Computer Space and Pong

PONG.  There's a game everyone has heard of.  It was Earth's first video-game.  Right?

Actually, wrong.  Like many things that we logically assume - the Sun's rotation around the Earth, the Earth's position in the center of the universe, gravity being stronger than electromagnetism - it's not true at all.  Before PONG came COMPUTER SPACE, in 1971.

So, let's take a look at the first TWO video-games in history: Computer Space, and Pong.



Essentially, the triangular spaceships were a more sophisticated version of the > < ^ V symbols being used.  The lasers fired were kind of like the . and , and - symbols being used.  However, instead of using regular symbols to convey complex scenarios, actual triangles and actual lasers and even a full U.F.O. was drawn and animated.

One would think that only the technology of PONG was available in 1972, but no - COMPUTER SPACE was possible in 1971.

Just like any futuristic video-game, people didn't know the **** to operate the thing, and so Pong was built a year later to suit the demand for a simpler and easier to follow game.



Yep.  Nice and simple.

Computer Space would be remade in 1979 under the name Asteroids.  The two games are almost identical.

Computer Space could be considered to be the 1886 Benz Motor Car of video-games, and Pong could be considered to be the 1908 Ford Model-T of games - the one that was nice and simple and meant for everyone, which many people inaccurately credit as being the first.

Did the Space Race of the 1960's and the moon-landing of 1969 play a critical role in the creation of video-games?  Possibly.  The post-moon-landing Earth is a high-tech, futuristic Earth, more like the Jetsons than the Flinstones kind of world that came before.  Computers were advanced enough to power a rocketship to bring man all the way to the moon and back - so how hard could it be to make a video-game everyone could play?

Actually, back in the 50's there was a "Tennis For Two" electronic game which came before Pong.