As an avid retro-player long enough, especially in the history of video games I was. To be more specific, a subject I am very passionate about is: "What was the first video game ever?" ... So I have a full investigation into this case (and make this product the first of a series of articles discussing in detail the history of the game).
The question was: What was the first video game ever?
The answer: Well, like many things in life, there is no simple answer to this question. That depends on your definition of the term "video game". For example: When you say "the first video game", you mean the first video game that was made in the trade, or the first game console, or maybe the first programmed digital game? For this reason, I have a list of 4-5 games that were one way or another beginner in the video game industry. Note that the first video games are not with the idea of making a profit from which they were created (in these decades there was no Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, Sega, Atari, or any other board game to video). In fact, the idea of a "video game" or an electronic device that has been done in order to "play games and have fun," was the imagination of more than 99% of the population in these days. But with this small group of geniuses who was the first step in the video game revolution, we are capable of many hours of fun and entertainment to enjoy today (keep apart the creation. Million jobs in the last four to five years) without further ado, here I present the "first candidate video game"
1940: Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device
This is (with official documents) that the first electronic game machine ever seen. It was created by Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann. The game was built in 1940 and in January 1947 a US patent, the patent was filed in December 1948, which also enables the first electronic game machine, a patent (US Patent 2,455,992) issued receive. As described in the patent, this is an analog circuit device having an array of keys used to move an element that has appeared in the cathode ray tube display. This game was inspired by the way the missiles appeared in radar Second World War, and the goal of the game was only the appointment of a "missile" to hit a target. In the 1940s, it was extremely difficult (if not impossible) to view graphics in a cathode ray tube display. For this reason, only the "missile" appeared real on the screen. The target and all other graphics were shown placed manually on protectors on the screen. It has been said by many that famous Atari video game "Missile Command" was created after the game device.
1951: NIMROD
Nimrod was the name of a digital camera, computer 50s. The creators of this computer engineers are a company based in the UK under the name Ferranti, with the idea that the display of the device to the 1951 Festival of Britain (and later was also shown in Berlin).
NIM is a digital two-player game of strategy which is supposedly originally come from ancient China. The rules are simple NIM: There are a number of groups (or "job"), and each group has a number of objects (a table, starting common NIM is three stacks of 3, 4 and 5 objects respectively). Each player removing objects from the heap, but all items must be removed in one order and at least one object is removed. The players take the last object loses the last row, though, it is a variant of the game where the player to take the last item of the last series of victories.
NIMROD used a light panel for privacy, was designed for the sole purpose of the game of NIM performed, making it the first digital computer device specifically designed to play a game (but the main idea shows and showing how a digital computer works, rather than to entertain and have fun with it). Because, it is not no "raster video equipment" as a screen (TV, monitor, etc.) by many as a true "video game" (a computer game, yes ... as a video game, not ...). But again, it really depends on your perspective, when you speak of a "video game".
1952: OXO ("Heaven and Hell")
It was a digital version of "Tic-Tac-Toe", for a EDSAC (Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator) created computer. It was developed by Alexander S. Douglas of the University of Cambridge, and once again, it was not made for entertainment, it was part of his doctoral thesis on "The interactions between humans and computers."
The rules are those of a regular game Tic-Tac-Toe-player against the computer (no option 2 player is available). The input method was a knob (like the old phones). The discharge was shown in a cathode ray tube display 35x16 pixels. This game was never very popular, because the computer EDSAC was at the University of Cambridge, there was no way to install and play anywhere (until many years later when an emulator available EDSAC was created, and in that time, many other excellent games when available, as well ...).
1958: Tennis for Two
"Tennis for Two" was written by William Higinbotham, a physicist working at the Brookhaven National Laboratory created. This game was made as a means of entertainment that laboratory visitors had something fun to do while they wait for "day trippers" (finally ... a video game that was created just for fun "" ...). The game was very well developed for its time: the behavior of the ball has been modified etc. on several factors, such as gravity, wind speed, position and contact angle;. She had the power like in real tennis, and avoid many other things. Video game hardware included two "sticks" (two controllers with a knob and a key respectively) is connected to an analog console, and an oscilloscope as a display.
"Tennis for Two" is ever created by many as the first video game considered. But again, many others from this idea by stating that "it is a computer game, not a video game" or "standby mode was an oscilloscope, not a" raster video display "not ... It how to qualify a video game." But ... you can not please everyone ...
It is also said that "Tennis for Two" was the inspiration for the Atari mega-hit "Pong", but this rumor has always strongly denied ... for obvious reasons.
1961: Spacewar!
"Spacewar!" Video game was created by Stephen Russell, J. Martin Graetz using, Peter Samson, Alan Kotok, Wayne and Dan Edwards Witanen MIT. In the 1960s, MIT was "the right thing" if you do research and software development. So that half a dozen innovative guys moved to a new computer purchases and should soon come Campus (December a PDP-1) and started would be carried out what kind of hardware testing programs. When she discovered that "Precision CRT display" would be installed in the system, they immediately decided that "a kind of visual / interactive game" the choice of demo software would be for the PDP-1. And after some discussion it was decided early on a fighting game room or something like that be. Following this decision, all other ideas fast enough: the rules, design concepts, programming ideas, and so on.
So after about 200 man / hours of work, the first version of the game was finally ready to be studied. The game consists of two spaceships firing missiles at each other with a star in the middle of the screen (the "pulls" the affective appointed by the two probes (of the players, "pencil" and "Corner") their gravity). A set of control switches was used to each spacecraft to control (for rotation, speed, missiles and "hyperspace"). Each ship has a limited amount of fuel and weapons, and the possibility of hyperspace was like a "panic button" in case there is no other way (it could be "save or cancel").
The computer game was an instant hit with the students and programmers at MIT, and soon they began their own changes to the game program (like real stars graphics for the background set / no-star option background deselect the possibility of angular momentum , etc.). The game code has been ported to many different computer platforms (as the game requires a screen, a disc to find the option in the systems of the 1960s, they / new, cheaper systems such as concentrated December PDP-10 and PDP 11).
Spacewar! will not only be seen by many as the first "real" video game (because this game has a video display), but it has also proved that the true ancestors of the original arcade game to be, as well as the inspiration for many other games, consoles and video game companies (you can also say "Atari"? ...). But that's another story, arcade games and the video game console written in another page in the history of video games (so tuned for future articles on the topic).
