Video Games Day – July 8

By Crystal Arcand on July 8th, 2009

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Love them or hate them, video games have become a well-entrenched part of life in our society. Today’s the day to celebrate them! The interactive video game is 61 years old, believe it or not. Contrary to popular belief, the video game didn’t begin with the home version of Atari’s Pong in 1975. It actually was birthed in 1948. Let’s check out what happened before Atari, shall we?

1948 – The “Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device” patented Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann on 14 December

1951 – NIMROD at the Festival of Britain

1952 – OXO tic-tac-toe by Alexander S. Douglas (for EDSAC)

1958 – Tennis for Two by William Higinbotham

1961 – Spacewar! by Martin Graetz, Steve Russell, and Wayne Wiitanen

1966 – Corndog by Ralph Baer

1967-68 – Prototype of target shooting game using a light gun developed by Ralph Baer and Bill Rusch

1969 – Space Travel by AT&T computer programmer Ken Thompson

1971 – Computer Space by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, based on Spacewar!

1971 – Galaxy Game, also based on Spacewar! installed at Stanford University in September

1972 – Atari founded

1972 – Atari Pong arcade version

1975 – Atari Pong home version

1972 – Magnavox Odyssey home console using a standard television

So it seems the teenage male’s best friend was already a ripe old 24 by the time Atari came onto the scene. While I must say I vehemently oppose many of the games out there now, you gotta admit: there’s still nothing like a good game of Pac-Man or Tetris. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go track down my first video game love, Pitfall.