History Of Video Games - The First Video Game Ever Made?

     As an avid retro-gamer for a long time, I became particularly interested in video game history. More specifically, a subject that fascinates me a lot is "What was the first video game ever made ?"... So, I began an exhaustive study on this subject (and making this article the first of a series of articles, covering in detail the entire history of video games).

The question was: What was your first video game ever made?

The answer:- Well, like many things in life, there is no easy answer to this question. Depends on your definition of "game" in the long term. For example: When you say "the first video game," meaning the first game that was made in trade, or game console first, or perhaps digital game scheduled for the first time? For this reason, I made a list of games that 5.4 one way or another were the initiators of the video game industry. Note that the first games that were not created with the idea of ​​making a profit from them (again in the last decades there was no Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, Sega, Atari, or any video game company upside down). In fact, the very idea of ​​a "game" or an electronic device that has been done to "play and have fun" was beyond the imagination of over 99% of the population in those days.

     But with this small group of geniuses who took the first steps in the video game revolution, we are able to enjoy many hours of fun and entertainment today (keeping away from creating millions of jobs in the last 4 decades 5). Without further ado, here I present "the first video game nominees":

     1940: Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device

     This is considered (with official documentation) that the first electronic gaming device. It was created by Thomas T. Isthe Goldsmith Jr. and Ray Mann. The game was set in 1940 and filed a U.S. patent in January 1947. The patent was granted in December 1948, which also makes the electronic device of the first game to receive a patent (U.S. Patent 2,455,992). As described in the patent, it was an analog circuit device with a series of buttons used to move a point that appeared on the CRT. This game was inspired by the way radar missiles appeared in WWII, and the goal of the game was simply the control of a "missile" in order to achieve a goal. In the 1940s, it was extremely difficult (if not impossible) to display on a graphic display CRTs. For this reason, the real "missile" appeared on the screen. The objective and all graphic elements are displayed on screen overlays manually placed on the screen.

     It 'was said by many that the famous Atari game "Missile Command", the video was created after the playground equipment.

     1951: Nimrod

     Nimrod was the name of the digital hardware decade of the '50s. The creators of the computer were the engineers of the name British company Ferranti, the idea seems to device 1951 Festival of Britain (and later, has also been shown in Berlin).

     NIM is a game of two players in the Digital Agenda, which is supposed to have originated in ancient China. NIM rules are simple: There are a number of groups (or "work"), and each group contains a number of objects (a common starting array of NIM is 3 batteries containing 3, 4 and 5 points, respectively). Each player gets to take the objects of the group, but all items must be removed from a lot and at least one object is deleted. The player with the last object on the stack loses the past, however, there is a variation of the game where the player wins the object to take the job last year.

     Nimrod used a light panel as a screen and was planned and designed for the sole purpose of playing the game of Nim, making the camera the first digital computer that is specifically created to play a game (although the idea main purpose was to demonstrate and illustrate how a digital computer, rather than to entertain and have fun with it). Because he did not "raster video equipment" as a monitor (a TV monitor, etc.) are not considered by many as a "video game" true (an electronic game, yes ... a video game, not of ....) But again, it really depends on your point of view when you talk about a "video game."

     1952: OXO ("Noughts and Crosses")

     This was a digital version of "Tic-Tac-Toe", created for an EDSAC (Electronic Calculator automatic storage behind) the computer. It was designed by Alexander S. Douglas of the University of Cambridge, and again once it was not done for entertainment, it was part of his doctoral thesis on "The interaction between human and computer."

     The rules are those of a regular Tic-Tac-Toe game, player against the computer (no two player option is available). The method of entry was a rotating disk (such as old phones). The output has been shown in a 35x16 pixel screen of the CRT. This game was never very popular because the EDSAC computer was only available at the University of Cambridge, there was no way to install and play anywhere else (until years later when an EDSAC emulator was created available, and then many other great games when available, and ...).

     1958: Tennis for Two

     "Tennis for Two" was created by William Higinbotham, a physicist working at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. This game was made as a means of entertainment, so laboratory visitors had something fun to do while waiting for the "unique visitors per day" (finally! ... a video game that was created "just for fun" ...). The game was very well designed for its time: the behavior of the ball has been changed a number of factors, such as gravity, wind speed, the position and angle of contact, so you had to avoid the net as in tennis real, and many other things. Play video hardware consisted of two "joysticks" (two controllers with rotary knob and push button each) connected to an analog console, and an oscilloscope screen.

     "Tennis for Two" is seen by many as the first video game ever created. But again, many others differ from the idea that "it was a computer game, not a video game" or "output display was an oscilloscope, not a" video display frame "... so it is not considered a video game. "Anyway ... You can not please everyone ...

     It is also rumored that "Tennis for Two" was the inspiration for success Atari "Pong," but the rumor has always been strongly denied ... for obvious reasons.

     1961: Spacewar!

     "Spacewar!" video game was created by Stephen Russell, with the help of J. Martin Graetz, Peter Samson, Alan Kotok, Wayne Witan and Dan Edwards from MIT. In the 1960s, MIT was the "right thing" if I wanted to do research and development team. So this half dozen boys took advantage of a new and innovative equipment was ordered and should arrive on campus very soon (a DEC PDP-1) and started thinking about what kind of hardware testing programs would be done. When they discovered that "the accuracy of CRT screen" is installed on the system, immediately decided that "a kind of visual game / interactive" show would be the software of choice for the PDP-1. And after some discussion it was decided soon to be a space battle game or something similar. Following this decision, all other ideas out rather quickly: the rules of the game such as design concepts, programming ideas, and so on.

     Thus, after approximately 200 man / hours of work, was the first version of the game is finally ready to be tested. The game consisted of two spaceships (affectively named by players "pencil" and "wedge") shooting missiles at the other with an asterisk in the middle of the screen (which "pulls" both spaceships because its severity.) A set of control switches were used to control each spaceship (for rotation speed, missiles and "Hyperspace"). Each satellite has a limited amount of fuel and weapons, and the option of hyperspace was a "panic button" if no other way (it could be "to register or break you").

     The computer game was an instant hit among MIT students and programmers, and soon began to make any changes to the game program (such as the real star of the background graphics, star / no star option, background removal, the time switch angle for example). The game code has been transferred to many other computer platforms (since the game requires a video display, hard to find an alternative system in 1960, was mainly transferred to the newer systems / cheaper in the month of December as the PDP -10 and PDP-11).

     Spacewar! is not only considered by many to be the first game "real" videos (because this game does not have a video display), but has also proven to be true forerunner of the original arcade game, as well as the inspiration for many other video games, consoles, and even video gaming companies (can you say, "the Atari "?...). But that's another story, arcade games and video game consoles have been written in a different page, the history of video games (so stay tuned for future articles on these topics).

     Here they are, "First Video Game" nominees. Which do you think is the first video game ever made? ... If you ask me, I think all these games were revolutionary for his time and should be credited as a whole, as the beginning of the revolution of gaming. Instead of going to one of which was the first video game, which is really important is that they were created, period. As the creator of "! Spacewar", Stephen Rusell, once said: "If I had not done, someone has done something just as exciting, or even better in the next six months, I ' I just happened to come first .. "