A history of computer games, part one: 1950s - 1970s

So it seems video games have actually been around since the 1950's! I know, crazy isn't it? You'd think video games are a pretty new thing but it turns out that the first ever video game was produced in the 1950's! This game was a computerised version of Tic Tac Toe titled 'XOX' (Source 1) and was created by Douglas in 1952. Although this was the first ever 'computer game' can it really be called that? It was impossible to play unless on a computer with a lot of memory and was incredibly simple but I think it would be considered the first ever computer game as it allows a user to interact with a graphical interface. Isn't that what a game is, no matter the advancement of the programme?

Tic Tac Toe, a game that was incorporated into a computer game (Source 2)

So what was the next computer game? It was called 'Tennis for Two' and was created by William Higinbotham in 1958. Again, it could only be played on a computer with an extreme amount of memory and was only ever played on the Brookhaven National Laboratory Oscilloscope. Hm, doesn't sound much like a game if people could only play it on one machine.

Tennis for Two, a game to be played on an oscilloscope (Source 3)

So what was the first 'real' game? In 1962, Steve Russel invented 'Spacewar!' which could be played on a variety of different computers and was the first game to introduce two player mode! (Source 4) This was quite possibly the first big step towards industrialising video games. The game was a very simple pixel black and white game which allowed two players to control a spaceship each and the aim of the game was to shoot the opposing player before being shot themselves. Isn't this the main aim of a video game? To beat an opponent without being beaten yourself? This is why Spacewar! is normally considered to be the first real game.

An image of 'Space War!' (Source 5)

The first game played on a television was a game called 'Chase' and was created by Ralph Baer in 1967. This game was very simple and only consisted of a dot being chased by another dot. The aim of the game was to catch the other dot without being caught yourself, again implementing the main basic idea of what to do in a video game. Yeah, being chased by a dot. My how far we've come since then.

Ralph Baer, the creater of 'Chase' (Source 6)

The first ever arcade game, and revolution to the gaming industry, so iconic even to this day was created in 1971 by Nolan Bushell. What was this amazingly iconic game? Pong. This game revolutionised the gaming industry and Bushnell went on to create the company Atari, a massive video game producer even to this day. Pong is incredibly well-known among the video game industry. The game consisted of having a white block and having to bounce a ball off it either towards another block (ie ping-pong) and at later dates, up towards more blocks that you had to hit with the ball in order to break. Breaking all of the blocks would clear the stage. This game is so iconic, especially to me as I remember playing it as a kid, not the original but a more advanced version that included colours. It could keep me entertained for hours and I'm sure it could even to this day!

Nolan Bushell with his 'Pong' game (Source 7)

So, those are the basics behind the first visual video games. There's others? Ok, lets talk about non-visual video games. Yep, once there was a time where video games didn't need flashy (or not so flashy) graphics of incredibly handsome hunky men and equally handsome hunky aliens. Nope, once there was such a thing as text-based adventure games. Perhaps the first role playing games, or RPGs, this is most likely where they spawned from anyway. Text based games consisted of users having to type their actions into a text driven machine and text replies would come back explaining what happened upon the actions you chose. Sounds a bit like Dungeons and Dragons actually. The first text based adventure game was titled 'Adventure' and came around in 1977. Probably the most iconic thing about text based adventures is that it isn't about how fast you can react to things, if you're not typing then you aren't playing, the game is paused and nothing will happen unless you initiate an action yourself. This was a breather in a way for players who couldn't stand the fact that the ball wouldn't stop bouncing back in Pong. Text based games eventually began to become slightly visual by adding some images when something important happened in a game. Yeah, they were pretty awful MS paint drawings, probably would have been better if they'd been left out if you ask me actually.

A text based game (Source 8)

So in the recent years actually text based adventure games have made a comeback, expect now they have visual images (although 5 billion times better than the one above) but the main idea behind them (typing your commands and seeing what happens) is still there. Myst is probably the most popular recent game like this as it explains exactly how the player landed in the world they have their adventure in and explains various other things throughout the game.

A more modern text based game with images now (Source 9)

So what were the first actual video game consoles? Remember Baer, the one who made 'Chase'? Well the first console was made by him. The first prototype of it called 'Brown Box' was released in 1968. The actual final console released in 1972 was called the Magnavox Odyssey. Yeah, I've never heard of it either. But it did allow people to play several games on the same system by switching cartridges. Yeah I do remember the cartridge days, all those Pokemon Gameboy cartridges where you had to blow into them to get them to work. Except the Magnavox's cartridges were actually all inside the console and certain ones would be switched off when one game was played, so basically it was a massive block with several games inside of it that could be played individually. Despite this 100,000 of these consoles were sold within its first year of release. Well I guess they didn't know what a PS3 was back then did they?

