50 years of home video games

[Mikebloke]

I wish I could do something more dramatic for this historical event, but this September marks the 50 year anniversary of the home video game console. Like a lot of these things, there is no real set date, in May of 1972 there were a few demo units used to promote the upcoming Magnavox Odyssey and it appears the serial first production run began in August, with a September release. Its very likely that across the US release dates were local and when supply arrived at stores. 

 

Magnavox originally pushed exclusive access in their own stores with a number of complications as inidividual stores tried to claim it specifically required magnavox televisions to work, but the system still made its mark. With an extra set of games and the shooting gallery sold separately the same year, and a second extra bundle of games sold in 1973, it pails in comparison to later system offerings, but outside of the dedicated pong systems that followed its production continued into 1975 pretty much exclusively until 'console in a cartridge' systems like the Coleco Telstar arcade, pc-50x line and the Philips telepiel line arrived to little fanfare. 

 

1976 Fairchild beat RCA to the punch of the first ROM based cartridge console system. RCA was one of the companies originally approached for the Odyssey but rejected it and went ahead with their own system. Fairchild itself had pinched a number of experts in the field and some later moved on to found or join companies like Intel. In 1977 the atari 2600 was of course launched and undeniably changed the face of gaming, now considered on par if not surpassing other media industries. Nolan of course was sued by Baer for Pongs resemblance of the odyssey, starting a number of trials that shaped the landscape of copyright of the industry. 

 

Magnavox was just the company with the cash to get the odyssey produced though, and it was Baer that was the mastermind of the home video game console on consumer televisions. Magnavox would be bought out by Philips around the time of the development of the Magnavox Odyssey 2 / Philips Videopac G7000 which had superficial similarities in style to the original console. A failed deal between Nintendo and Philips led to the CD-interactive with some Nintendo licenced characters. Common for the time, electronic companies tried to bridge the gap between a gaming device and other functions but like Panasonic and Commodore the CD-i failed to make a huge dent into the market.

 

Sony broke that mold when it broke into the market and famously unseated long time Nintendo rival Sega. The PlayStation 2 stepped up once again with its inclusion of a DVD player that played commercial film releases, and while many consoles before it had CD support, its simplicity and the emerging market for DVD videos replacing VHS finally broke video game consoles into the true complete home entertainment market. Sony tried to do the same next generation with its proprietary blu ray medium at great financial cost, but the generation alongside the Xbox 360 made Internet connection and immersion with live and recorded TV programming standard which continues to this day with Sony and Microsofts ongoing rivalry. 

 

But while those two fight amongst themselves, Nintendo finally succeeded in merging handheld devices and home gaming with the release of the Nintendo Switch, gaming has been handheld nearly as long as the Odyssey, but the merging of both systems at an acceptable consumer level had finally arrived. 

 

Its difficult to tell what the next 50 years hold for home gaming, but often failed concepts such as Internet connection and downloads, handheld gaming, merging of functions with other consumer products and wireless controllers found their way into the mainstream gradually. Virtual reality has been tipped as the next best thing for decades and has been a viable idea since at least the Atari Jaguar for those lucky enough to have tried it, but has still yet to fully break out and is often a niche interest. The television still has its place... But for how long! 

[Keatah]

16 hours ago, Mikebloke said:

Its difficult to tell what the next 50 years hold for home gaming, but often failed concepts such as Internet connection and downloads, handheld gaming, merging of functions with other consumer products and wireless controllers found their way into the mainstream gradually.

All of these have been successful since their inception. No waiting till mainstream adoption was necessary.

 

The merging of functions with other consumer products has always been lame endeavor, very little has changed here since those convergence PCs of the 1990's.

 

16 hours ago, Mikebloke said:

Virtual reality has been tipped as the next best thing for decades and has been a viable idea since at least the Atari Jaguar for those lucky enough to have tried it, but has still yet to fully break out and is often a niche interest. The television still has its place... But for how long! 

