Every story has a beginning.

The very first video game?

It was essentially pong.*
Not the Pong with dial paddles, though
that would later be Ataris first game and
the first video game people actually had
in their homes.
The first Pong, though not called pong,
was created in 1958 by Willy
Higinbotham and played on an
oscilloscope. It was called Tennis For Two.

Higinbotham
Was also part of the team at Los
Alamos responsible for the nuclear
bomb. Nice job, tennis dork!

The first real innovators

Were Atari. Founders Nolan Bushnell
and Ted Dabney started development
of an arcade game Computer Space
in 1970. Computer Space is essentially
a port of a game called Spacewar
developed on a mainframe at MIT by
Steve Russell.

IN 1971
Sweet success for
Atari! 1500 cabinets of
the first arcade game
ever, Computer Space,
ship.
And people think it
sucks, basically,
though it appears
Ginger from Gilligans
Island loves it.

Not to be defeated
strikes back like the empire it
will become, and starts working on a little
bit of that video game tennis action. In
1975, they release Pong. And people
kind of lose their minds. Within two years,
in 1977, Dr. Phill is born into a world where
Atari sells a home system (the pre-cursor to
the Atari 2600). It runs on cartridges and
can replicate many arcade games. Atari
also considers personal computers, but that
goes sort of like Computer Space did.

Thank Atari
Not just for your
Xboxes and
Playstations and
handhelds and this
class but Atari was
the breeding ground
for a lil outfit called
Apple. iThink they
might have made
some cool stuff.

In 1978
A company named Midway introduces
this little guy and a million of his slow
moving, always descending friends:
Space Invaders is the first arcade game
to record scores. That ends up being
a big deal. People like scoring points
and leaving their initials on machines.

In 1980
Mattel debuts the
Intelivision, a machine
that in spite of coming
second and having better
technology ends up being
the betamax to Ataris
VHS. Every kid whos
parents shopped in the
Sears catalog had one.
Also, the game to the left
debuts. Its not a big deal
or anything.

True Fact:
Namco originally named
the game Puckman, as
the protagonist looks like
a yellow hockey puck. But
they realized us crazy
Americans have a
tendency to deface things,
and since someone in
their office was named
Chuck and could play the
name game, they knew
what wed do. So he
became Pacman.

In 1983-1984
Atari ups its game to the 5200 to try to
compete with the new home system,
Colecovision.
Dragons Lair hits arcades. Everyone
sucks at it, but it looks so cool we cope.
In Japan, a company named Nintendo
launches the Famicom and makes a deal
for Atari to distribute in the US. That deal
falls through (oops, Atari).

Dragons Lair
Is relevant in that it brings the swords and sorcery world of
table-top gaming to video games. Its also the first game to use
laser disc technology instead of just a circuit board. It ends up
being more like a choose your own adventure cartoon, but it
blows away the graphics of its competitors.

In 1985
The Nintendo Entertainment System
is test marketed in New York. Its
Famicom, only for US audiences. While
this is happening, a Russian named Alex
Pajitnov invents Tetris, essentially
fueling the puzzle game genre we know
and love today.

1986
The NES and the Sega
Master System (both 8bit) hit the United States.
Nintendos console comes
with a game called Super
Mario Brothers. The
console wars essentially
begin here, even though
there have been rivals
before. This is the first time
the division feels anything
like it is even between the
two companies.

Oh, that Mario

Nintendos plummer-in-chief wasnt born
with the NES. He first saw action in Donkey
Kong in 1981, then his brother Luigi joined
him in Mario Brothers in 1983. Both started
as arcade machines but found life on home
consoles (Atari and Colecovision). But the
Mario most know and love the one who
rescues the princess first appeared in the
free-with-the-system NES Super Mario
Brothers.

1987
The Legend of Zelda debuts. Its the first major
cartridge game to include a battery to save
your data and it makes action RPGs a thing
for Americans. Also the cart is GOLD!

The REAL Triforce

In 1986-7 Nintendo also released
Metroid, a game best known for a hero
who can curl into a ball, looks a little like
Boba Fett, and ends up being a girl! The
trio of Mario, Zelda and Metroid would
constitute a major first party
advantage for Nintendo, as those were
games that Sega couldnt offer on their
Genesis console.

1989
Nintendo debuts the
Gameboy. The
original is HUGE by
current standards, but
it allows for portable
gaming.
Things like color, and
graphics that arent
terrible, wont come
until later.

Also in 1989
Sega tries to one-up Nintendo in the next
generation fight and launches the 16-bit
Genesis. The Genesis is touted as the first
system to allow for true arcade game play at
home.
NECs 16-bit console, TurboGrafx-16, debuts. It
is the first system to run CDs. It has limited
appeal bur great games.
Atari releases the handheld Lynx. No one buys it.

