History of video games/1970-1979

__NOTOC__ Mass Media While the general public remained generally oblivious to video games during the early part of the decade, this quickly began to change with the dawn of the golden age of arcade gaming, as well as the release of the popular Atari 2600 home video game console. With the rise of this new mass media, also came some of the first widespread moral panics and controversies over video gaming. In addition to consumer usage, edutainment games in schools began to propagate more broadly during the 1970's, though their usage was hampered by both the technology, and by a lack of computers.Wells Matthew The nuclear war origins behind some of the earliest computer lab games https://www.polygon.com/23278536/rand-corporation-nuclear-wargames-computer-lab 31 July 2022 Polygon 28 July 2022 Women Developers Despite facing workplace adversity, the 1970's saw several women make prominent contributions in the video game industry, most notably at RCA and Atari.Celebrating Women at Atari - Blog - The Henry Ford https://www.thehenryford.org/explore/blog/celebrating-women-at-atari www.thehenryford.org 22 December 2020 enEdwards Benj Rediscovering History’s Lost First Female Video Game Designer https://www.fastcompany.com/90147592/rediscovering-historys-lost-first-female-video-game-designer 22 December 2020 Fast Company 27 October 2017 However these developers would often not see widespread recognition in their day. This trend would continue into the 1980's.Hernandez Patricia In the ’80s, she was a video game pioneer. Today, no one can find her https://www.polygon.com/2021/2/11/22273073/ban-tran-atari-2600-wabbit-first-female-character-video-games-playable-history-apollo 17 February 2021 Polygon 11 February 2021 en Popular Genres Arcade style games, especially the Lunar Lander subgenre 2D Shooters In the first half of the decade Spacewar! clones were popular among video gamers. The massive success of Space Invaders (1978) led to the popularization of the genre with the public. Tabletop games often influenced computer games of the time. Wargaming, as well as tabletop role playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons inspired many early computer roleplaying games. Text adventures and other interactive fiction proved popular among those few who owned home computers. These simplistic games often required no special graphics hardware, yet offered a glimpse into fantastic worlds for imaginative gamers despite their limitations. Edutainment games were a popular target for developers, hoping to improve or capitalize on the educational market. In the first half of the decade, these games were common on minicomputer and mainframe time share systems, limited to those affiliated with specific institutions. Later in the decade, as schools began adopting home computers, these games became much more accessible to the public. 1970 The May 4th Massacre thumb|A bullet hole in a statue near the shootings at Kent State University. The horrific events of the May 4th massacre by the Ohio National Guard at Kent State University had drastic effects on America, and especially on those present. Several of those present at the event would go on to influence the game industry. Several students present were moved by what they witnessed transpire to form the band DEVO.REMEMBERING MAY 4 - AN INTERVIEW WITH DEVO'S JERRY CASALE https://www.kent.edu/art/news/remembering-may-4-interview-devos-jerry-casale 12 November 2020 Band member Mark Mothersbaugh later goes on to work on games such as Crash Bandicoot.Exclusive Interview – Composer Mark Mothersbaugh talks working with Wes Anderson, Crash Bandicoot and his discography https://www.flickeringmyth.com/2018/06/exclusive-interview-composer-mark-mothersbaugh-talks-working-with-wes-anderson-crash-bandicoot-and-his-discography/2/ Flickering Myth 12 November 2020 27 June 2018 Another student, John De Lancie, was less than 20 yards from the shooting, and worked with Senator Young and Ted Kennedy to share his experience with the Senate.de Lancie https://www.startrek.com/database_article/de-lancie 22 December 2020 Star Trek enQ and A-theism w/ John de Lancie - YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtWkqaMVxO0 www.youtube.com 22 December 2020 John De Lancie would later pursue a career as a prominent actor, which included voice acting for video games.John de Lancie Kent State University https://www.kent.edu/theatredance/john-de-lancie-0 www.kent.edu 22 December 2020 Game of Life After development