History of Video Games Part 1

The 50’s saw the birth of many things; Disneyland, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, My Mam and Dad, Velcro, Colour Televisions, Dr. Seuss’ Cat in the Hat, Organ Transplants and –of course- Video Games.

Estle Ray Mann (not quite)

Well, okay this isn’t entirely true because in 1947 two people called Thomas T.Goldsmith Jr and Estle Ray Mann fannied about with interactive electronic devices to create a simulation game in which the player fired missiles at “targets” (drawings that were fixed to the screen) this was the “Cathode ray tube Amusement Device”. Doesn’t exactly sound riveting but lets think of this baby step as the first stitch in a gigantic –still unfinished- tapestry.

However, I say that Video Games were born in the 1950’s because really, this is when advances in technology began to give birth to the form of entertainment that we’re so obsessed with today. In 1952 a man named A. S. Douglas created a graphical version of Tic-Tac-Toe which was programmed on a EDSAC vacuum-tube computer; he also wrote his PHD Degree on Human-Computer interaction. This guy wrote a PHD, and by just fiddling about making something for a bit of fun, he had perhaps unknowingly planted the seeds for a massive, rapidly growing industry .

What I find interesting about this is that as video game technology advanced, game storylines and objectives become more and more complex and imaginative; wandering away from the original very basic: “shoot aliens” all the way to, befriend all of your fellow companions, collect all of the different gems, do all the quests, pluck all the chickens and help the princess give birth (or something). However, these days it has come full circle, with more simple games such as iPhone apps like candycrush or draw something and Portal gaining extreme popularity. It just amuses me that we always seem to revert back to the basics for entertainment. Perhaps simple is best.

Sadly I am a Candy Crush Addict

Anyway, back on track!

Another little stepping stone came along in 1958 when a bloke called William Higinbotham made what is considered the first video game ever; he called it “Tennis for two” which was created and played on a Brookhaven National Laboratory oscilloscope (nice short name there!). Skip forward just a few years to 1962 and then we have the first ever video game intended for computer use! Steve Russell created it and named it Spacewar! Which I think looks pretty cute, typical female opinion hahaaa.

Quick little skip forward to the early 70s, when out came;

COMPUTER SPACE

Nice Marketing Strategy?

Beginning to see a little bit of a space theme going on here. This was the first ever commercially sold and (of course) coin operated video game, hello beginning of the arcade! Following this came two different versions of the famous Pong, one designed for home use, and the other arcade version which was released in 1972. Video games had finally entered the home and the mainstream entertainment industry. Kids getting their pocket money and spending their coins on a little virtual ping pong screen, when they could play real ping pong at home for free. I mustn’t jest however, because simple little Pong turned out to be the game that really jumpstarted the games industry after other companies picked up on the hype of Pong and began to develop their own clones and systems.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!

Turns out though that perhaps the boost of success for pong and its clone consoles was not as good for the new companies as they had hoped, as this led to the notorious video game crash of 1977.

Luckily it was SPACE INVADERS TO THE RESCUEEE! Taitos 1978 shooter further inspired manufacturers to enter the market, perhaps realizing this new entertainment genre’s potential. Boom boom along came more arcade machines appearing in mainstream locations and being written about in magazines. Arcade games, and video games had entered popular culture officially.

Its funny because many people nowadays would think of the original creators of video games maybe being some kids sitting messing about in their basement, trying to find ways of procrastinating from their exams or some such. In fact I’ve found they’re not far off, really to put it simply, Video Games were created by academics who were (in their own way) procrastinating and fannying about. I’ve always hoped that one day video games would be taken just as seriously as a medium as that of the film industry. Discovering that academics were the ones originally behind the industry reinforces this hope for me, and just goes to show that no matter how “serious” someone or their profession may seem, everyone wants to have a little bit of fun every once in a while.

Lets all be truly thankful that these extremely intelligent people did mess about a bit, otherwise we may not have been experiencing video games in the way that we do now!