Now this was a great heyday. 1970's arcade machines will just never go out of style. These are the classics that are still being remade.
Arcade
Asteroids (1979)
Breakout (1976)
Circus (1977)
Depthcharge (1977)
Galaxian (1979)
Gun Fight (1975)
Heavyweight Champ (1976)
Pong (1972)
Space Invaders (1978)
Space (1979)
Sprint (1976)
Stunt Cycle (1976)
Superman1 (1978)
Tank (1974)
Home computers and console
Battlestar Galactica1 (1978)
Classic Empire (1977)
Combat (1977)
dnd (1974)
Lunar Lander (1973)
Microsoft Flight Simulator (1979)
MUD (1978)
Sargon (1978)
Star Raiders (1979)
Star Trek1 (1971)
Zork (1977)
Sunday, February 12, 2017
C64 - Commodore 64
This was a system more advanced than the Atari 2600, but not nearly as advanced as the PS4, which people were still struggling to imagine and envision.
Atari 2600
Okay. Now, finally, we get to the system that the younger version of me always believed was the first video-game system.
1970's - Magnavox Odyssey
I used to say and believe that Atari had the first video-game
system. For many years, the Atari was the one-sided marketplace of
video-games, the one political party, the one monopoly. It took until
1984 for Nintendo to become the One Video-Game System. From 1984 to
1990, most adults were under the impression that "Nintendo games" and
"video-games" were synonymous phrases. Before 1984, though, the same
was true of the Atari.
Enter the Odyssey.
Sears had an exclusive deal with the Odyssey, where the only place to buy the system was at Sears. Thus, Sears was the only place in which to buy video-games.
Eventually, Sears inspired Wal-Mart, which inspired Target. Both stores continue to maintain SOME exclusive deals even to this day. However, Sears is no longer a store in which video-games are bought or sold. In the 2010's, one cannot imagine Sears as having any impressive selection of games - let alone the whole entire marketplace. However, that's how it worked.
The Odyssey can be considered to be one of literature's first works of fiction, after the Iliad, and so it makes some sense that the first major famous video-game console would be called the Odyssey.
Here's a quick breakdown of all the Odyssey games ever made.
Enter the Odyssey.
Sears had an exclusive deal with the Odyssey, where the only place to buy the system was at Sears. Thus, Sears was the only place in which to buy video-games.
Eventually, Sears inspired Wal-Mart, which inspired Target. Both stores continue to maintain SOME exclusive deals even to this day. However, Sears is no longer a store in which video-games are bought or sold. In the 2010's, one cannot imagine Sears as having any impressive selection of games - let alone the whole entire marketplace. However, that's how it worked.
The Odyssey can be considered to be one of literature's first works of fiction, after the Iliad, and so it makes some sense that the first major famous video-game console would be called the Odyssey.
Here's a quick breakdown of all the Odyssey games ever made.
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.
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.
Video-Games in the 1960's (Yes, They Existed)
Video-games in the 1960's. Now, I know what you're saying.
"You're crazy! There weren't any video-games in the 60's." But then
again, you would think the same thing of computers, wouldn't you?
Computers existed in the 1960's. They looked like this.
You know, kind of like Batman's Batcomputer in the 60's show.
Calculators, or "calculating machines", existed, and they looked like this.
It was necessary to build the world's first calculator before building the world's first video-game. There's more than one reason for this. One, every video-game involves mathematics and scorekeeping. Two, the first video-games involved symbols and characters like these:
, . < > - _
Those were the original frames of animation equivalent to Mario jumping.
Such calculator games would end up making a comeback in 1999.
Now let's explore what video-games were like in the 1960's.
Computers existed in the 1960's. They looked like this.
You know, kind of like Batman's Batcomputer in the 60's show.
Calculators, or "calculating machines", existed, and they looked like this.
It was necessary to build the world's first calculator before building the world's first video-game. There's more than one reason for this. One, every video-game involves mathematics and scorekeeping. Two, the first video-games involved symbols and characters like these:
, . < > - _
Those were the original frames of animation equivalent to Mario jumping.
Such calculator games would end up making a comeback in 1999.
Now let's explore what video-games were like in the 1960's.
1950 - First Video-Game, Bertie the Brain
Now, wait a minute. 1950? Video-games?
Somehow, yes.
Bertie the Brain was the name of the game, and it was basically just an electronic version of the already very well-known Tic-Tac-Toe.
Somehow, yes.
Bertie the Brain was the name of the game, and it was basically just an electronic version of the already very well-known Tic-Tac-Toe.
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