History of Video Games- Part 1

Since early computers were developed for scientific, military and educational purposes, early video games were developed on and for these systems. When one asks “what was the first video game?” the answer is not that simple. The exact definition of the term ‘video game’ can be debated, but the basic meaning defines games that make use of graphical outputs. The first computer game was a digital version of noughts-and-crosses made by a Cambridge student called A.S.Douglas in 1952 as part of his thesis. It made use of what was essentially a 32x16 pixel display and the programming contained algorithms allowing the computer to react accordingly with the moves made by the player. However, although this was the first computer game to make use of a visual display, many don’t consider this to be the first Video Game, possibly because of the visual display was only calculating graphics in a very basic manner. Instead the game ‘Spacewar!’ is often considered to be the first. This game, made in 1961, was the first to use vector graphics. Created by students of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the DEC PDP-1, it allowed two players to go head-to-head with spaceships, shooting at each other (hence it also was the first example of the shooter genre). Another example that took a different approach to the concept of computer games was ‘Tennis for Two’ in 1958. It was made using an oscilloscope at a nuclear research lab in New York as a fun learning aid. This game is also argued by some to be the first ‘video game’.

Now despite what one would assume, none of the people who made these early video games were actually the inventors of the concept. That honour goes to Ralph Baer- with a background in various types of electronics, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Television Engineering, he was able to imagine the creative possibilities for the developing technologies. He first had the idea to make games to be played on a television set back in 1951. He was working at a TV company at the time, but his chief engineer did not give him permission to implement the idea. He wasn’t able to develop any games until 1966.

Video games started to become popular with the public once they began being used in arcades. Early arcade games in the mid 60’s were electro-mechanical, making use of image projection. Proper video games were not introduced until 1971, when ‘Spacewar’ was released in cabinet form. Of course, the game that really caught the public’s eye and developed arcade gaming into an industry was ‘Pong’, released by Atari the following year. Another important release would be ‘Space Invaders’ which was so popular it kick-started the arcade craze lasting well into the 80s.

The first home console was the Magnavox Odyssey in 1972, having been finally developed by Ralph Baer, although it’s popularity didn’t last very long. Atari then released a home version of Pong in 1975. Both companies dominated the market during the first console generation.