This is an amateurish (and possibly biased) retrospective of the history of Video Games along with pointing some of its more notable titles and systems from their respective periods.
COMMERCIAL video games can be traced back as early as Pong, although there are various prior 'video games' released in decades prior, I'll focus primarily starting from when they started to be commercially widespread and go on from there.
For those that are curious about what the actual FIRST video game ever made is, watch Ahoy's 'The First Video Game' video.
The 1970s
Pong
In 1972, Pong was released, being the first COMMERCIAL video game that would kickstart the hobby into what it is today.
During this decade there were also home console systems, but nothing too notable; think plug and play devices which also included a home ver. of Pong.
Breakout
1976's Breakout marks the beginning of the 'brick breaking' genre of video games. You have a paddle or bar that you move around to bounce a ball in order to destroy all the blocks on the screen.
Space Invaders
In 1978, Taito's Space Invaders releases on Arcades, which could be seen as a precursor to the Shoot'em-up genre, and with its release and popularity, various other companies attempted to copycat it to try and cash in on its craze, because hey, long as it played the same, its name didn't matter all that much, ja?
Asteroids
Released in 1979, Asteroids allowed you to rotate and move your space craft around a play field while destroying asteroids for score points. Another game that can be attributed as a precursor to shoot'em-ups as well
Galaxian
Namco's Galaxian debuted in 1979 being a more colourful take on Space Invaders as it used an RGB screen for its cabinet. Originally released in Japan, it was licensed to Midway for release in the US.
The Zork series & Colossal Cave Adventure
Text based adventure games are the precursors of Graphic Adventure games/Quest/Point & Click Adventure games, and the genre itself is still around to this day.
Both Adventure & Zork were made using the PDP-10 computer system, making their appearance in 1976 and 1977 respectively.
Zork would get a more commercial release during the 1980s.
Modern day video games' humble beginnings were arcade machines, however, praise has to be given to Jerry Lawson who designed the video game cartridge, as his work became a catalyst for console video games to prosper in the decades to come
The very first video game system that utilized video game carts is the Fairchild Channel F released in 1976 in the US, having 27 videocarts developed.
In 1977, the Atari 2600 released, achieving great popularity becoming the first widespread and recognizable game console of the 70s (heck even my parents and older relatives know of it, even by its simple name of 'Atari')
In closing
The 1970s is the Golden Age era of video games, which is apt, although I personally have little interest in games of this period outside of their historical relevance and curiosity.
COMMERCIAL video games can be traced back as early as Pong, although there are various prior 'video games' released in decades prior, I'll focus primarily starting from when they started to be commercially widespread and go on from there.
For those that are curious about what the actual FIRST video game ever made is, watch Ahoy's 'The First Video Game' video.
The 1970s
Pong
In 1972, Pong was released, being the first COMMERCIAL video game that would kickstart the hobby into what it is today.
During this decade there were also home console systems, but nothing too notable; think plug and play devices which also included a home ver. of Pong.
Breakout
1976's Breakout marks the beginning of the 'brick breaking' genre of video games. You have a paddle or bar that you move around to bounce a ball in order to destroy all the blocks on the screen.
Space Invaders
In 1978, Taito's Space Invaders releases on Arcades, which could be seen as a precursor to the Shoot'em-up genre, and with its release and popularity, various other companies attempted to copycat it to try and cash in on its craze, because hey, long as it played the same, its name didn't matter all that much, ja?
Asteroids
Released in 1979, Asteroids allowed you to rotate and move your space craft around a play field while destroying asteroids for score points. Another game that can be attributed as a precursor to shoot'em-ups as well
Galaxian
Namco's Galaxian debuted in 1979 being a more colourful take on Space Invaders as it used an RGB screen for its cabinet. Originally released in Japan, it was licensed to Midway for release in the US.
The Zork series & Colossal Cave Adventure
Text based adventure games are the precursors of Graphic Adventure games/Quest/Point & Click Adventure games, and the genre itself is still around to this day.
Both Adventure & Zork were made using the PDP-10 computer system, making their appearance in 1976 and 1977 respectively.
Zork would get a more commercial release during the 1980s.
Modern day video games' humble beginnings were arcade machines, however, praise has to be given to Jerry Lawson who designed the video game cartridge, as his work became a catalyst for console video games to prosper in the decades to come
The very first video game system that utilized video game carts is the Fairchild Channel F released in 1976 in the US, having 27 videocarts developed.
In 1977, the Atari 2600 released, achieving great popularity becoming the first widespread and recognizable game console of the 70s (heck even my parents and older relatives know of it, even by its simple name of 'Atari')
In closing
The 1970s is the Golden Age era of video games, which is apt, although I personally have little interest in games of this period outside of their historical relevance and curiosity.