VR won't ever become a mainstream thing till the tech advances enough. And then people are always going to want to shut it all down and fly on one propellor at the end of the day.

 

Television will always have its place and be around for decades to come. Just like movie theaters and the movie experience.

[zzip]

On 9/1/2022 at 3:28 AM, Mikebloke said:

Virtual reality has been tipped as the next best thing for decades and has been a viable idea since at least the Atari Jaguar for those lucky enough to have tried it, but has still yet to fully break out and is often a niche interest.

I do think VR will keep growing.   It opens up new gaming possibilities.   However I don't think most people will want to wear VR headsets for long gaming sessions, and worse put on haptic gloves/other haptic gear just to play games.   Also VR triggers motion sickness in some people.

 

So I don't see VR replacing TV completely anytime soon.   It will just be another way to game,  like mobile 

[Keatah]

VR seems rather fatiguing to me. Seems I have to adjust to a new way of perceiving things that is inferior and incomplete. Always seems slightly unnatural and requires some sort of extra awareness. The full-motion multi-million $$$ flight simulators used in the profession is a different story however.

 

And I'm not ever gonna dress up in technogarb just to watch a movie either. Just as dumb as anything "metaverse".

 

Edited September 2, 2022 by Keatah

[CapitanClassic]

I can see a limited amount of releases of VR movies. Something along the lines of Hardcore Henry, but designed specifically for a 360 degree camera. This sort of thing wound be difficult I would imagine, since even the HH shots required the cameraman to wear a special camera (for the 3D effect) when performing all the stunts.

 

Unless they get a lot cheaper to make, these sort of movies might be regulated to amusement parks (as they already are, Fast Furious 360 ride ). 

[zzip]

47 minutes ago, Keatah said:

VR seems rather fatiguing to me. Seems I have to adjust to a new way of perceiving things that is inferior and incomplete. Always seems slightly unnatural and requires some sort of extra awareness. The full-motion multi-million $$$ flight simulators used in the profession is a different story however.

It's the most natural way of interacting with a virtual world when done right.   It puts you in the middle of the game world instead of watching the action on screen.   You interact with objects with your hands instead of memorizing a bunch of buttons on a controller.

 

[Mikebloke]

It occurred to me after I wrote this that augmented reality is just as viable as virtual reality. Perhaps AR when fully realised will simply replace VR, the headset issue if we can get past it might open it up to more people. I know plenty who just feel sick trying anything with a headset, perhaps if it's more natural to look at then it'll get a wider audience. I think price point helps too, the wii revolution was an ease of use and a price winner. I don't think most VR sets fit either of those yet. 

 

Forgive my rambling in the original post. I started and couldn't stop, I wanted to talk about the odyssey given the anniversary and it became commentary on the entire history of the industry. 

[Keatah]

On 9/2/2022 at 2:05 PM, zzip said:

It's the most natural way of interacting with a virtual world when done right.   It puts you in the middle of the game world instead of watching the action on screen.   You interact with objects with your hands instead of memorizing a bunch of buttons on a controller.

 

When I saw my first 3D movie back in the 80's or whenever I thought it was a total novelty with the paper red/blue glasses. Amusing and interesting. But certainly not something I would go out of my way to repeat again and again. Just. Interesting.

 

Next time I saw a big production 3D movie was Tron: Legacy, I was rather frustrated with it. Seemed a little like sensory overload. All the swirling and dazzling and shifting of perspectives. And when I found myself wanting to look around an object to see what was in back of it, I couldn't. Not with the image having a weird skew or slant to it. 'Course a cinematic presentation is limited in projection angles and stuff. It just doesn't work that way in sit-down cinemas. And at home on 3D TV sets the effect is just magnified to ridiculousness.

