Video Games Beginning
Early video games were thought of as the latest technology, yet they are no comparison to the games we have today. With all the different types and systems there were to choose from, the earlier models such as Atari seem like a silly comparison. Although these games at one time when released to the public were very popular.
The first video game system to be released for use in the U.S. was the Magnavox Odyssey. Originating from a prototype completed in 1968 called the ‘brown box’ this was a crude version of what was to come. The Odyssey was designed to use cartridges that basically altered the circuits inside the box.
In 1972, based on plastic sheets that were taped onto the television screen, the odyssey system was still a hot item. The sheets were used in conjunction with the images that were projected onto the screen from the game system to add graphics.
The gaming systems usually went for about $100.00 and always sold over 100,000 units in their first year of production. Compared to standards today the beginning years were primitive, but this was the start of the home console gaming systems.
In 1972, Nolan Bushnell founded Atari. At first they wanted to have the company name Syzgy, but the name was taken. They later settled on Atari as their company name. Al Alcorn was a developer that joined Atari, and soon the birth of PONG was originated. This was a game very similar to the table game, ping pong. The popularity of this game was outstanding when it hit the markets in 1975 for the home version of Atari.
In 1976 and 1977 many games were released including some hand-held games. In 1976 Coleco got into the video game craze with their introduction of the Telstar. The Atari 2600 home game system was released in 1977 and an electronics baseball game in 1978 by Mattel. In 1979, a Microvision game that had cartridges to change the games was released by Milton Bradley. This was the first hand-held game that had cartridges that could be changed for different games.
Mattel in 1980 was ready to launch their response to Atari-the intellivision game system. The Nintendo at this time was on the horizons. Mario brothers came out in 1981 and the world was ready for something different. Popularity hit nearly instantly with this new release.
In 1981 Sega was yet another video gaming system that got in on the competition with the release of Turbo. This was one of the first driving video games that simulated reality. In comparison, the only driving game up to this point was Atari’s Night Driver and it was not nearly as realistic.
The Atari 5200 super system released in 1982, replaced Atari’s 2600 system. Atari’s intention was to have this system in competition with the intellivision, but in all reality it became Coleco’s competition. The 5200 was just not as big of a hit as they had hoped because there were many design flaws.
The early games and systems were not nearly as sophisticated as today’s. The arrival of the Nintendo systems, Play Station systems and the Xbox in 2001 made yesterday’s game little more than children’s toys. The Nintendo Wii and Xbox 360 are setting the trend for further technological advances today.
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