History of Video Games

By: Hctor Muoz-Avila

Sources:
Gamespot.com
investor.about.com
emuunlim.com
designboom.com
Wikipedia
my own

Introduction
Some ideas in the 1948
First video game:
Tennis game in an Oscilloscope
Space game on DEC-1

In between:
Space Invaders: http://www.spaceinvaders.de/
Current videogames:
Half Life 2

Chess Origins
1769 Fake chess machine
1952 Turing design a chess
algorithm
1956 Maniac versus Human

Origins of Some Companies

1889 company create card game:
Nintendo (leave luck to heaven)
1932 COLECO (short for Connecticut Leather Company

1947 Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Company:

Sony
1954 David Rosen makes machines for GIs in Japan

(Service Games) SEGA

Other Origins
1951 Ralph Baer (@Loral) suggest adding game
to TV
May be considered the inventor of video
games
Only until 1967 he realized his dream of an
intereactive television
1952 A.S.Douglas (@Cambridge): Interactive Tic
Tac Toe
1958 Willy Higinbotham (@brookhaven national
laboratory): Oscilloscope

Other Origins (II)

1961 Steve Russell (@MIT) creates space war
If

I hadn't done it, someone would've

done something equally exciting if not
better in the next six months. I just
happened to get there first.
- Steve Russell

Space War Legacy

1971 Bill Pitts and
Hugh Tuck formed
Computer Recreations

Galaxy Game
Cost: $20K
Play cost: 10 cent
Built: dozens

1972 Noland Bushnell

and Ted Dabney
(@Nutting Associates)

Galaxy Game
Built: 1.5K

1972
PONG
Built: 10K
Breaks down

Early Games
Pong (http://www.apn.gr/pong.html)
1972 Magnavox builds Odyssey

Early Stages: 1976-1977

COLECO builds TELSTAR

Cartridges are born (Fairchild Camera & Instrument: Channel F)

Atari bought by Warner Communications ($28M)
Atari releases first console (later known as Atari 2600)

Early Stages 1977-78

Nintendo releases Othello (http://www.mattelothello.com/)
Taito creates Space Invaders!
Midway bought license

Apple and Atari release PCs

But Atari is seen as a gaming company

The Golden Age 1979-1981

Atari releases Asteroids!

Frogger, Konami/Sega, 1981
Pac-Man, Bally/Midway, 1980
Donkey Kong, Nintendo, 1981
Namco releases Pac-Man, 1982 (+300K machines sold)
Own television show
US Army commissions Atari for a tank simulation game
Start of a long enduring activity (Lehigh included!)
Nintendo releases first console in 1981
http://www.tripletsandus.com/80s/80s_games/

The Great Crash 1982-1984

The Commodore 64 PC is released
Coleco releases the Adam PC
Too many competitors small and large saturate the market
1982 Warner Corp. stock fell 32% after Atari
announces les-that-expected sells of consoles
Atari sold to Jack Tramiel (owner of Commodore)
New company: Atari Corp. pulls from Console market
Bright spot: Nintendo releases famicon does well in Japan

The Return of the Video Games 1985-1988

Nintendo releases NES
Met with skepticism by market observers
Turns out to be an instant hit
Legend of Zelda
1985 MS releases
http://www.nintendoland.com/zelda/home.htm
Apple releases the Mac, Atari releases 520STWindows
PC as a gaming
Who won?
platform
Tetris is released!
http://www.miniclip.com/tetris.htm

Coleco files for bankruptcy

The Story Continues

1989 Nintendo releases Gameboy, Sega releases
Genesis
1991 Nintendo releases SNES, Sega releases Sonic
1993 32-bit consoles
Nintendo releases Mortal Combat!

1999-2001 Playstation 2, Gamecube, Xbox

Whats Left?
PC Games
We will cover these in coming classes but by
Genre:
FPS
RTS
RPG (including MMO)