in the 1960's, Conway's Game of Life is published in Scientific American in 1970.The Game of Life, by John Horton Conway The Embryo Project Encyclopedia https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/game-life-john-horton-conway embryo.asu.edu 12 November 2020 Although initially a simple mathematical game, it was later turned into various computer programs. The game is formed by a simple playfield of "cells", each one surrounded by eight "neighbors" (the adjacent cells), and either "lives" or "dies" in the next turn based on them. The correct combination of "alive" and "dead" cells can create stable systems ("still lives"), mutating shapes, ("oscillators"), moving objects ("spaceships") or generate an infinite stream of shapes through "guns", thus allowing for a sort of "war" to be "fought". 1971 thumb|The 1971 game Star Trek. Galaxy Game thumb|left|Galaxy Game, a 1971 arcade game. In September 1971 the arcade game Galaxy Game is installed at Tresidder Memorial Union of Stanford University."Galaxy Game", the Earliest Coin-Operated Computer or Video Game : History of Information https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=2326 www.historyofinformation.com 12 November 2020 The game is a Spacewar! clone, designed with multiplayer-only capabilities in mind as it lacked an artificial intelligence for single-player gameplay. Although it ranks as the first known coin-operated video game (running on a modified PDP-11), it was never commercially released. Despite this, it can be ran on the popular MAME emulator for modern computers. Computer Space In November 1971 the arcade game Computer Space is released by "Syzygy Engineering" (the progenitor of Atari, Inc.) to try to recreate the success of the Computer Quiz game of 1968.Computer Space and the Dawn of the Arcade Video Game https://www.pcworld.com/article/246042/computer_space_and_the_dawn_of_the_arcade_video_game.html?page=3 PCWorld 12 November 2020 en 1 January 2012Pixels In Print (Part 1): Advertising Computer Space - The First Arcade Video Game https://gamehistory.org/first-arcade-game-advertisement-computer-space/ Video Game History Foundation 12 November 2020 10 April 2018 The gameplay is reminiscent of Spacewar!, but is distinct enough to avoid being classified as a Spacewar! clone. Few units survive to this day, but the game itself is a popular culture icon among video game fans,computerspacefan.com computerspacefan.com computerspacefan.com 10 February 2020 both due to it's historical value and due to it's distinctive and funky cabinet design. The Oregon Trail In November 1971 three student teachers (Bill Heinemann, Don Rawitsch, and Paul Dillenberger) make The Oregon Trail for a UNIVAC computer operated by the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium and is connected to a number of schools in Minnesota by teletypewriter.How You Wound Up Playing The Oregon Trail in Computer Class https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/how-you-wound-playing-em-oregon-trailem-computer-class-180959851/ Smithsonian Magazine 22 November 2020 enJuba Joe A Pioneer Story: How MECC Blazed New Trails https://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2017/04/07/a-pioneer-story-how-mecc-blazed-new-trails.aspx Game Informer 22 November 2020 en The Oregon Trail was made despite challenges posed by limited computer access.Porges Seth How 'The Oregon Trail' Was Built Without Access To A Computer https://www.forbes.com/sites/sethporges/2017/11/27/the-surprising-story-behind-how-the-oregon-trail-was-built-without-access-to-a-computer/ Forbes 22 November 2020 en The first version of The Oregon Trail had to be made with teletypewriters in mind, so shooting mechanics were based on accurately typing words quickly. The Oregon Trail is one of the earliest edutainment games. As of 2020 the game's modernized versions are often considered to be among the best edutainment games made.Brown Shelby Worried about your kids' screen time? Try one of these educational video games https://www.cnet.com/news/15-educational-video-games-for-kids-in-quarantine-that-are-actually-fun/ CNET 22 November 2020 enStaff GamesRadar December 2013 GamesRadar 25 The best edutainment games [ClassicRadar] https://www.gamesradar.com/the-best-edutainment-games/ gamesradar 22 November 2020 en Intel 4004 1971 saw the release of the Intel 4004, Intel's first chip produced on a 10 micron process.The Story of the Intel® 4004 https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/history/museum-story-of-intel-4004.html