game was very popular on campus it was removed in May 1979 because of a failing display processor.
Computer Space
Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney released a coin-operated arcade version of 'Spacewar!' two months after the release of Galaxy Game. Their version was called Computer Space and it was the world’s first commercially sold coin-operated video game. In fact, Computer Space came out 6 months before the Magnavox Odyssey, the very first 1st generation gaming console.
Computer Space got Nolan Bushnell and Ted Badney ready to create Atari, Inc. in 1972. Without them having had the experience of commercially marketing their first game, they wouldn’t have had the knowledge or capital to start their full-fledged gaming company. Atari released their first game, Pong, in 1972 which would forever change the gaming scene. Pong was initially a training exercise given to Allan Alcorn which was assigned to him by Nolan Bushnell. Atari were so surprised by the quality of his work that they decided to manufacture the game. The idea was based on a Magnavox Odyssey game of electronic ping-pong, which shortly after resulted in a lawsuit against Atari by Magnavox which was settled in court.
Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney acted as a gateway in gaming history. They created the first commercially sold game, Computer Space, they created their own game company, Atari, and they created the hit game Pong, which then inspired the rest of the world to be just as revolutionary in game development as they had been.
Gateway To A New Era
This gateway finalised the first stages of gaming which were full of hobbyists, professors and students trying their hands at creating electronic gaming innovations. Then with the passing of the early stages of gaming we saw the emergence of the 1st generation gaming consoles, which were commercially sold and developed at a corporate level.
For the first time ever, video games entered the consumer market at numbers never before seen. The entire ball game changed and that is what takes us into the 1st generation. The beauty of it is that each generation refines itself more and more, always improving, but always leaving room for further improvements to be made in the following generation. This is the process that refined gaming consoles to the place they are at today. Gaming consoles are a long way from perfect though and it’s as interesting to watch them progress today as it is to trace their histories back to their predecessors.
4 – An Overview of The First Generation Games Console Era
The first generation of video game consoles or the Pong Generation as many gamers have come to call it, brings me to the conclusion that 'Pong Generation' is the perfect subtitle for this era as that is really all we had.
Not that I am complaining. At the time these Pong systems were huge and a great source of entertainment. Hey, if the only entertainment you had before a Pong console was chasing a wheel with a stick then they would have blown your mind. Maybe that is going a little far, but I am sure you can see why this first generation of consoles, despite being so basic, was such a hit.
Of course, you had Pong as well as a multitude of regular Pong clone systems. It seemed that in the late 1970s nearly anyone in the world who was tech savvy and had the capital could create a Pong system and put it on store shelves. As a matter of fact I think that may have been what happened, as the market was incredibly over-saturated with more than 100 different Pong consoles released in such a short time.
So it is very important to note that while some Pong consoles did shift an incredible amount it is fair to say that the majority that made it to store shelves bombed big time. It's crazy to think that some companies who had no experience in electronics, let alone games, thought they could put a Pong system on store shelves and make a million dollars.
What I find very interesting about the first generation of video game consoles is that yes the market was flooded, and well into the three figures with random Pong clones, is that it did not take long for a few companies to stand out and start what I guess you could call the first video game competitive war or Pong war if you prefer.
Magnavox with their Odyssey consoles, Atari and their never-ending different Pong game designs, Coleco with their Telestar, and of course in Japan you had Nintendo with their Color TV Game consoles. So you really had three main companies in the west who were fighting it out, all with hardware that was pretty much the same when you really get into it.
The first generation of video game consoles is very basic, make no mistake about that, but it is also a very interesting one.
I will stress again that there were over 100 Pong consoles produced, and a majority of them are pretty much the same. So it was impossible to write a review for every single one without turning this book into a full length Pong tribute catalogue. Therefore, I have listed the main first generation consoles that are popular with collectors, together with a few obscure ones.
5 – What Was Pong?
Pong CC Image – Wikipedia – Public Domain Image
Many people think that Pong was the very first video game. It actually was not. What Pong was however was one of the very first video games to hit mainstream popularity and just blow up all around the world. You really can credit Pong with maybe not lighting the fire that started the gaming industry, but it certainly poured a big can of gas on the fire. Pong can be called tennis, table tennis or really what ever your imagination wants, but for the most part Pong is seen as a representation of some form of tennis.
Here we are going to have a look at the earliest Pong system from Atari. Again, in truth it would be near impossible to list every single Pong video game system that was released in the 1970s. If I did review every Pong clone console in this book it would be cluttered with consoles not worthy of collecting.
Atari Home Pong (Sears Tele-Games)
1975
Atari had a huge hit with their arcade Pong and work was started on bringing Pong to people in their homes in 1974. It was a very small team of people who would design and develop the first home Pong console. What is really cool and worth noting is that there was a single chip powering this first Pong console, but at the time it was released there was no other product on the market that used as high performance a chip as the Atari Home Pong did.
Despite the huge popularity of the arcade version of Pong, Atari had a really hard time selling their new console to toy and electronic stores. No one was interested as they felt that it was too expensive and that no one would want one anyway.
By chance someone at Atari saw an advertisement in a Sears Catalogue for the Magnavox Odyssey. What surprised them was that it was in the sporting goods department. So Atari got in touch with the sporting goods department at Sears to see if they would be interested. A gentleman at Sears called Tom Quinn loved the Atari Home Pong console and offered them an exclusive deal right there and then, but Atari, despite having no one else interested felt like they could secure a better financial deal elsewhere.
Atari really wanted a toy retailer to sell their console so they set up a booth at the 1975 Toy Fair in New York. No one was interested except one guy, Tom Quinn.
So, they met Tom Quinn again at the Toy Fair and agreed to have a meeting with him. After showing the console to other Sears executives a deal was struck. Atari told Tom Quinn that for the 1975 Christmas season they
