THE HISTORY OF VIDEO GAMES

Tennis for Two was first introduced on October 18, 1958. Two people played the electronic tennis game with separate controllers that connected to an analog computer and used an oscilloscope for a screen. The game’s creator, William Higinbotham, was a nuclear physicist who had worked on the Manhattan Project and lobbied for nuclear nonproliferation as the first chair of the Federation of American Scientists.

TENNIS FOR TWO

ANALOGUE COMPUTER

In 1961, a group of students at MIT, including Steve Russell, programmed a game titled Spacewar! on the PDP-1, a new computer at the time. The game pitted two human players against each other, each controlling a spacecraft capable of firing missiles, while a star in the center of the screen created a large hazard for the crafts.

SPACE WAR

The PDP-1 had an equivalent to 9,216 eight-bit bytes of memory. The magnetic core memory's cycle time corresponded roughly to a "clock speed" of 200 kilohertz.

The PDP-1 used punched paper tape as its primary storage medium.

PDP-1

In 1966, Ralph Baer engaged co-worker Bill Harrison in the project, where they both worked at a military electronics

contractor. They created a simple video game named Chase, the first to display on a standard television set. With the assistance of Baer, Bill Harrison created the light gun.

CHASE

MAGNAVOX ODYSSEY

The Magnavox Odyssey is the world's first commercial home video game console. It was released in 1972, predating the Atari Pong home consoles by three years.

The Odyssey was designed by Ralph Baer, who began around 1966 and had a working prototype finished by 1968. This prototype, known as the Brown Box

The system was powered by batteries and had no sound capability.

The Odyssey uses a type of removable printed circuit board card that inserts into a slot similar to a cartridge slot; these do not contain any components but have a series of jumpers between pins of the card connector. These jumpers interconnect different logic and signal generators to produce the desired game logic and screen output components respectively.

The system was sold with translucent plastic overlays that gamers could put on their TV screen to simulate colour graphics, though only two TV sizes were supported.

MAGNAVOX ODYSSEY

Units sold 330,000

CPU None

Controller input Two paddles

The Odyssey was also designed to support an add-on peripheral, the first-ever commercial video "light gun”. This detected light from the TV screen, though pointing the gun at a nearby light bulb also registered as a "hit".

MAGNAVOX ODYSSEY

Pong is a two-dimensional sports game that simulates table tennis.

Pong was the first game developed by Atari Inc., incorporated in June 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Who installed the Pong prototype at a local bar, Andy Capp's Tavern then released it later that year.

PONG

In 1974, Atari engineer Harold Lee proposed a home version of Pong that would connect to a television.

The idea was to concentrate all electronic components of the arcade version into one chip. According to today's standards it's extremely simple: a tennis game on a television screen. But in 1974, the chip needed was the most sophisticated ever used in a consumer product.

HOME PONG

Christmas 1975, Pong was the smashing hit for Sears. In several towns people had to wait hours in line for the shops, not to buy Pong, but to put their name on a list to order it.

Thanks to Pong, Atari in 1975 had a turnover of 40 million dollars.

HOME PONG

Space Invaders

Released in 1978, sparking a renaissance for the video game industry and paving the way for the golden age of arcade video games.

It was originally manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan

Space InvadersIt was one of the forerunners of modern video gaming and helped expand the video game industry from a novelty to a global industry.

The game uses an Intel 8080 central processing unit (8-bit - 2Mhz)

Space Invaders grossed US$2 billion worldwide by 1982.

The 1980 Atari 2600 version quadrupled the system's sales and became the first "killer app" for video game consoles.

Fairchild Channel FReleased in 1976 at the retail price of $169.95. It has the distinction of being the first programmable ROM cartridge–based video game console, and the first console to use a microprocessor.

CPU - Fairchild F8 8-bit - 1 MHz-2 MHzMemory - 64 bytes of system RAMOutput - A resolution of 102 × 58 pixels.(ish)Input - The controllers are a joystick without a base. It could be used as both a joystick and paddle (twist), and not only pushed down to operate as a fire button but also pulled up.

Atari 2600

Released in 1977 by Atari, Inc. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code

Atari 2600

CPU - MOS Technology 6507 running at 1.19 MHz

Primary Memory – 128 bytes of RAM

Secondary Memory - ROM (game cartridges): 4 kb maximum capacity (they got this up to 32 kb later)

Input - joysticks, paddles, keyboards, etc.

