1974 in video games

none March 2016 thumb|right | alt=Zanussi Ping-O-Tronic console of 1974. Made in Italy | Zanussi Ping-O-Tronic console of 1974. Made in Italy 1974 video games 1974 saw the expansion of technology and public awareness of video games. A proliferation of companies creating commercial video games in the coin-operated amusement market attracted attention from the mainstream press. Coin-operated games began to diversify in content beyond Pong derivatives. The first three-dimensional games were developed for linked graphical terminals which were not widely commercialized. Some of the first efforts to create video game consoles after the release of Magnavox's Odyssey became available in the United States and Europe. Events January 31 – A fire destroys the factory of Allied Leisure in Hialeah, Florida.1974-02-05 Fire-Hit Hialeah Factory Expects To Resume Output Within the Month The Miami Herald 5–B The company is forced to exit the video game industry temporarily. April 15 – Magnavox and Sanders Associates file suit against Atari Inc, Bally Mfg, Chicago Dynamic Industries, Allied Leisure, and Empire Distributing for infringement of the patents related to the Odyssey by Ralph Baer and Bill Rusch.1974-04-15 Complaint For Patent Infringement https://archive.org/details/19740415ComplaintForPatentInfringement/1974-04-15%20Complaint%2001/ 1 October 2024 Magnavox Company v. Chicago Dynamic Industries, et al. US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern DivisionMagnavox Co. v. Bally Mfg. Corp., 414 F. Supp. 891 (N.D. Ill. 1976) https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/414/891/1443046/ 2025-06-23 Justia Law en Magnavox’s wave of litigation would be highly consequential to the development of the video game industry. June 21–23 – The program Ribbit from the University of Waterloo earns victory at the First Canadian Computer Chess Championship, running off of a Honeywell 6050.1974-06-14 Kitchener-Waterloo Community Corner Calendar of Events Waterloo Region Record 131974-06-25 Computer chess champion Star-Phoenix 2 It later wins at the fifth U.S. American Computer Chess Championship, displacing the four time champion Chess 4.0.1974-11-15 College computer loses electronic chess match Daily Sentinel 3 July – Nakamura Seisakusho (later Namco) purchases Atari Japan for 296 million yen. The company becomes the exclusive distributor of Atari video games in Japan for several years – solidifying a long-term relationship between Atari and Namco.Smith Alexander They Create Worlds: The Story of the People and Companies That Shaped the Video Game Industry November 27, 2019 CRC Press 978-1-138-38990-8 1: 1971 – 1982 288 en August 5–8 – The first World Computer Chess Championship is held in Stockholm, Sweden. Kaissa, a program developed in the Soviet Union, earns first prize.1974-08-02 Bob Prinsen Middlesex Chronicle 101974-08-09 UW Chess Team Third Waterloo Region Record 3 August 27 – Sega sponsors a national tournament of competitive video games called the All Japan TV Game Championships at three hundred locations throughout Japan.1974-10-26 Sega Hosts TV Game Tourney In Tokyo Cash Box 45Horowitz Ken 2024-08-19 Golden Age Game Tournaments: Sega's Hockey TV – Sega-16 https://www.sega-16.com/2024/08/golden-age-game-tournaments-segas-hockey-tv/ 2025-02-11 Sega-16 en-US September 15 – The New York Times runs an article covering the Pong boom titled “The Space Age Pinball Machine.”Range Peter Ross 1974-09-15 The space age pinball machine The New York Times 92 November 1–3 – The Music Operators of America show is held in Chicago, Illinois. Notable video games at the show include Qwak! by Atari, Tank by Kee Games, and Baseball by Ramtek.1974-11-16 coin machine news Cash Box 40–41 Financial performance United States Arcade Total Video Game Cabinets: 40,000 units.The Coin Operated and Home Electronic Games Market Frost & Sullivan Inc. 1976 87–88The Frost & Sullivan estimate totals 30,000 games with traditional arcade cabinets and 10,000 for those under the new cocktail table presentation. Note Total Video Game Revenue (machine sales): $40.5 million.The Frost & Sullivan estimate totals $33 million in games with traditional arcade cabinets and $7.5 million for those with the new cocktail table presentation. Note TitleArcade cabinet units (Lifetime)ManufacturerDeveloperGenreTank16,000Baer Ralph H. Ralph H. Baer https://archive.org/details/VideogamesInTheBeginningRalphH.Baer/page/n31/mode/2up Videogames: In the Beginning 2005 Rolenta Press 978-0-9643848-1-1 11Ralph Baer's numbers compiled in April 1976 are mostly estimates without direct access to sales figures. NoteKee GamesKee GamesMulti-directional shooterFlim Flam12,000July 1976 Meadows Games: from California to the World RePlay 1 38 28–29 (approximate)yes 5,700Baer 2005 11Meadows GamesMeadows