 

I tried the 3D shutter glasses with my Asus AGP V3800 TNT2 Ultra Deluxe 32MB videocard back in the dotcom days. The annoyance was similar. The fatigue that happens because you have to keep a narrow focused alignment eventually annoys everyone sooner or later.

 

Personally I like the utterly and totally fake 3D where the camera simply pans gently around the scene in a semi-circle arc, with the subject at the center. The result is a beautiful dynamic perspective that's totally natural - because it sees things like how you would see them. The background velocity is different than the center more stationary subject. Just like you'd see if you went to look at the side of something. And that conveys a sense of distance and space naturally. BTW STNG did a whole lot of this style.

 

And no over-exaggerated Cinema Verite either. For goddsake!! Your head and eyes simply do NOT behave that way. 

 

VR architects have a lot to learn from traditional cinema. Best they step to it!

[zzip]

On 9/3/2022 at 2:22 PM, Mikebloke said:

It occurred to me after I wrote this that augmented reality is just as viable as virtual reality. Perhaps AR when fully realised will simply replace VR, the headset issue if we can get past it might open it up to more people. I know plenty who just feel sick trying anything with a headset, perhaps if it's more natural to look at then it'll get a wider audience. I think price point helps too, the wii revolution was an ease of use and a price winner. I don't think most VR sets fit either of those yet. 

 

Forgive my rambling in the original post. I started and couldn't stop, I wanted to talk about the odyssey given the anniversary and it became commentary on the entire history of the industry. 

AR has a use for some things,  but the software designer has no control over what kind of environment the AR user plays in.  Seems like if you want a fully immersed virtual world, you would need VR to render everything

[Chris+++]

Production of the Odyssey actually began on January 27, 1972. So did I. I've always been fond of that coincidence. 

 

 

[Mikebloke]

On 9/6/2022 at 11:28 PM, Chris+++ said:

Production of the Odyssey actually began on January 27, 1972. So did I. I've always been fond of that coincidence. 

 

 

I believe a couple of demo units that were offered out was made earlier in the year and dolled out in May, but the sales run started in August, though there is some suggestions the dates on the models aren't always correct! Its the problem with the odyssey timings, there isn't a traditional 'day of release' that we get now. Whether it's January, May, August or September though, the odyssey's 50th hasnt made big news! 

[Chris+++]

On 9/8/2022 at 1:46 AM, Mikebloke said:

I believe a couple of demo units that were offered out was made earlier in the year and dolled out in May, but the sales run started in August, though there is some suggestions the dates on the models aren't always correct! Its the problem with the odyssey timings, there isn't a traditional 'day of release' that we get now. Whether it's January, May, August or September though, the odyssey's 50th hasnt made big news! 

 

Indeed; the only fixed date that has shown up repeatedly in stuff I've read is that first day of actual factory production in January. Beyond that, who knows. You're right, of course -- it doesn't seem to come up very often that this year marks a half-century of home game consoles. Maybe that's on Magnavox, or whoever owns the name these days (cf. the current Atari and its re-re-re-re-releasing of old products in new boxes).

 

I don't remember the concept of "launch dates" coming up until a few years into the Internet, when such dates could be widely announced and, perhaps more to the point, revised when necessary. But there are many terms that are also erroneously applied to the fruits of an era when such terms were never used. Y'know, modern-day imitative language that people are supposed to use because it was heard in marketing campaigns for phone companies and such: "bundled" comes to mind immediately.

 

 

[+pboland]

On 9/3/2022 at 6:02 PM, Keatah said:

 

When I saw my first 3D movie back in the 80's or whenever I thought it was a total novelty with the paper red/blue glasses. Amusing and interesting. But certainly not something I would go out of my way to repeat again and again. Just. Interesting.

 

Next time I saw a big production 3D movie was Tron: Legacy, I was rather frustrated with it. Seemed a little like sensory overload. All the swirling and dazzling and shifting of perspectives. And when I found myself wanting to look around an object to see what was in back of it, I couldn't. Not with the image having a weird skew or slant to it. 'Course a cinematic presentation is limited in projection angles and stuff. It just doesn't work that way in sit-down cinemas. And at home on 3D TV sets the effect is just magnified to ridiculousness.

