A Historical Look At Video Games
The Ancestry of the Arcade
The Birth of the Video Game
On the Go and in the Home
Early Arcade Classics
Competition on the Home Front
Video Games: A Cultural Movement
The Downward Spiral
In 1962 an MIT graduate student by the name of Steve Russell opened that door even further. Thinking it would be fun to create an entertainment program to run on the school's mainframe computer, he designed a SCI-FI adventure called Space Wars. This program enjoyed such popularity that two fellow MIT students, Bill Pitts and Nolan Bushnell, set out independantly to design similar stand-alone arcade versions. Bushnell was the first to complete this in 1971, resulting in Computer Space. Pitts was close behind him with his Galaxy Game. Neither of these proved very successful, but they paved the way for great things to come.
Nolan Bushnell was determined. With a $250 investment he formed Atari and, in November of 1972, he introduced the first coin-operated video game to the arcades. Pong was a simple black and white table tennis game consisting of a block of light bounced between two vertical lines. This two-player game featured two dial controllers and could be played with various speeds and angles. It was that simplicity that caught the public's attention. By the end of 1973, more than 10,000 arcade units had sold. A home version was released in 1975, which sold 150,000 units in its first year. One of the original coin-operated Pong games is now on display at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC.
For the next several years, Atari (then aquired by Warner Communications) remained unchallenged and continued to make advancements in video arcade technology. In October of 1973 they introduced the first video game to incorporate color, Gotcha. Close on its heels was the first electronic driving game, Gran Track 10, released in March of 1974. The following year they released Indy 800, the first 8-player video game, and Steeplechase, the first game with music. Their 1976 coin-operated Tank 8, was the first video game to use a microprocessor. One to eight players could race competitively or work as a team. Part of the fun was the unique controllers that became a trademark of Atari arcade games, varying from dials to joysticks to steering wheels. This is best illustrated by the success of Atari Football, released in 1978, which was the first video game to use the Trak Ball controls. The Trak Ball allowed for a greater freedom of movement and speed; gamers lined up to give it a spin. Bally introduced the first non-timed game that allowed a player to continue as long as their skill allowed; that was the Taito classic Space Invaders.
