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Physicist 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.
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Steve 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.
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Computer Space becomes first video arcade game ever released. 1500 games are distributed. Public consensus is that it is too difficult to play.
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Magnavox's Odyssey, the first home video game system, is showcased at a convention in Burlingame, CA, and is released to the public later that year.
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Al Alcorn is hired by Atari to program video games. The first game created by Atari is Pong. Ping-Pong, the original name, is already copyrighted, so the makers name it Pong after the sound of a ball hitting the paddle.
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Gunfight, the first "computer" game is released. It is the first game to use a microprocessor instead of hardwired solid-state circuits.
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Atari introduces its first cartridge-based home video system called the Video Computer System which later becomes known as the Atari 2600. It retails for $249.95.
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Midway introduces Space Invaders into arcades. It is the first arcade game that tracks and displays high scores.
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Asteroids is the first game to allow high scorers to enter three character initials to be stored in the machine.
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Battlezone is first 3-D game ever created. It is set in a virtual battlefield and was later enhanced by the U.S. government for training exercises.
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Nintendo 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.
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The popular game Tetris is developed by Russian programmer Alex Pajitnov. It is played on a PC.
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Nintendo releases the handheld Game Boy for $109.
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The true arcade experience comes into American homes when Sega debuts the Genesis, its first 16-bit home game console, for $249.95.
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Sony brings the PlayStation to the U.S. and sells the console for $299.
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Sony's PlayStation 2 launches in the U.S. for $299.99 and is sold out by early morning. Since the demand is so high and only 500,000 units are available, it is very difficult to buy a unit during this first shipment.
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Nintendo releases the GameBoy Advance, a portable gaming system.
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Microsoft and Nintendo introduce their next-generation systems within days of each other. Microsoft claims its Xbox offers "the most powerful game experiences ever." The product (estimated retail price of $299.99) comes with a built-in hard drive and Ethernet port. Nintendo's GameCube (suggested retail price of $199.95) delivers new forms of interactive gaming for players and an easier development environment for game creators.
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Nintendo releases the Nintendo DS, a portable system with two screens, one of which can be used as a touch screen.
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Sony releases the PSP, a portable system with a large, high-resolution display.
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Microsoft unveils the XBox 360, a console system to be released in November 2005. Sony and Nintendo's competing console systems are planned for release in 2006.
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Sony also debuts the Playstation 3, a very sophisticated and expensive game system.
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Nintendo 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.
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The Wii Fit is launched, adding even more incentive for gamers of all ages to get up and move!
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Sony releases the PlayStationVita or PSVita, the first handheld gaming device that can b e used to play console games from the PS3.
