#017 - The History of Video Games - Part 2: Attack of the Clones

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Published on April 9, 2020 1:48:29 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pddqXuSMOWY

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History of Video Games 2: Attack of the Clones





The first generation of videogame consoles were all related by the following characteristics:



Discrete transistor-based digital game logic gate. (an idealized or physical device implementing a Boolean function; that is, it performs a logical operation on one or more logical inputs, and produces a single logical output)
Games were native components of consoles rather than based on external or removable media.
Entire game playfield occupies only one screen.
Players and objects consist of very basic lines, dots or blocks.
Colour graphics are basic (mostly black and white or other dichromatic combination; later games may display three or more colours).
Either single-channel or no audio.









Manufacturer




Magnavox






Type




Dedicated console






Generation




First generation






Retail availability





NA August 1972 43 years ago
EU 1973


JP 1974





Introductory price




US$99 (equivalent to $560.05 in 2015)






Discontinued




1975[1]






Units sold




330,000[1]






CPU




None






Controller input




Two paddles






Successor




Magnavox Odyssey²











The system can be powered by six C batteries, which were included. An optional A/C power supply was sold separately.
The Odyssey lacks sound capability. Ralph Baer proposed a sound extension to Magnavox in 1973, but the idea was rejected.
The Odyssey uses a type of removable printed circuit board,[7] called a game card, that inserts into a slot similar to a ROM cartridge slot
The system was sold with translucent plastic overlays that players could put on their television screen[8] to simulate color graphics,[7] though only two TV sizes were supported. Some of these overlays could even be used with the same cartridges, though with different rules for playing.
Odyssey came packed with dice,[8] poker chips, and score sheets to help keep score, play money, and game boards much like a traditional board game.
The Odyssey was also designed to support an add-on peripheral, the first-ever commercial video "light gun" called the Shooting Gallery. This detected light from the television screen, though pointing the gun at a nearby light bulb also registered as a "hit". Only 20,000 sales were made and the peripheral could only be used with 4 compatible games.

This was also the first involvement of Nintendo in video games. According to Martin Picard in the International Journal of Computer Game Research: "in 1971, Nintendo had -- even before the marketing of the first home console in the United States -- an alliance with the American pioneer Magnavox to develop and produce optoelectronic guns for the Odyssey (released in 1972), since it was similar to what Nintendo was able to offer in the Japanese toy market in 1970s"

Magnavox settled a court case against Atari, Inc. for patent infringement in Atari's design of Pong, as it resembled the tennis game for the Odyssey. Over the next decade, Magnavox sued other big companies such as Coleco, Mattel, Seeburg, and Activision and either won or settled each suit.[14][15]In 1985, Nintendo sued Magnavox and tried to invalidate Baer's patents by saying that the first video game was William Higinbotham's Tennis for Two game built in 1958. The court ruled that this game did not use video signals and could not qualify as a video game. As a result, Nintendo lost the suit and continued paying royalties to Sanders Associates. Over 20 years, Magnavox won more than $100 million in the various patent lawsuits and settlements involving the Odyssey related patents.[16]
A total of 27 games distributed and 12 different game cards were released for the Magnavox Odyssey. All of them were developed by Magnavox in 1972, except for Interplanetary Voyage, which was developed in 1973. (Almost all were sports games).




The Magnavox Odyssey never really caught on with the consumers, possibly because of its limited functionality.





In 1974 Magnavox was bought by a company called Phillips, and they were put to work making newer and newer versions of their console to compete with the competitors that began popping up in 1975.





First Competitor


Japan


On September 12, 1975, Epoch released Japan's first console, the TV Tennis Electrotennis, a home version of Pong, several months before the release of Home Pong in North America. A unique feature of the TV Tennis Electrotennis is that the console is wireless, functioning through a UHF antenna.





Pong


USA


By the middle of the 1970s the ball-and-paddle craze in the arcade had ignited public interest in video games and continuing advances in integrated circuits had resulted in large-scale integration (LSI) microchips cheap enough to be incorporated into a consumer product. The first...