GamesSportsGran Trak 1010,000Wieder Robert September 1974 A Fistful of Quarters OUI 59–61, 128–129yesAtari Inc.Cyan EngineeringRacingGran Trak 204,500Baer 2005 11Atari Inc.Cyan EngineeringRacingClean Sweep3,500Baer 2005 12–13Ramtek CorporationRamtek CorporationSportsBaseball2,000McEwan Charles E. 1980-01-31 Charles R. McEwan Deposition https://archive.org/details/19800131CharlesMcEwan/ 29 Sep 2024 Bally Manufacturing Corporation v. D. Gottlieb & Co., et al. US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern DivisionyesRamtek CorporationRamtek CorporationSportsFormula KKee Games version of Gran Trak 10. Note2,000Baer 2005 10–11Kee GamesCyan EngineeringRacingTV Basketball1,400Cognevich Valerie 1986-03-15 Video-game industry still evolving Play Meter 12 4 12, 14–16yes 500Baer 2005 11Midway ManufacturingTaito CorpSportsLeader1,000Baer 2005 11Midway ManufacturingMidway ManufacturingSportsTV Flipper1,000Baer 2005 11Midway ManufacturingRamtek CorporationSportsRobot500Baer 2005 11Allied Leisure IndustriesAllied Leisure IndustriesSportsTV Pin Game500Baer 2005 11Neven John F. 1977-07-11 Notice of Motion https://archive.org/details/19770711NoticeOfMotion/page/n9/ 22 March 2024 Magnavox Company v. Chicago Dynamic Industries, et al. US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern DivisionyesChicago CoinExidySportsQwak!250Baer 2005 11Atari Inc.Atari Inc.Light-gun shooterPin Pong250Baer 2005 11Atari Inc.Atari Inc.SportsTV Goalee121yesChicago CoinLeisure & Allied IndustriesSports yes Indicates a sales number given by official company sources. Home consoles Total Console Unit Sales: 145,000–150,000 consoles.The Electronic Games Market in the U.S. 1983 Frost & Sullivan Inc. 26–26aElectronic Games & Personal Computers February 1979 Predicasts Inc. 41 Predicasts Inc. 1979 Total Console Revenue (retail): $9–11.3 million.Predicasts Inc. 1979 42 TitleGame console units (1974)ManufacturerDeveloperOdyssey129,000Fritsche Robert E. 1976-12-28 Trial Transcript https://archive.org/details/1976-12-28-trial-transcript-pages-450-549/ 29 Sep 2024 Magnavox Company v. Chicago Dynamic Industries, et al. 495 US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Divisionyes 150,000Baer 2005 76Ralph Baer's numbers for Odyssey units sold per year contradict those of official figures disclosed by Magnavox in 1974. NoteMagnavoxSanders Associates/Magnavox yes Indicates a sales number given by official company sources. Publications August – Masumi Akagi publishes the first issue of the Japanese coin-operated amusement publication Game Machine. The magazine runs for 28 years. December – The American publication Play Meter, devoted to coin-operated amusements, publishes its first issue. Founding editor is Ralph Lally II. Notable releases January – Dungeons & Dragons is released by Tactical Studies Rules.Peterson Jon Playing at the World, 2E, Volume 1: The Invention of Dungeons & Dragons The MIT Press 2024 978-0-262-37939-7 2nd Game histories Cambridge, Massachusetts en The pen-and-paper tabletop game is the origin of the role-playing game and would exert a major influence on video games, through the genres of RPGs and adventure games. Arcade games February – Taito’s Basketball by pioneering game designer Tomohiro Nishikado features the first human-shaped characters in a coin-operated video game.Akagi Masumi アーケードTVゲームリスト国内•海外編(1971-2005) アミューズメント通信社 2005 978-4990251215 41 ja List of Arcade TV Games (1971-2005) Midway licenses the game for release in North America as TV Basketball, making it the first Japanese video arcade game to be officially exported to the U.S.Shaw Mike 1985-10-15 East is East and West is East Play Meter 28, 30 March – Atari releases Gran Trak 10, a video driving game featuring advanced technology including a ROM to store graphics and course data.Fries Ed 2017-06-14 Fixing Gran Trak 10 https://edfries.wordpress.com/2017/06/14/fixing-gran-trak-10/ 2024-10-01 en After initial manufacturing issues, the game becomes a massive success.Smith 2019 188–189 Meadows Games releases the enhanced ball-and-paddle game Flim Flam.1974-03-30 California Clippings Cash Box 56 It's among the most successful Pong clones, released in both upright and cocktail cabinet format.Smith 2019 180 May – Clean Sweep is released by Ramtek, a ball-and-paddle game featuring screen-clearing gameplay.1974-05-25 Streaking is new Clean Sweep is Newer Cash Box 51 It serves as an inspiration for Breakout.Smith 2019 283 August – Sega ships Balloon Gun in Japan, the first coin-operated video game utilizing a light gun.Akagi 2005 34 The method used is different from the Odyssey light gun, able to identify individual parts of the screen being shot. October – Baseball by Ramtek is released.1974-11-02 Ramtek Intro's Baseball Video Game at Expo Cash Box MOA28 In addition to being the first coin-operated sports video