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Pong
HistoryPhysicist Willy Higinbotham invents the first "video game" at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York. His game, a table tennis-like game, was played on an oscilloscope. -
space war
YupSteve Russell, a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), creates Spacewar, the first interactive computer game. It runs on a Digital PDP-1 mainframe computer, and the graphics are made up of ASCII text characters. -
military use
hahaRalph Baer, an engineer at Sanders Associates, receives support from his company (a military electronics consulting firm in NH) to explore his idea of creating interactive games using a televisionMilitary -
Interactive games
Baer and team are successful in creating two interactive TV games—a chase game and a tennis game. They are also able to manipulate a toy gun so that it detects spots of light on the TV screen -
Magnavox licenses Baer's TV game
yeahMagnavox licenses Baer's TV game from Sanders Associates
Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney (future founders of Atari) begin their attempt to create an arcade version of Spacewar, calling it Computer Space. -
Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
Same siteNintendo introduces the Famicom in Japan—later known as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in the U.S. Since Atari controls such a large percentage of the market, they do not plan to market the product in the U.S. Instead the company offers Atari the rights to distribute the product in the U.S. These plans fall through and Americans do not see Nintendo until 1985. -
Tetris
yeah againThe popular game Tetris is developed by Russian programmer Alex Pajitnov. It is played on a PC. -
Game Boy
ughNintendo releases the handheld Game Boy for $109. -
super NES
yupSuper NES is released in the U.S. by Nintendo for $249.95. -
Nintendo 64
-.-Nintendo releases the Nintendo 64 in Japan (it's released in the U.S. in 1996). -
game boy advance
sighNintendo releases the GameBoy Advance, a portable gaming system. -
Nintendo DS
lolNintendo releases the Nintendo DS, a portable system with two screens, one of which can be used as a touch screen. -
Nintendo WII
whatNintendo releases the Wii, a gaming system that lets gamers use the controller in revolutionary ways, such as swinging it like a tennis racket, holding and tilting it like a steering wheel, and more -
Wii fit
whyThe Wii Fit is launched, adding even more incentive for gamers of all ages to get up and move!