Videogames Turn 40 117
May 15th marks the 40 year anniversary of the first games hooked up to the television. An article on the 1up site tells the story of Ralph Baer, Bill Harrison, and Bill Rusch working at the Sanders Associates company on a little game called Pong. They go into a great deal of detail on the development of the console, going so far as to include a number of the group's original notes on the project. "Baer kept the tiny lab, a former company library in Sanders' early days, locked at all times. Only two men had keys: Baer and Harrison. The room would remain the base of operations for their controversial video experiments for years to come -- experiments that, had they been known about widely at the time, might have garnered intense ridicule from other employees of the prominent defense contractor. Pursuing them was an utterly audacious move."
I had a Magnavox Odyssey growing up (Score:4, Interesting)
And now this article comes out.
Jeez, I'm old.
Baer Necessities (Score:5, Interesting)
However painful it may seem, most industries are born of one or more men inventing something truly interesting. However, their first growth spurt comes when someone else copies that invention and popularizes it. This is, in effect, the respective roles of Baer and Bushnell.
I'd encourage people to read the whole article, including the sidebars. It's a great history lesson for a subject dear to us all.
Re:I had a Magnavox Odyssey growing up (Score:4, Interesting)
The thing that got my excited was that they had a computer programming cartridge for it. I had dreams of using the Odyssey II like a home computer, or at least doing some basic programming. In turned out all the cartridge let you do is program about 20 steps in assembly language. The output was limited to about 10 characters. What a let down.
Video Games have Changed! (Score:3, Interesting)
Alternate first game (Score:4, Interesting)
Pong TV (Score:5, Interesting)
I didn't discover this until kids were asking me in school "who was on the left". I replied that was my brother. "He was kicking your ASS last night dude". I replied "wait - you weren't around yesterday - hell I didn't even know you knew I had a system!". After he told me he was watching us on tv I rode after school on my bike - several miles from my house - to his and wached my Odyssey (which I left on) beaming in crystal-clear to his tv.
I have no idea what our ratings were, but given the state of mid 70s television - I wouldn't be surprised if our audience-share wasn't substantial.
Vector hardware (Score:3, Interesting)
I still love the raster updates and spent many happy hours on the various PC and Mac ports - Maelstrom in particular, but the original game running on vector hardware is still the version I prefer.
Cheers,
Ian
Re:Baer Necessities (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm not sure if I agree that the invention has to be copied by someone outside the organization (although this is frequently the case), but I think you are on to something with the rest of your thought. There are two key parts of "birthing an industry":
Frequently these roles are filled by different types of people. (They require different personalities / skills.) "The Inventor" typically spends all his time "behind the scenes" working on things and keeps a low profile. "The Visionary" typically goes out and "sells" the idea to the public and gets all the press coverage. It's not surprising that the guy who talks to the media is the one people associate with the invention. That's the main reason Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are the first names that come to mind when you think about "the personal computer industry". They took products that started as someone's "pet project", saw the potential, and made the right moves to build an industry.
Re:Snakes and Arrows (Score:5, Interesting)
I find it similar to the article/essay written by Neal Peart of Rush about their new album, Snakes and Arrows. (Rush is currently #3 on the charts - I never thought I'd see that again! Makes me happy as a big Rush fan!)
Snippet from A Prize Every Time [rush.com]
"...how children are usually imprinted with a particular faith, along with their other early blessings and scars. People who actively choose their faith are vanishingly few; most simply receive it, with their mother's milk, language, and customs. Thinking also of people being shaped by early abuse of one kind or another, I felt a connection with friends who had adopted rescue dogs as puppies, and given them unlimited love, care, and security. If those puppies had been "damaged" by their earlier treatment--made nervous, timid, or worse--they would always remain that way, no matter how smooth the rest of their life might be. It seemed the same for children.
To express that notion, I came up with, "The snakes and arrows a child is heir to/ Are enough to leave a thousand cuts." I thought I was only combining Hamlet's "slings and arrows" with the childhood game "Snakes and Ladders," to make something less clichéd. And indeed, when we were discussing Snakes and Arrows as a possible album title, Geddy remarked, "I like it because it sounds familiar, but isn't."
Re:SPACEWAR!! (Score:4, Interesting)
Earlier (Score:4, Interesting)
http://www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/history/higinbotham.asp [bnl.gov]
Re:SPACEWAR!! (Score:3, Interesting)
Chris Mattern
40 Years Is Not Very Long (Score:3, Interesting)
Of course, that doesn't mean that modern video games are any more enjoyable than Pong and the earlier games, which almost have an advantage in that the only thing they could focus on was gameplay, but it does show an impressive advancement along the technical curve. With that curve tending upwards and advancement getting faster, it's fun to imagine what the next 40 years will bring.