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Video Game History – First Games
Did you know that the first games that had an interactive display appeared in the 1950s?
Today we are going to explore some of the first games!
It wasn’t until the early 1950’s that the first functioning video games were made. The reason they came into existence is kind of funny. They came about as tech demos for computers – to get investors interested in them.
Computers back then were nothing like the ones we have now. The first computers were insanely big and bulky. They literally took up entire walls, and they had as much processing power as your basic cheapo solar powered calculator.
Bertie the Brain
Bertie appeared on August 25th of 1950. Bertie the Brain was a tic tac toe game (known in some places as knots and crosses), where you could play against computer AI.
However, this game didn’t use a display screen, and instead had the computer light up different light bulbs to make the game play area.
Tennis For Two
In 1958 the first video game as we know it (featuring interactive graphics) was born. This is considered the first true video game, as it was created for solely for game play (and not as a computer demo). The name of the game was Tennis for Two.
Space War
It would be a few years before there would be any type of video game industry. In fact, not much else happened for video games for a few years. Then, in 1962, some developers at MIT created a game called Space War. It was the first multi-player computer game with a scrolling background!
Space War was a multi player game where two players battled each other. It was monumental not only in the fact that it was the first true video game – but also in the fact that it was the first video game ever that could be copied and played on other computers.
This game is probably the most important game in all of video game history, and anyone who plays video games today owes a huge debt of gratitude to the creators of this game. Space War is the inspiration for and the reason behind arcade games and the video game industry itself. In fact this game actually inspired the very first arcade game!
Which leads us into tomorrow’s topic – Arcades and 2nd generation gaming!