game to authentically depict aspects of its play, it is the first video game to represent multiple characters with animation frames on screen at once.Smith 2019 176 November – Kee Games releases Tank. The game is a reinterpretation of Computer Space featuring custom controls and competitive gameplay.Goldberg Marty Atari Inc.: Business is Fun Vendel Curt Syzygy Press 2012 978-0985597405 It becomes the best selling arcade video game released in 1974 in all and is seen as a defining moment for video arcade games.Smith 2019 193–194 The game is later adapted to Atari's Video Computer System as Combat. Taito releases Speed Race, a racing game featuring an early form of scrolling graphics. It helps pioneer 100 yen as a standard play price in Japan.Smith 2019 199–200 December – TV Pinball by Exidy introduces eliminating solid targets to ball-and-paddle games, preceding Breakout.Smith 2019 201 Computer games The first version of Maze War is completed by three students at the NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California for the Imlac PDS-1 terminal. The game is seen as the progenitor of the first-person shooter.Moss Richard 2015-05-21 The first first-person shooter https://www.polygon.com/features/2015/5/21/8627231/the-first-first-person-shooter 2024-10-01 Polygon en-US January – The science fiction economic strategy game Star Trader is first distributed by the People’s Computer Company via paper tape.January 1974 tapes People's Computer Company 13 It has a long-lasting legacy on computer systems, with subsequent iterations of the game expanding its design. March – Jim Bowery develops Spasim for the PLATO IV system, a graphical space flight simulator.Bowery Jim 2008-12-30 Spasim (1974) The First First-Person-Shooter 3D Multiplayer Online Game http://geocities.com/jim_bowery/spasim.html https://web.archive.org/web/20091018234220/http://geocities.com/jim_bowery/spasim.html 2024-09-30 October 18, 2009 It is the first computer game to implement true 3D graphics, rather than fixed perspective. Spasim inspires a number of PLATO flight simulation games including Airace and Airfight. The first version of the game Wander is developed by Peter Langston. It is the earliest example of a parser-based storytelling game; an early example of interactive fiction.Ant 2015-04-22 Wander (1974) — a lost mainframe game is found! https://ahopeful.wordpress.com/2015/04/22/wander-1974-a-lost-mainframe-game-is-found/ 2024-09-30 Retroactive Fiction en Hardware Console Magnavox releases the Odyssey in European markets.Smith 2019 Chapter 13 July - Control Sales (sales arm of Universal Research Laboratories) sells the game console Video Action. It is a repurposing of Tennis Tourney by Allied Leisure, including a television and four potentiometer controls for $499 at retail.Braun David H. 1974-06-14 David Braun Deposition https://archive.org/details/1974-06-14-david-braun-deposition-and-exhibits/1974-06-14%20David%20Braun%20Deposition%20and%20Exhibits/ Magnavox Company v. Chicago Dynamic Industries, et al. US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division It is the second unique video game console available to consumers.Smith 2019 210 August – Schraeder Electronics begins selling Dixi Ping Pong in the Netherlands, utilizing a custom transistor-to-transistor logic console design. October – Italian home appliance company Zanussi advertises the Ping-O-Tronic console. It features one-handed controllers.1974-10-10 Il Gioco-Sport di Moda L'Europo 1 Videomaster Ltd. of the UK sells Home T.V. Game, the first in a line of systems from the company.1974-10-24 Colour TV Evening Post 11 Business January 21 – Meadows Games is founded in Sunnyvale, California. June – David Nutting and Jefferey Fredericksen found Dave Nutting Associates in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the facilities of coin-operated games company Milwaukee Coin Industries.Smith 2019 271 Dave Nutting Associates would create several important video games published by Midway Mfg including Gun Fight, Sea Wolf, Gorf, and Wizard of Wor. July 10 – Kenzo Tsujimoto founds the coin-operated machine operator IPM Co. Ltd. The company later changes its name to Irem Corporation.Smith 2019 428 July 23 – Sega Enterprises Inc. is incorporated. This is made the parent company of the Japanese Sega Enterprises Ltd. which continues to operate.Smith 2019 292 September – Atari Inc. purchases Kee Games and makes Joseph Keenan the President of Atari.1974-09-21 Atari Acquires Kee Games Factory; Keenan Prexy, Bushnell Chairman Cash Box 36 Atari continues to release games under the Kee Games label until 1978. October 25 – North American Philips purchases a majority share in Magnavox.1974-10-30 Philips Has 84.1% Of Magnavox The Cincinnati Enquirer 22 See also 1974 in games Notes References 30em Category:Video games by year