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noughts and crosses
A.S. douglas creates noughts and crosses. it runs on a computer called the: electronic delay storage automatic calculator. -
tennis for two
physicist willy higinbotham invents the first "video game" at the brookhaven national laboratory in upton, new york -
spacewar
steve russel creates spacewar, the first interactive computer game. it runs on a digital pdp-1 mainframe computer. -
the idea
ralph baer recieves support from his company to explore his idea for creating games for a tv. -
the idea
baer and team are successful in creating two tv games. they are also able to manipulate a toy gun so that it detects spots of light on a tv screen. -
the future founders of atari
they attemp to create an arcade version of spacewar, they called it computer space and magnavox licenses it. -
computer space
"computer space" becomes the first video arcade game ever released. 1500 games are released. public consensus is that it is too difficult to play. -
magnovax odyseyy
the first home video game. -
atari is born
bushnell and dabney start up atari. they n ame the company after the term off the japanese game "go". -
pong
al alcorn is hired by atari to program video games. the first game created is pong. -
go
a japenese toy manufacturer, prioduces an electronic version of the japanese game "go". -
pong is released
atari produced 150,000 units. -
gunfight
it is the first game to use a microprocessor instead of hardwired solid-state circuits. -
atari is sold
nolan bushnell sells atari to warner communications for $28 million. he stays as CEO. the buy-out brings much needed capital, supporting the production of the atari 2600. bushnell later regrets the decision and calls it the biggest mistake of his life. -
telstar
coleco releases its first home video-game console. -
first controversy
death race, a game where players hit pedestrians based on the movie death race 2000, causes a stir with it release. this launches one of the first controversies over violent video games. -
atari 2600 is born
atari introduces its first cartridge-based home video system called "the video computor system" which later becomes known as the atari 2600. it retails for $249.95. -
the first trackball
introduced as the controller in atari's new arcade game football. -
first high score
midway (taito in japan) introduces space invaders into arcades. it is so popular in japan that it causes a national coin shortage. -
U.S. department of defense
atari gets co0mmissioned to work on a combat simulator for the U.S. department of defense. -
atari 400 and 800
2 attempts to enter the computer industry to compete with apple. the products are not taken seriously, and are taken off the market. -
bushnell leaves atari
nolan bushnell leaves atari over disagreements with its new corporate owner, warner communications. he opens the pizza time theatre, a resturant and arcade, which later becomes "chuck e.cheese". -
magnavox odyseyy 2
debuts as a console with a keyboard. -
atari cosmos
atari develops a handheld console that displays holograms. it was never released. -
astetroids
first high score with initials. it allows users to enter initials to be stored in the machine. -
intelivision
first atari competitior. mattel's intelivision has better graphics, but a higher retail price ($299) -
battlezone
first 3-d game ever created.
it is set in a virtual battlefield first used by U.S. government for training. -
puck-man
the japanese company, namco, along with americas midway, bring the game puck-man to the U.S. -
first games magazine
arnie katz and bill kunkel found the first video-game magazine, electronic games. -
donkey kong
created by nintendos shigeru miyamoto, "mario" is introduced. miyamoto makes a string of hit games and later becomes an industry giant. -
colecovision vs atari 5200
atari releases the atari 5200 to compete with coleco's colecovision. -
rick dyers dragon layer
cinematronics debuts the first video game to feature laser-disk technology. -
commodore 64
it is the most powerful video-game console to date and the east expensive. -
famicom
nintendo introduces the famicom in japan, later known as the nintendo entertainment system. nintendo offers atari the rights to distribute the product in the U.S. but plans fail and americans do not see the NES until 1985. -
a series of game systems
1986-sega master system-sms
1986-atari 7800
1989-nintendo game boy
1989-atari lynx
1989-sega genisis
1989-turbocrafx-16
1991-super nintendo (SNES)
1992-sega cd -
mortal kombat
mortal kombat uses digitalized images of real actors as characters. fatality moves make the game controversial. -
atari jaguar
the first 64-bit console on the market. the product actually runs two 32-bit processors. -
sega neptune
the neptune was a stand alone 32x console which was scrapped for the sega saturn's release