History of Video Games
What? There was a time when there were no video games?
Video games are a relatively recent human invention when you consider how old games themselves are. While there is no exact date, historians estimate that the first known games (which some records show as the Royal Game of Ur and others, mancala) originated around 5000 B.C., over 7000 years ago! The earliest video game only dates back to the 1950's. So if we were to give video games an age on a human scale, they are the equivalent of newborn babies!
History of the Video Game
Video games
Exercise 1
Watch the GameHeadz video to the right and keep track of the major milestones in game development.
GAMEHEADz from Discovery Channel
ATARI launches Pong
Taito launches Space Invaders
Atari launches Asteroids and then BattleZone in 3-D
Atari launches their home console with game cartridges in 1977
Pac-Man
Atari bought, team split up, Activision launched to make cartridges (Pitfall)
PC Computers (Commodore, TI-99) allowed people to make their own games, if they had the skill.
Donkey Kong - We meet Mario
Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) launches
Mario Series
Zelda
Duck Hunt
Launch of GameBoy in 1989
Exercise 2
Compare the reputation of arcades (like Funspot) to today's concerns over online gaming.
Resources
The Royal Game of Ur, Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago