A Brief History of Video Games, Part I.

Play is a fundamental component to our personal development. Games are an evolved form of play, structured and designed, often to produce a quantifiable outcome. Games have the ability to fulfill many of our core human needs. If we can’t eat it or have sex with it, we’ll probably try and play with it. It comes as no surprise then that digital computer games have been around as long as digital computers.

The first digital graphical game played on a computer was OXO, all the way back in 1952. OXO was a form of noughts and crosses developed for the EDSAC by A.S. Douglas at the University of Cambridge. While it is, in a literal sense, the first visual ‘game’ on a ‘computer’ it is not often regarded as such. This is primarily due to the game being based entirely on a pre-existing traditional game. While the transition of this game to a computer was revolutionary, the game itself was not.

OXO.

Defining a single ‘Inventor of the Computer Game’ is a difficult task. Like many other cultural mediums, a specific ‘starting point’ is subject to much debate. The purpose of this post is not to debate or convince the reader of the validity of one specific mind set. I’d much rather outline some potential candidates, and tell you about the bits I consider significant.

In 1958, William Higginbotham created Tennis for Two. He did not however view his creation as a ‘game’ and it was never patented. Tennis for Two was expressly created with the intent of showcasing new technology at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. Completely lacking any form of scoring system and based on an existing real world game, Tennis for Two is certainly noteworthy but generally not considered a ‘starting point’. 

In my (admittedly very bias) opinion, the most significant breakthrough came in 1962. Steve Russel, a student at M.I.T developed Spacewar for the PDP-1 mainframe. While other concepts existed before it, Spacewar was the first intentionally entertaining program ever created. The games code spread throughout many universities in America and laid the foundation for many modern games.

Spacewar.

It is my favourite of the early games for two reasons. Firstly, while other concepts existed, it was the first computer game ever created with true originality. It was based around a concept that was unique and the mechanics were based entirely outside of existing, real world games. Secondly, it was the first game to feature the revolutionary vector graphic display method. 

Vector graphics is a technique of displaying images on a computer based in maths. Instead of having the computer store an image in pixel form, the image is stored as geometric points, lines and shapes in mathematical expressions. Put simply, the computer remembers how to draw an image rather than the image itself. While the opposite may be true for humans, this technique is much more efficient for computers. Fast loading times and efficient use of memory remain an endeavour for Game Artists to this day.

Vector Illustration, Complicated by NaBHaN.

While I consider Steve Russel to be the pioneer of the computer game, there are others worth mentioning. Ralph Baer created a game similar to Tennis for Two for the home in 1966. In 1967 he went on to create a hockey simulation. While based on conventional games, their position in the home was radical. Therefore Ralph Baer can be considered the father of the home console.

In 1970, using Spacewar as a basis, Nolan Bushnell created Computer Space. Unlike anything that came before it, Computer Space was developed for a standalone machine similar to the analogue pinball games of the time. It was the first game developed with the explicit intention of making money however the machine is vastly more significant. As the creator of the first marketable coin operated computer game, Nolan Bushnell is regarded as the father of the arcade.

Computer Space.

Due to its complexity, Computer Space failed as a commercial product. 2 years later however, Nolan Bushnell along with Ted Dabney founded Atari and released Pong. In contrast an extremely simple and accessible game. Pong was a monumental success and became the first commercially successful computer game. However similarities can be drawn between Pong and the games developed by Ralph Baer. Ralph Baer’s company Magnavox successfully sued Nolan Bushnell for copyright infringement in 1974.

In these early days, the development of computer games followed 2 distinct paths. The arcade, spearheaded by Atari and the home console established by Magnavox. While the home console was the area of innovation, the technology at the time was better suited to the arcade and it was consequently vastly more successful.

As you can see, many aspects of modern gaming culture were prevalent in the first era of computer games. In the 70’s alone we had console (device) wars and cartridges (Studio II and Channel F, 1974). Thanks to Death Race, a game where you score points for running over gremlins, we had media controversy before we had colour.

Won't somebody please think of the children?

Technology has come a long way but viewed as a separate entity, I don’t think games have come as far, as quickly. While they've been around for a while I view computer games as a young cultural medium, solely because I feel they have a long way yet to go. For better or for worse, the influences of the past can still be felt today. An evolved form of play, games may be but how much have we evolved in all these years?

References:

1. David Winter. (1996). Introduction. Available: http://www.pong-story.com/. Last accessed 29th Oct 2013.
2. Dave Morris (2003). Game Art. London: Collins. p10-13.
3. Joost Raessens and Jeffrey Golstein. (2005). The History of the Video Game. In: Joost Raessens and Jeffrey Golstein Handbook of Computer Game Studies. Massachusetts: The MIT Press. p23-27.
Images for illustrative purposes only, all rights and credit remain with their respective owners.