Gaming technology in the 70’s
The 70’s was a decade of gaming
revolution. The “Computer Space” game was the first game that could be played
by putting coins into it (arcade game).“Pong” was the first mass-produced
arcade game and the “Odyssey” by Magnavox was the first home console videogame
system. The Computer Space game was created by Nolan Bushnell in 1971, and is
considered the very first commercial arcade game. Bushnell based this arcade
game off of another game called SpaceWar. He had high hopes, but the Galaxy
Game did not meet its mark and turned out to be a failed attempt. Bushnell did
not see this as the end however, and in 1972 he continued on and created a
gaming company by the name of, Atari. That same year Magnavox came out with a
gaming unit that was called the Odyssey. The Odyssey was built without a
microprocessor and mainly consisted of a board with about four-dozen
transistors and diodes that ran the console. It was a very simple and limited
console, but turned out to be a success with total sales reaching around
100,000. The next year Atari came out with a game called “Pong”. Pong was
highly favored and was a huge hit in most pinball arcades and bars. Although
pong was a game of simplicity and not much quality skill, it was highly
addicting and surely proved to be the most popular video game of this time. In
1975, Atari took another big step forward and created a home version of Pong.
This was a great idea and turned out to be the breakthrough the gaming world
was searching for. Pong opened the door for home gaming by showing what huge opportunities
there were in this field, and how just a simple game could create so much talk.
So with that in mind, Atari decided to take it up a notch and create the 2600
VCS gaming system. The 2600 used removable cartridges, so multiple games could
be played at once while using the same hardware. Not only was the 2600
versatile but it was also very complex. It contained a MOS microprocessor, a
custom graphics chip, 128 bytes of RAM, and 4kb ROM-based cartridges. The 2600
turned out to be incredibly successful and sold around 6 million consoles by
1980. The 70’s were huge to the gaming world and proved to be the take off
point for arcade games and home videogame systems.
The Atari 2600! My mom still had hers when I was growing up so that was the first video game console I ever played, until I moved on to the Nintendo Entertainment System. It must have been amazing to have been a kid when those things came out. I'm sure the parents didn't think so, they probably saw them how some parents see video games today, a huge waste of time. But everyone who grew up playing them knows better. haha. It's funny to think the 70s were the birth of the arcade and the millions of kids that spent countless hours in them. The revenue that has been generated because of video games must be astronomical. You could probably fund your own country if you collected all that money. What about you? Did you ever play the 2600?
ReplyDeleteVideo games have definitely come a long way. For example, my phone has about 7 video games that are far more complex than “Pong.” It is a bit nostalgic to think about arcade games, however, because I played them when I was younger. But, I bet even those were far more advanced than those first ones. It is a great thing that Atari was able to break through barrier and produce a home video game system that actually sold. It most likely lead the way for other companies to follow closely in their footsteps. Just to think that without the Atari I might have not had my NES is a bit scary.
ReplyDeleteThese games seem interesting, I bet the younger kids and teens would be so bored with these games comparing to what they have now! I feel like people appreciated technology a lot more back in this decade. It must have been more social then video games are now as most people play other people through the Internet. In this point in time, people would have to go on outings with their friends and family to play at the arcade. It must have been a lot of fun to play games while socializing with friends. There also seems to be a theme of Space games during this time. Do you think that this was an effect of the popularity of the Star Wars film?
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