Historic timelines are based on "time frames" and not "technology enhancement".[/B]
Not correct. See my other <LONG WINDED RANT> on that very topic. Better to say it is sometimes correct but often not.
If anything, I would say that's is an upside down way of classifying things that has unfortunately been coopted by collectors in a variety of hobbies. Your classic car example is a good example of that alternate method. (And I happen to agree with it mostly.) But they have developed their own terms with their own created definitions. In the present case, the proposed terms are (I assume) taken from...comics? Which had *major* events defining those transitions.
For me "Bronze Age" is too deeply associated with primitive tech and simple, (yet addictive) game play and not a particular YEAR of release. Actually....if you want that to be the hard and only definition, then the Golden Age didn't start until probably 1982-83 for me. Because I sometimes didn't see the typical video giants in my neck of the woods for a few years after their release if ever. Even so, there's too much overlap in types of game released in a given year to have a hard cut off.
That's why I think each game should be evaluated in somewhat of a vacuum...pros and cons discussed, etc, and then "admitted to the club". (Or not.) Because of the obvious overlaps. Release date should be discussed, technology, game play, art design, media coverage, pop culture, whether you like the smell of the joystick grease....WHATEVER criteria an individual deems important and wants to discuss.
Just like "Ages" overlap in years, I also think a game could belong to more than one "Age" regardless of vintage. Take Space Invaders for instance. For me, it clearly deserves a Bronze Age moniker. But it also is a reasonable candidate for that "major event" that I mentioned that signaled a period transition. It belongs firmly in the Golden Age as *THE* Grand Mac Daddy of Golden.
<GASP-SIGH>
With all of that said, I hereby proclaim myself the official
Keeper of the Bronze Tablet membership roll. I will start another thread forth with.