People playing the Magnavox Odyssey (Source 10)

Next came the mainframe computers developed in the early 1970's. People who wrote these were actually mainly students, the two most popular ones being the PLATO System and the DECUS. Many small games were released on these computers such as a Star Trek game with the same name as the series, a baseball game and Maze War, a maze game. These games don't sound very interesting to be honest. And the technology behind them was very minisucle. Can we even consider the mainframe computers consoles or were they merely just more computers?

The PLATO System (Source 11)

So what happened after this? The video game crash of 1977, talk about dramatic! (Source 12) Yeah so a lot of consoles weren't being sold so the manufacturers sold them at a loss to get rid of them. Most developers died out, Atari and Magnavox being the only two that survived (although they also suffered from losses but still managed to keep on their toes.) So what caused the crash? Clones of the Pong game. These came in so fast that there was little hope for selling your Pong game as there was such a wide variety of them, people were spoiled for choice. The crash came to an end in 1978 when Space Invaders was released, but that's for a later blog entry.

So now that we've had a look at how video games progressed throughout the first glory days of video games, who actually decided to use a computer to have fun? Well the 'father of video games' is normally seen as Baer. (Source 13) Yeah, you'd think the guy who created Pong would be considered this but nope, people consider Baer to be the one. He was assigned to create a television set but instead created video games and consoles. Seems legit. Well he did create the Magnavox Odyssey too. Wait, what are those? They didn't last that long clearly but they managed to make it through the video game crash so they must have been at least decent, especially for their time. Unfortunately Baer passed away before he could see the true potential video games have today (and the ones of the future) but he could die knowing that he made this possible. So yes, a man who was originally meant to be making a TV invented video games. And that's how it all started. This man deserves some serious credit I think. Thank you Baer.

Ralph Baer, the father of video games (Source 14)

So yes, these were the first video games. Awful in comparison to today's but the ground breakers for them too, if it weren't for these then we probably wouldn't have the technology we have for our games today. Everything has to start somewhere, in this case it was with chasing dots and blocks hitting balls. Like I said, we had to start somewhere.

So what happened next? We'll have a look at that in another blog entry, for now we have the base of what we know today, and that we should be grateful for.

Source number	Source	Comments
Source 1	http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blcomputer_videogames.htm - Website about the first ever games, including ‘XOX’	Information on the first ever video games which were done in pixels and on computers instead of on systems. XOX was a game that incorporated Tic Tac Toe into an actual video game.
Source 2	http://www.widgit.com/parents/home/games/oandx.jpg - Image of ‘Tic Tac Toe'	An image showing what Tic Tac Toe looks like when it’s played. It is essentially noughts and crosses. A video game was then made off this.
Source 3	http://www.virginmedia.com/images/Tennis_for_Two-tennis-431.jpg - An image of ‘Tennis for Two’	An image of Tennis for Two which was played on an oscilloscope.
Source 4	http://www.jesperjuul.net/thesis/2-historyofthecomputergame.html - Information on video games including Space War!	Information on many games including one of the very first ‘Space War!’
Source 5	http://www.computerspacefan.com/SW.JPG - An image of ‘Space War!’	An image of what ‘Space War!’ looked like when being played.
Source 6	http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_RqkZ-3TwUoA/TIHy43VH5-I/AAAAAAAACk8/tvZEXOYv_6E/s1600/ralph_baer_large.jpg - Image of Ralph Baer with his ‘Chase’ game	An image of Ralph Baer standing next to his ‘Chase’ game that he made.
Source 7	http://www.videogamesblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/nolan-bushnell-plays-pong.jpg - Image of Nolan Bushell with his Pong game	An image of Nolan Bushell standing next to his ‘Pong’ game that he made.
Source 8	http://www.jesperjuul.net/thesis/2-historyofthecomputergame.html - Website where the image of the text based game came from	A website with an image showing a text based game with very poorly drawn images in it at certain stages.
Source 9	http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d0/Myst-library_and_ship.jpg - Image from the ‘Myst’ game	An image from the ‘Myst’ game which takes idea from text based games but plays out with images.
Source 10	http://www.gameconsolesedu.info/images/MagnavoxOdyssey.jpg - Image of people playing the Magnavox Odyssey	An image of people playing one of the first ever consoles, the Magnavox Odyssey.
Source 11	http://blog.echovar.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/plato_terminal.jpg - Image of the PLATO system	An image of the PLATO System, another one of the first video game consoles.
Source 12	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_computer_and_video_games - Information on video games, specifically the Video Game Crash.	Information on how video games have developed over the years, including the video game crash and how it recovered.
Source 13	http://www.designboom.com/eng/education/pong.html - Information on older video games and on Ralph Baer	A website on Ralph Baer and some of other video games.
Source 14	http://thegamershub.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Gaming-Gods-Ralph-Baer.jpg - An image of Ralph Baer.	An image of Ralph Baer, the father of video games.