Output - 160 x 192 pixels, 128 colors were available.

Atari 2600 Controllers

Atari 2600 Games

Intellivision

Released by Mattel in 1979. Over two million Intellivision consoles had been sold by the end of 1982, earning Mattel a $100,000,000 profit

IntellivisionIntellivision can be considered the first 16-bit game console.

The Intellivision was also the first system to feature downloadable games (via cable TV). Although, without a storage device the games vanished once the machine was turned off. Intellivision was the first game console to provide real-time human and robot voice.

Intellivision was the first console to feature a controller with a directional pad.

Intellivision was also the first console to have a complete built-in character font.

Intelevision

CPU - General Instrument CP1610 16-bit microprocessor. 0.9 MHz)

Primary Memory -1456 bytes of RAM

Output - 159 pixels wide by 96 pixels high 16 color palette.

Handhelds

In 1979, Milton Bradley Company released the first handheld system using interchangeable cartridges, the Microvision.

Game and WatchIn 1980, Nintendo released its Game & Watch line over the next eleven years 43.4 million copies of the 59 games were sold worldwide. It was the earliest Nintendo product to garner major success.

Different models were manufactured, with some having two screens and a clam-shell design (the Multi Screen Series). The Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance SP later reused this design.

The modern "cross" D-pad design was developed in 1982 by Yokoi for the Donkey Kong handheld game.

Commodore VIC-20

Released in 1980. The VIC-20 was the first computer of any description to sell one million units.

CPU MOS Technology 6502 @ 1.02 MHz (NTSC)Primary Memory 5 - 64 kBSecondary Storage – Tape and Cartridge Graphics VIC 176 x 184

Commodore 64Released in 1982Sales totaled between 12.5 and 17 million units

CPU MOS Technology 6510@ 0.985 MHz Primary Memory 64 kB RAM + 20 kB ROM Secondary Storage IEEE-488 floppy 170 kilobyte drive for 5¼" disks, Tape, CartridgeOutput Graphics VIC-II (320 × 200, 16 colors)

ColecoVision

Released in 1982. The ColecoVision offered near-arcade-quality graphics and gaming style, and the means to expand the system's basic hardware.

ColecoVision

• CPU: Zilog Z80A @ 3.58 MHz• Output Video processor: Texas

Instruments TMS9928A• 256×192 resolution 32 Sprites

16 colors• Sound:

• 3 tone generators• 1 noise generator

• Storage: Cartridge: 8/16/24/32 KB

Game Boy

In 1989, Nintendo released the Game Boy, the first handheld console since the ill-fated Microvision ten years before.

CPU: Custom 8-bit Sharp LR35902at 4.19 MHz Primary Memory 8 kB -32 kB)Secondary Memory 2 MB, 4 MB and 8 MB cartridges

Nintendo Entertainment System

Released in 1983 (Asia) 85 (US) 87 Australia

CPU Ricoh 2A07 @1.66 MhzPrimary Memory 2 Kb + 2Kb videoSecondary Memory Cartridges 32Kb – 384 kBOutput 256 x 240 x 54 colours

Nintendo Entertainment System

AmigaThe first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer. The best selling model, the Amiga 500, was introduced in 1987

The Amiga was the first multimedia computer

CPU - Motorola 68000 @7.1 Mhz

Primary Memory – 500 Kb (expandable)

Output 320x256 (32 colours) to 640x256 (16 colours) HAM mode allowed for 4096 colours.

The Amiga was one of the first home computers for which inexpensive sound sampling and video digitization accessories were available. As a result of this and the Amiga's audio and video capabilities the Amiga became a popular system for editing and producing both music and video.

Amiga

Empire1973It's significant for being quite probably the first networked multiplayer arena shooter-style game.

Networked Games

Other Notable Gaming Computers

The ZX Spectrum an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd.

Other Notable Gaming Computers

The Atari ST is a home computer released by Atari Corporation in June 1985.

Comparable to the Amiga but but not as good for games.

The ST was also the first home computer with integrated MIDI support. Thanks to its built-in MIDI, it enjoyed success for running music-sequencer software and as a controller of musical instruments among amateurs and professionals alike.