Light gun

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A lightgun is an input device for video games . The first light gun was used in the game "Ray-O-Lite" back in 1936 . It was made possible by the fast photo cell based on a vacuum tube with subsequent amplification. No computer was used, instead the light source was on a mechanically moved target, while the light gun was, just as it is today, the photocell. A lightgun in today's sense works the same way. Use is made of the fact that the image on the cathode ray tube is composed of lines from a rapidly moving single point of light. The light gun is only "measured" at which point on the screen the pixel is currently located. The light pen for the Whirlwind computer, based on a similar concept , was developed in 1949 .

Atari XE System Lightgun

About the lightgun

Lightguns are based on ballistic weapons (mostly pistols ) and are used to target objects on a screen. Models with force feedback support can also simulate the recoil of the weapon when firing.

Lightguns are common in arcade games in amusement arcades . On the other hand, they are rarely used on the home console market; there are only a few compatible games for game consoles . This is possibly due to the fact that only a few players are willing to purchase an additional control unit for their system. In addition, there are often concerns on the part of consumers with the fear that the small TV at home is not as suitable for light guns as the large screens of slot machines.

Lightguns exist for many platforms, for example for the Nintendo Entertainment System ( Zapper Gun ), for the Sony PlayStation , the Sega Master System , the Sega Saturn , the Sega Dreamcast , the Magnavox Odyssey or the Microsoft Xbox .

functionality

An early popular lightgun game: Duck Hunt

The "Lightgun" bears its name because it uses the light to register which point on the screen the player is aiming at. The name suggests that the weapon itself shoots a beam of light, but in reality it receives light from the screen through a photodiode in the pistol barrel. This uses the light signals for aiming, in connection with a well-coordinated electronic mechanism between trigger and graphic programming . There are two common versions of this technique, but the basic concept is the same as with the light pen : when the trigger is pulled, the screen goes black and the diode switches to receive. Then the target spot turns white on the screen. The computer can now determine where the weapon is aiming by the diode then recognizing white light when the weapon is aimed at the now white target area. This is based on the fact that with a cathode ray tube , as it was built into most televisions and monitors at the time, the image is built up line by line one after the other and therefore the pixels are not white at exactly the same time. The player does not notice any of this because the process takes place in a very short time.

In the original method, when the trigger was pulled, a black image was generated that contained white squares instead of the targets. If the photodiode received this white light, a hit was registered. The disadvantage: if you held the diode in a different, white light, a hit was automatically achieved.

A conventional light gun can not function correctly on plasma and LCD screens as well as with rear projection televisions and video projectors . Even with 100 Hz CRT TVs, the calculation of the hit does not work because of the faster image build-up. Therefore, current light guns are increasingly using a different technical solution in which the movements are detected by infrared transmitters placed on the screen housing.

Electro-mechanical game Ambush (Williams, 01/1973) with 300 rounds / minute

history

The basic game principle existed long before the invention of computer games in shooting galleries at fairs, where an air rifle is shot at mechanically moved targets. The first mechanical lightgun game was Ray-O-Lite from the jukebox manufacturer JP Seeburg in 1936 . This slot machine had a movable duck dummy with a vacuum tube that responded to the light impulses of the associated light gun. The basic principle of the light gun was later implemented for computer games. In 1972 four console games appeared for the Magnavox Odyssey . The lightgun in the form of a rifle was optionally available. The first arcade game with an optical light gun was Qwak in 1974 ! from Atari. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, arcade games often used positional guns , which, unlike conventional lightguns, are permanently installed in front of the slot machine and resemble submachine guns. An example of this is Operation Wolf from 1987.

Well-known games

Early console games

4 games for the console Magnavox Odyssey (1972)

Games for ATARI home computers / consoles

  • Alien Brigade (7800)
  • Bobby needs Food (2600, homebrew)
  • Bug Hunt (XEGS)
  • Barnyard Blaster (7800 / XEGS)
  • Crossbow (7800 / XEGS)
  • Crime Buster (XEGS)
  • Meltdown (7800)
  • Operation Blood disk (XEGS)
  • Operation Blood II - Special Forces (XEGS)
  • Gangsterville (XEGS)
  • Sentinel (2600/7800)
  • Shooting Gallery (2600, unreleased)

Arcade games

Modern survival horror arcade game

(Selection)

Newer console games

PC Games

  • Crime Patrol
  • Crime Patrol 2 - Drug Wars
  • Ed Hunter - The Iron Maiden Game
  • Fast Draw Showdown
  • Mad Dog McCree
  • Mad Dog McCree - The Lost Gold
  • Remington Super Slam Hunting Africa
  • Space pirates
  • Starsky & Hutch
  • The House of the Dead 1
  • The House of the Dead 2
  • The House of the Dead 3
  • The Last Bounty Hunter
  • Virtua Cop 2
  • Who Shot Johnny Rock

PC light guns

  • EMS EMS TopGun III (wireless) works with all screens (LCD, CRT, projector, plasma, ...)
  • EMS EMS TopGun II (USB cable) works with all screens (LCD, CRT, projector, plasma, ...)

Arcade games

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Company history of the Seeburg company
  2. ^ Seeburg Ray-O-Lite 1936

Web links

Commons : Gun controllers  - collection of images, videos and audio files