 

I tried the 3D shutter glasses with my Asus AGP V3800 TNT2 Ultra Deluxe 32MB videocard back in the dotcom days. The annoyance was similar. The fatigue that happens because you have to keep a narrow focused alignment eventually annoys everyone sooner or later.

 

Personally I like the utterly and totally fake 3D where the camera simply pans gently around the scene in a semi-circle arc, with the subject at the center. The result is a beautiful dynamic perspective that's totally natural - because it sees things like how you would see them. The background velocity is different than the center more stationary subject. Just like you'd see if you went to look at the side of something. And that conveys a sense of distance and space naturally. BTW STNG did a whole lot of this style.

 

And no over-exaggerated Cinema Verite either. For goddsake!! Your head and eyes simply do NOT behave that way. 

 

VR architects have a lot to learn from traditional cinema. Best they step to it!

I really think that the most logical way to get a "3D" or "VR" ish type experience that would be the most likely to become main stream would be something like this:

Yes I know this video is 14 years old. And yes I know it is still limited to a one person in the room perspective, but in all honesty most of us game by ourselves in a room.

The reason I see this type of tech as the only way forward for VR/3D ish stuff is because it works well, it's cheap, and no fatigue.

[zzip]

8 minutes ago, Chris+++ said:

I don't remember the concept of "launch dates" coming up until a few years into the Internet, when such dates could be widely announced and, perhaps more to the point, revised when necessary. But there are many terms that are also erroneously applied to the fruits of an era when such terms were never used. Y'know, modern-day imitative language that people are supposed to use because it was heard in marketing campaigns for phone companies and such: "bundled" comes to mind immediately.

Companies probably had launch dates internally-   There's always a pressure inside a company to launch products by end of quarter so that revenue can be recognized for that quarter.

 

But as for announcing launch dates publically, I can't think of many examples pre-internet.   Maybe the infamous 1984 Apple superbowl commercial where they gave a date for launch of the Macintosh,   but other than that not really.      There wasn't much point.   It wasn't like you could get you hands on the thing on launch date, you had to wait for it appear on store shelves, or if you mail-ordered it, it was "allow 4-6 weeks for delivery".

[Keatah]

Totally enjoyed the old-school way, where "launch dates" weren't so center stage. We wouldn't get wrapped up in when something's coming it. Hype wouldn't set us up for disappointment. Crowds wouldn't form outside stores. Stuff just showed up and that was that. We weren't distracted from having fun with othersuff either.

 

The "allow 4-6 weeks for delivery" while maybe sloggish and snailish back then, was always a surprise. Stuff showed up suddenly without warning and we were surprised and had to arrange an impromptu gaming day (if it was a new game).

 

And if you ordered enough stuff, you'd get this pipeline going. Something new every week!

[zzip]

1 hour ago, Keatah said:

The "allow 4-6 weeks for delivery" while maybe sloggish and snailish back then, was always a surprise. Stuff showed up suddenly without warning and we were surprised and had to arrange an impromptu gaming day (if it was a new game).

 

And if you ordered enough stuff, you'd get this pipeline going. Something new every week!

That's more like today, there's always boxes showing up.

 

Back then there was far more variety in stores than just the Target/Walmart +Mall stores we have today.    And there were actual toy stores and Radio Shack.   If you wanted something, there was a local place that carried it, even if you had to check a few places.   So I rarely had to mail order anything back then.

[Keatah]

1 hour ago, zzip said:

That's more like today, there's always boxes showing up.

True enuff.

1 hour ago, zzip said:

So I rarely had to mail order anything back then.

I was leery of mail-order back then, but once I gained confidence I was always filling out forms and putting a stamp on the envelope and then just waiting. Maybe through nostalgia glasses it seemed more than what it really was.

