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The First "Video Game"
Physicist Willy Higinbotham invented the first "video game" at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York. His game was a table tennis-like game and was played on an oscilloscope. An oscilloscope is a laboratory instrument commonly used to display and analyze the waveform of electronic signals. In effect, the device draws a graph of the instantaneous signal voltage as a function of time. -
The First Home Video Game System
Magnavox's Odyssey, the first home video game system, is presented at a convention in Burlingame, CA, and is released to the public later that year. Bushnell and Dabney found Atari. They name the company after a term from the Japanese game "Go". "Atari" is equivalent to check in a chess game. Al Alcorn is hired by Atari to program video games. The first game created by Atari is Pong. Ping-Pong, was already copyrighted, so they used the name Pong. -
The Game Boy
Nintendo releases the handheld Game Boy for $109. NEC releases the first 16-bit console in the U.S. It's called the TurboGrafx-16 and sold for $189. It's the first system to run video games stored on compact discs. The real arcade experience comes into American homes when Sega debuts the Genesis, its first 16-bit home game console, for $249.95. Atari tries to enter the handheld market with the Lynx, a color handheld console retailing for $149. -
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Resulting from the Senate investigation, the Entertainment Software Rating Board is made. Ratings are now given to video games and are marked on the games' packaging to indicate the suggested age of players and violent content. In Japan, the Sega Saturn and the Sony PlayStation make their appearance. -
Next-Generation of Microsoft and Nintendo
Microsoft and Nintendo introduce their next-generation systems within days of each other. Microsoft claims it's Xbox offers "the most powerful game experiences ever." The product comes with a built-in hard drive and Ethernet port. Nintendo's GameCube delivers new forms of interactive gaming for players and an easier development environment for game creators. Sega announces that it will no longer manufacture hardware. Nintendo releases the GameBoy Advance, a portable gaming system. -
The Nintendo DS
Nintendo releases the Nintendo DS, a portable system with two screens, one of which can be used as a touch screen. -
Minecraft
Microsoft acquires Mojang and its immensely popular indie brick-building game, Minecraft, which Swedish creator Markus Persson debuted in 2009. Purchase price is $2.5 billion.
