The History of Video Games

By Ian G

  • Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device

    Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device
    For the Westinghouse display at the World's Fair, Edward U. Condon designs a computer that plays the traditional game Nim in which players try to avoid picking up the last matchstick. Tens of thousands of people play it, and the computer wins at least 90% of the games.
  • Period: to

    The History of Video Games

    A brief history of video games.

  • Spacewar!

    MIT student Steve Russell invents Spacewar!, the first computer-based video game. Over the following decade, the game spreads to computers across the country.

  • Pong

    Pong
    Nolan Bushnell and Al Alcorn of Atari develop an arcade table tennis game. When they test it in Andy Capps Tavern in Sunnyvale, California, it stops working. Why? Because people played it so much it jammed with quarters. Pong, an arcade legend, is born.

  • Pacman

    A missing slice of pizza inspires Namco’s Toru Iwatani to create Pac-Man, which goes on sale in July 1980. That year a version of Pac-Man for Atari 2600 becomes the first arcade hit to appear on a home console. Two years later, Ms. Pac-Man strikes a blow for gender equality by becoming the best-selling arcade game of all time.

  • NES

    The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) revives an ailing United States video game industry two years after the Nintendo Corporation released it in Japan as Famicom.

  • The Legend of Zelda

    Click here for the wikiIt's a good year for fantasy Role Playing Games, as Shigeru Miyamoto creates Legend of Zelda, SSI wins the video game license for Dungeons and Dragons, and Sierra's Leisure Suit Larry gives players a different kind of adult role playing game.

  • Sonic the Hedgehog

    Sega needs an iconic hero for its Genesis (known as Mega Drive in Japan) system and finds it in Sonic the Hedgehog. Gamers, especially in the United States, snap up Sega systems and love the little blue guy's blazing speed and edgy attitude.

  • PlayStation

    Sony releases PlayStation in the United States, selling for $100 less than Sega Saturn. The lower price point, along with the arrival of Nintendo 64 in 1996, weakens Sega's home console business. When Sony PlayStation 2 debuts in 2000, it becomes the dominant home console and Sega exits the home console business.

  • Steam

    Steam
    Steam LinkValve energizes PC gaming with its release of Steam. The digital distribution platform allows players to download, play, and update games.

  • Free2Play

    F2P Wiki"Free-to-play" becomes a dominant business model as blockbusters like CrossFire, League of Legends, World of Tanks, and even Kim Kardashian: Hollywood achieve sales in the hundreds of millions of dollars through microtransaction payments for in-game items and premium content.