1990
Two years after it debuted on the Apple II,
John Madden Football is released for Sega
Genesis. It later spreads to every console on
Earth, sort of like a football tossin Skynet.

And now
Madden looks like this:

1991
Two years after the
Genesis and TG-16,
Nintendo releases the
Super Nintendo in
the US.
It still does surprisingly
well. Mario, Zelda and
the gang have a lot to
do with that.

A note:
Ive tried to hit on a few key games, but
during this era, the sheer number of
games available explodes. To track them
all would turn this into a horrifying mess
of release dates. But a time-line might
be a fun thing to build.

1993
Ataris Jaguar, which was to be the first 64
bit system, fails worse than their Lynx did.
Joe Lieberman, who would later provide
absolutely no energy to an Al Gore
Presidential run, tries to legislate an end to
violent games. Poor guy thinks Mortal
Kombat is bad. I wonder how he feels about
Grand Theft Auto: V.

1994
Japan gets Sega Saturn and the Sony
Playstation.
The US gets:

1995
Sony Playstation and Sega Saturn come to the
US.
Nintendo 64 debuts in Japan.
Everyone says that Sony has no chance against
the big two in America.
Arcades start a shift from cabinet games (the
success of fighting games like Mortal Kombat and
Tekken now starting to wane) and begin to feature
more sit-in-the-car, ride-the-skis, surf, etc. games.

1996
Tamagotchi is
released. People are
into it, for like a
week, then their
virtual pets starve
because American
kids dont really get
into it. In Japan,
there also lurks a
Pokemon.

1997
Thanks to either geniuses at Sony or a terrible
controller (Nintendo 64) and a lackluster game
catalog (Sega Saturn), Playstation dominates
the US gaming scene with 20 mil units sold.
Arizona goes Full Lieberman and tries to ban
violent video games. Only the bill doesnt pass
their state legislature. Flawless victory. FINISH
HIM!

1998
Sega releases the Dreamcast, a
system that runs a version of
Microsoft Windows. Its brilliant, but it
never quite takes off. Its also in an
odd half-generation position, as its
not quite next-gen but sort of is.
Wal-Mart decides to ban some violent
games. Shoppers go to Target. The
world keeps spinning.

2000
Say hello to the Playstation 2, a system
that will one day bring you God of War.
The Sims is also released, showing that
people still play PC games that arent for
FPS LAN parties.

2001
Y2K doesnt kill us, but it kills Sega, as
they cease manufacture of hardware and
go straight up game production.
Microsofts Xbox and Nintendos
Game Cube launch the same week.
Nintendo starts to fall to third in the
console wars.
But the GameBoy Advance is awesome!

2002-2004
Sony and Microsoft trade hammering
blows.
Nintendo starts to focus again on the
portable market. In 2004 they release the
dual screen Nintendo DS. It does much
better than the then faltering Game
Cube.

2004

How relevant is WoW?

Many had proclaimed PC gaming dead. Sure,
Warcraft III, Diablo and a handful of other
games had sold well, and early MMOs like
Ultima Online and Everquest did brisk sales,
but WoW at one point would boast 11.5
million subscribers and essentially rose like
a phoenix to put MMOs on the gaming map.
Now games like League of Legends boast
nearly 5X the users, and online communities
thrive.

2005
Sony debuts the PSP.
Its a nice system, but
it cant seem to stop
the power of the
Nintendo DS.
Microsoft gets the
drop on the next
generation by
releasing the Xbox
360.

2006
The Playstation 3 debuts, and in spite of a
vocal fan community vs. fan community
flame war all over the net cannot catch up
to the installed base of the Xbox 360.
Nintendo debuts the Wii, going in a
totally different direction and making
gestural gaming a real thing. Also, lots of
people destroy TVs, furniture, and each
other launching the nunchuk here there
and everywhere.

2007

The iPhone
Thanks to the iPhone, people can carry more
sophisticated games on their phones, and
mobile phone gaming already a big thing in
other countries starts to really stick in the US.
Later the app store will become a boon for indie
developers. Then a nightmare. Then a potential
boon again. It will lead to the Xbox Live arcade,
Androids App store, the Sony Playstation Market,
etc. It also causes 2003s release of the Steam
platform to finally mean something to the
masses.

2008

2009

2010

2011

While it was publically released in 2009, the final release version was in

2012
This year brought the Nintendo 3DS XL and
the Playstation Vita, as mobile game systems
attempt to combat the iDevice and Android
phone mobile renaissance.
Nintendo releases Wii U, which is popular with
families but seems to fall flat for hardcore
gamers.
Rumors swirl about the next Xbox and
Playstation.

2013

LoL has 32 MILLION unique players monthly.

Thats roughly the population of Canada by
some numbers (and just under it by others).

2014

You want more detail