Anniversary year?

[alienblue]

I was thinking last night (something

I try to avoid doing too much cause

it gives me headaches...)..if there

is to be a silver or golden or whatever anniversary year for

VIDEOGAMES, from where would you start counting? The R.H. experiment

of the 50's? Baer and the 60s?

Ataris first release of computer

space or pong or even the

first home system? When did it

really start?

 

P.S..ouch.

[sku_u]

That all depends on who you ask. To me, it started with Higginbotham's Tennis for 2 on the Oscilloscope, although many would argue that this was not an actual video game since there is no video being displayed technically. Most around here would probably start counting from one of three points in time:

 

1. The invention of computer space.

 

2. The first apearance of Pong in a bar.

 

3. The year Ralf Baer developed his brown box.

 

Of course if you were to ask on a PS2 or Xbox web site where most of the users are younger, they'd probably refer back to 1985 when the NES first hit US shores, or if they wanted to sowboat a little, refer back to the Famicom's release in Japan.

[Lemmi]

i would say the first day that home pong units were available to the public

[Susuwatari]

It can be tricky to pinpoint the first video game.

 

I'm going with Computer Space because it was first market as electronic game. Not an experiement that no one knows about.

[Philflound]

Well, to explain the terms in comic books, since there are many anniversaries there, you have to look at a significant event.

 

Comics existed for a long time. The Golden Age is referred to as beginning with Action Comics #1, since it was a super hero breakthru. Silver Age with Flash in Showcase #4, same concept. Bronze Age is debated. There is a Platinum Age with the Yellow Kid, which is more of the comic strip format as being a storyline. This was in 1897 or so. Now the comic art form, even just one picture is documented going back to the 1600s I believe. No book in front of me to clarify these things. But just because it existed didn't make it an anniversary.

 

Push our way to video games. A interactive pong tennis at some lab is not good enough. The college Space War is also not good enough, since that was limited to the few colleges that had the super expensive computer you could play on.

 

I would motion that you choose how you want to proceed. If you want to stick with arcade video games, you go with the first arcade machine.

If you want to do it as home video games, you go with the first console released for public purchase.

 

Demos, test units, etc, do not count, since these events didn't spark the "world" into getting excited for them.

 

Phil

[RMila75]

i would say the first day that home pong units were available to the public

 

I agree. It was this event that seems to have made the statement, "Video games have arrived and they are not just a passing fad!", in my opinion. Easy access for everyone is the key.

[Godzilla]

what about the day willy higinbotham (sp?) had his proto pong first running for people to play on his osciliscope? I'd say thats the day right there.