1 hour ago, zzip said:

Back then there was far more variety in stores than just the Target/Walmart +Mall stores we have today.    And there were actual toy stores and Radio Shack.   If you wanted something, there was a local place that carried it, even if you had to check a few places.

Oh sure. I remember my grandparents would take me out for the day and we'd visit RadioShack, Venture, TurnStyle, ServiceMerchandise, Toys'R'Us, and on occasion the Apple II specific stores like Compu-Shop, Northbrook Computers, and other one-off shops. But there were tons of local shops visit and almost anything could be gotten. Absolutely.

 

Don't know if I like how Target has their electronics are set up. Half of it seems like dumb-ass cellphone cases and earbuds. A wall of 20 televisions and all look the same. An aisle of printers and 5x overpriced ink. Some speakers and memory cards. None of it seems exciting - the complete opposite of a late 1970's hobbyshop that had tons of stuff, different stuff, crammed into every nook and cranny.

 

And another thing, the electronics area in target seems half-dead, no one is ever there. Should just get rid of it!

[+save2600]

Mail order you say? Back in the day we did C.O.D. ...cash on delivery. No automatically generated tracking number either, and we liked it!  🤣

 

Awesome times and felt like a pseudo adult (was still in H.S.) handing over that much cash. Bought an Amiga 500 and 1084 monitor that way. Both arrived in mint condition, with zero problems, styrofoam intact and the boxes weren't even dinged. Good luck with that today. 😱😉🤡

[Chris+++]

Remember how exciting it was when that very thin book-order catalogue would be handed out in class? The name Weekly Reader pops into my head, but I'm not sure if that was really the catalogue company's name. I guess you had to enjoy reading to be excited about it, but damn, it was a thrilling day when the books would finally show up about 947 years later. I recall a lot of Judy Blume books and issues of Dynamite being ordered. That's also how I got Tom Hirschfeld's How to Master the Video Games.

 

 

[Keatah]

12 minutes ago, save2600 said:

Bought an Amiga 500 and 1084 monitor that way.

Yeh? Well let me tell you something boy. I got a 10MB HDD through mail-order in 1985/1986. And it was huge! Corvus sized. Mid-tower PC sized. And the box 4x bigger with all sorts of packing material.

[Keatah]

10 minutes ago, Chris+++ said:

Remember how exciting it was when that very thin book-order catalogue would be handed out in class?

I remember we had the Scholastic book club thing. It was a small newspaper-like publication we'd get 4 times a year in grade school, in the 1970's. It had that sweet'ish wet smell. It was about 4 or 6 pages. And I ordered two books from it, "Planes and 'Copters", and "Sharks". Basically 1st - 3rd grade reading level. And I loved it! Still have both of them today.

[Keatah]

27 minutes ago, Keatah said:

Yeh? Well let me tell you something boy. I got a 10MB HDD through mail-order in 1985/1986. And it was huge! Corvus sized. Mid-tower PC sized. And the box 4x bigger with all sorts of packing material.

not sure what you're confused about ??

[Chris+++]

Yeah! Scholastic! And it was absolutely on just-off-the-press-smelling newsprint.

I might have ordered the same Sharks book. Was it horizontal? (I almost asked, "Is the cover blue," but of course it's blue. It's about sharks.)

 

 

[Keatah]

Yes. more horizontal than vertical. The cover was blue/grey give or take. It's been decades since I looked at it!

[+save2600]

35 minutes ago, Keatah said:

not sure what you're confused about ??

Your HD which was built like a tank and weighed about as much too, gets the extra packaging treatment while a glass monitor and computer just get shipping labels slapped on their boxes.  🤪

 

Had to have been a cost/insurance thing. We all know HD's were super expensive back then, but wouldn't exactly say they were fragile. Especially when properly parked. And doubly so when they came as external units encased in steel!