A History of Computer Games: The Early Years

As I write this now, computer games have infiltrated almost every western household. Computer games are used for education, recreation, sport, socializing, and generating income. The global game industry is worth somewhere in the region of $30-35 billion worldwide. There are rumors it will soon be out pacing the music industry. Everyone plays video games, whether it’s World of Warcraft addicts putting in an eight hour raiding session, or people playing Solitaire on their mobile phone. Grandma plays games. Middle aged women play games. And, of course, the young male audience has been there from the start.

The world of media is in constant change. The way people consume media is directly impacted by the technology available, and this is particularly true of video games. In order to understand the future, however, we first need to look at the past.

Many people think of Pong or Computer Space or Spacewar! as being the “first” computer game. However, the first graphical game was actually called OXO, and was a version of Naughts and Crosses (Tic-Tac-Toe) created in 1952, by A.S. Douglas, who was studying for his PhD at the University of Cambridge. The simulation was perfect, and you played using a dial-in telephone controller. It was designed for the worlds first stored-program computer, of which there is a simulator. It was displayed on a 35 x 16 pixel screen, in black and green.

Fifty years later, we had Metroid Prime, GTAIII, Warcraft III: The reign of chaos, Kingdom Hearts, Battlefield 1942, Civilization III, Ratchet & Clank, and Resident Evil…. and many many more.

So how did we get from A to B? How did computer games evolve, and why?

In 1958, a man named Willy Higinbotham created a game called Tennis for Two on an oscilloscope. Some people argue that this was the first video game, and some people vehemently disagree. Either way, few people heard of Tennis for Two when it was first created, but it preluded Pong by a few years. You can play an emulated Tennis for Two.

In 1961 a team of people headed by a guy named Steve Russell created a game for a digital computer called Spacewar! It was a two player game, was controlled with a keyboard, and featured two armed spaceships known as the “wedge” and the “needle”. This was one of the first games to go national - the team took it to Stanford, and from there it went on to be installed on PDP computers across the country.

Spacewar! inspired two guys from Stanford to create a company called Computer Recreations in 1971. Bill Pitts and Hugh Tuck installed an arcade-style machine into the Stanford coffee shop, programed it with Galaxy Game ( a reworked version of Spacewar!) and charged people a dime a play. As such, Galaxy Game would appear to be the worlds first commercial video game. It was very popular in Stanford, although it never recouped the cost of building it.

Meanwhile, Noland Bushnell had also seen Spacewar! in Utah and had immediately twigged to the commercial potential. In 1970, he teamed up with Ted Dabney, and together they created a game called Computer Space. Computer Space was the first true arcade style gaming system. It did well in colleges, but flopped elsewhere, as the controls were difficult to grasp. Later, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney founded Atari and found success - but we’re jumping ahead a bit here.

In May, 1972, the Magnavox Odyssey appeared. Known as the “Brown Box”, it was the first video game console. It had been created by Ralph Baer in 1968, ran on batteries and was soundless. None the less, it could be hooked up to any television, and used for playing games. It was not immediately successfully, however a string of lawsuits over the next decade led to various wins, settlements, and, in 1985, royalties from Nintendo.

Incidentally, Nintendo’s first move into gaming was the selling the Magnavox Odyssey in Japan. Later, as we know, it produced its own consoles.

So much for the Brown Box. Back to Atari. As I mentioned, Computer Space was not a resounding success. Pong, released in November 1972, was. Bushnell wanted a game so simple that any drunk could play. Pong succeeded in being simple. It was also incredibly successful, far more successful than any of the initial investors could have imagined. It became an overnight sensation, a part of pop culture, and a part of gaming history. It also meant that video games could make money. It was no longer an intellectual pursuit by programmers and university students, it was a bonafide business.

The Full History

A History of Computer Games: The Early Years
A History of Video Games: The Golden Years
A History of Computer Games: The Plumber is Nigh
A History of Video Games: The Commercial Years
A History of Computer Games: The Strategic Years
A History of Video Games: The Multiplayer Years

Related Posts

• A History of Video Games: The Golden Years
• A History of Computer Games: The Plumber is Nigh
• A History of Video Games: The Commercial Years
• A History of Computer Games: The Multiplayer Years
• A History of Computer Games: The Stragetic Years

5 Responses to “A History of Computer Games: The Early Years

Aaron Says:
November 26th, 2007 at 3:09 pm

Bah. Everybody knows that Joust was the first video game that really mattered.

Thanks for the researched summary. It will be interesting to see what becomes of the history that the University of Texas is constructing. I’m betting that the project’s formality will make it the definitive history of the games industry for many years.

Keira Peney Says:
November 27th, 2007 at 9:18 am

It will be interesting to the University of Texas produce a history - and also how many disagree with it. Just from my fairly short foray I found what seems to be quite a lot of bitterness in some quarters. On the other hand, it’s not so far in the past that everyone has forgotten it - yet.

Joust was a damn good game! One of my favorites back in the day .

Tarsha Plexico Says:
January 8th, 2010 at 9:32 pm

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January 9th, 2010 at 12:51 am

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