- After WWII and during much of the Cold War, governments was pushing their education towards technology and video game was born from army training simulation.
- Prior to the 1971, there were many technological advancements that paved the way to what we called video games. Some of the more prominent ones include 'Tennis for Two' (1958) and 'Spacewar!' (1961).
- In 1971 two coin-operated arcade games were created ('Galaxy Game' and 'Computer Space'). Both of these are based off 'Spacewar!'. 'Computer Space' was also the "first coin-operated video game to be commercially sold".
- 1972 saw the commercial success of Atari's arcade video game, 'Pong'. 1972 also saw the release of the first video game console, 'Magnavox Odyssey'.
- 1975 saw the first computer adventure game, 'Colossal Cave Adventure'. The 1970s saw the use of mainframe computer as an alternate way of playing video games other than arcade machine or home console.
- 1978, 1979, 1980 saw the coming of new arcade video games Taito's 'Space Invaders', Atari's 'Asteroids', and Namco 'Pac-Man'. It is also worth noting that this is also the first time a company beside USA to release a video game (although it is through the help of US company). This is important as the fact that Japanese company are able to penetrate global market will influence the video game industry in the future.
- The first video game crash happened in 1977, when "manufacturers of older, obsolete consoles and Pong clones sold their systems at a loss to clear stock".
- In 1979, Activision was founded by Jim Levy and former Atari employees. They was the first third-party video games developer. 1979 was also the year the 'Microvision', the world first "first handheld game console and the first to use interchangeable game cartridges", was released.
... Quick summary so far ...
It should be noted that since video games have its origin from the military, most of the easier games (such as Space Invaders and Asteroids) are pretty much mostly about shooting. Even though there are some games that move away from this (such as Pac-Man), it wasn't until the 1980s that innovative games will be release.
I find that learning about video game history adds a new dimension and appreciation to playing games. I think this is even more important for video game developers to know at least the roots of what they are developing. In part 2 of this report, I will cover the history from 1980s to 1990s.
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