The History Of Video Games

By 16AveryC

  • OXO (Noughts and Crosses) was created

    A British Professor (A.S. Douglas) created a game called OXO (known as noughts and crosses) as part of his dissertation at Cambridge Uni.

  • Tennis For Two was created

    William Higinbotham created Tennis for Two. He did this on a large analog computer and connected oscilloscope screen to be used art an annual visitor’s day in a laboratory in Brooklyn.

  • Spacewar was Created

    Steve Russell invented Spacewar. It was a computer-based space combat video game for the PDP-1. It was the first video game that could be played on multiple computer installations.

  • Prototype Multiplayer Games Invented for TV's

    Some developers at the Sanders Associates led by Ralph Baer inverted a prototype multiplayers video game that could be played on a TV (known as the brown box).

  • First Home Video Console Created

    Baer created and licensed his device to Magnavox which sold it to consumers as the Odyssey as the first video game home console.

  • Pong was the first arcade video game

    One of Odyssey's games was the inspiration for Pong which was the first arcade video game.

  • First home version of Pong was released

    Atari released a home version of Pong.

  • Atari released the Atari 2600

    Atari released the Atari 2600 which was a home console that featured joysticks and interchangeable game cartridges that played multi-colored games.

  • Space Invaders was released

    The Space Invaders arcade game was released.

  • Launch of Activision

    The launch of Activision, the first third-party game developer.

  • Microsoft release of its flight simulator

    Microsoft’s release of its first Flight Simulator game

  • US introduced to Japan's Pac-man

    The introduction to the United States of Japan’s hugely popular Pac-Man.

  • The character of Mario was created

    Nintendo’s creation of Donkey Kong, which introduced the world to the character Mario.

  • Game Boy video game device

    Nintendo made a handheld gaming device its 8-bit Game Boy video game device.

  • Sega released its 16-bit Genesis console

    Sega released its 16-bit Genesis console

  • Sonic the Hedgehog released

    Sonic the Hedgehog game was released by SEGA

  • Nintendo released its 16-bit Super NES console

    Nintendo released its 16-bit Super NES console

  • Release of Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat

    The release of a wealth of popular games on both consoles, including new franchises such as Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat, a fighting game that depicted blood and gore on the Genesis version of the game.

  • Sega created the Videogame Rating Council

  • Video games moved to big screens

    Video games moved to the Big Screen with the releases of the Super Mario Bros followed by Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. Numerous movies based on video games have been released since.

  • 32 bit console was released

    Sega relased the first 32-bit console that played games on CDs rather than cartridges

  • Release of Nintendo 64

    Nintendo released its cartridge-based 64-bit system, the Nintendo 64

  • Game Boy color

  • Sega Dreamcast released

    Sega Dreamcast was released

  • Playstation 2 released

    Sony launches the playstation 2 which became the best selling game console of all time.

  • Release of Xbox

    Microsoft’s Xbox was released

  • Nintendo Gamecube Released

    Nintendo Gamecube was released

  • Nintendo DS

  • Nintendo 3DS