To begin our tour of the evolution of video gaming, we need to start off with the first video gaming system created. This system, or console if you will, is called the "Brown Box" and was created in 1967. The "Brown Box" was designed and thought up by Ralph Baer. The system was designed to work on any standard television during that time. When the "Brown Box" was first created, it allowed two players to control squares that chased each other around on the screen. Later, a total of 12 games we made for this very clever invention that introduced us the video gaming world.
To continue along our timeline, the next video game console is the Magnavox Odyssey. Ralph Baer licensed his "Brown Box" to Magnavox in 1971 and the Manavox Odyssey was released in 1972. The "Brown Box" was then simply a prototype for this new video gaming system. Magnavox marketed the system so that it would work on Magnavox TVs. This hurt the popularity of this system because of the false accusation that it only worked on Magnavox TVs. The system featured 12 games like the "Brown Box" did. Each game used dots and lines in a unique way to make one of the first video gaming experiences incredible. Although, at this point people were still spectacle about video games.
Next to be created in the video gaming world was Pong. Pong was created by the new video game company called Atari, which is still a big video game company to this day. Atari was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Pong was the first big hit for him and his Atari team. Pong was released in 1975 and the first home version was sold from Sears under the Sear Tele-Games label. Pong used a single chip that helped create the unique sound of the game when the ball hit the paddle and produce the on screen score at the top of the screen. This system was what launched Atari and other video gaming systems out there. It help put many video gaming systems into the homes of the people during the mid 1970's.
Our last stop in the 1960's - 1970's is another video game system from Atari. Atari realized that the popularity of Pong would not last forever and therefor, they would need a new video game. They wanted to create a video game console that would use cartridges and be able to play multiple games on the system, rather than like Pong where all you can do is play Pong. Before this new system came out, Bushnell sold Atari to Warner Communications in 1976. Although, Warner Communications entirely backed up the new idea that Atari had been working on. In 1977, the Atari VCS or later known as the Atari 2600 was released. This outstanding video game system has several hit games including; Space Invaders, Breakout, Missile Command, and Combat.
So as you can see, just throughout the 1970's, video games evolved drastically. The original idea was created in 1967 (the "Brown Box") which later in 1972 became the Magnavox Odyssey. At this point in time video games were new and not a whole lot of people were all that interested in this weird contraption used to "have fun" on your TV. When Pong came out in 1975, the video game world began to take off. Atari had just made the first big hit video game and the popularity of the game grew and grew each day. With such success and popularity, Atari knew they had to continue on there video game production. Therefor, in 1977, the Atari 2600 was released and at this point the video game world has officially taken off. Each one of these video game systems, or consoles, brought something unique and special to the video game world. The evolution of the video game could not have happened without each one of these systems being created. Each one participates in a key role in the development of video games.
Stay tuned for The Evolution of Video Gaming (Part 2). This will talk about the video games from the 1980's and how they evolved from year to year as well.
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