoot-'em-up.
Isaac Newton (1643-1727) - physicist, philosopher, mathematician
His Laws of Motion remain the underlying principles of videogame physics to this day, and his fascination with optics would surely have been sated by televisual technology. Would possibly produce something like Tetris, but with falling apples.
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905 – 1980) - philosopher, playwright, novelist
Press 'start' to play. But why should we be compelled to start in a non-determinist universe? And should human consciousness be portrayed in puppet form, or is this a perversion of the desire for being?
Over to you...