Intel 25 October 2020 en This chip becomes one of the first generally available microprocessors, helping to usher in an era where mass-produced computers and programmable game consoles could reach the home. 1972 Atari & Pong thumb|The prototype Pong cabinet. In 1972 Nolan Bushnell founds the company Atari, releasing the arcade hit Pong by fall 1972.Edwards Benj The Untold Story of Atari Founder Nolan Bushnell’s Visionary 1980s Tech Incubator https://www.fastcompany.com/3068135/the-untold-story-of-atari-founder-nolan-bushnells-visionary-1980s-tech-incubator Fast Company 21 November 2020 17 February 2017 1973 Gaming at BGSU You have just run out of fuel - pray for rescue. Moon "Computer can play golf, blackjack" Nancy Laughlin BG News (Oct 3, 1973) Across the United States, many gaming cultures have sprung up at various universities, piggybacking off of the advanced computing resources available to students. Records from the rural Bowling Green State University show that this spread was not limited to the biggest or most elite universities by 1973. The Bowling Green State University computer center offers about 250 computer games for students to play freely, including Moon an early game in the Lunar Lander genre.The BG News October 3, 1973 https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/bg-news/2880 BG News (Student Newspaper) 12 November 2020 3 October 1973 Lemonade Stand thumb|The interface for the game Lemonade Stand. A programmer working for the educational institution Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium makes Lemonade Stand for their UNIVAC mainframe, which is connected to a number of schools via teletypewriter.How You Wound Up Playing The Oregon Trail in Computer Class https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/how-you-wound-playing-em-oregon-trailem-computer-class-180959851/ Smithsonian Magazine 22 November 2020 enJuba Joe A Pioneer Story: How MECC Blazed New Trails https://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2017/04/07/a-pioneer-story-how-mecc-blazed-new-trails.aspx Game Informer 22 November 2020 enGameplay revolves around simulating a business, balancing prices and costs with demand influenced by external factors like weather. Lemonade Stand is among the first games that attempts to simulate a business, as well as an early example of an edutainment game. Oil Panic The OPEC Oil embargo to the United States, Japan, and other nations creates great economic shock and a recession.oil crisis of 1973 Japan Module https://www.japanpitt.pitt.edu/glossary/oil-crisis-1973 www.japanpitt.pitt.edu 22 November 2020Milestones: 1969–1976 - Office of the Historian https://history.state.gov/milestones/1969-1976/oil-embargo history.state.gov 22 November 2020 Hanafuda cardmaker and toy manufacture Nintendo is nearly pushed to financial ruin by the economic effects of the embargo and begins desperately seeking alternate revenue sources, eventually leading them to make home video games.Nintendo - The Early History https://www.i-programmer.info/history/9-machines/269-nintendo-the-early-history.html?start=1 www.i-programmer.info 22 November 2020 Phong Shading Phong Shading is invented in 1973, becoming a common 3D graphics shading technique which adds dynamic highlights to objects.History School of Computing https://www.cs.utah.edu/about/history/#phong-ref 5 December 2020Phong shading algorithm https://mrl.cs.nyu.edu/~perlin/courses/fall2005ugrad/phong.html mrl.cs.nyu.edu 5 December 2020 BASIC Computer Games 1973 sees the release of one of the most influent computing and video gaming books of History: BASIC Computer Games, initially a DEC book titled "101 BASIC Computer Games". The book is a collection of BASIC source codes (usually converted from DEC's FOCAL) for simple video games, collected and partially modified or created by David H. Ahl. The book initially written in the DEC dialect of the language for use on PDP computers, but Ahl later left DEC to found the magazine Creative Computing, purchased the rights to the book, changed its title and ported the games to the now more standard Microsoft BASIC (which was starting to be used for home computers, and still survives today in its Visual Basic form), with instructions on how to port the games to platforms running personalized dialects. 1974 Dungeons & Dragons thumb|dnd, a game inspired by Dungeons & Dragons which started development in 1974. In 1974 the original "White Box" edition of the World-famous Dungeons & Dragons tabletop roleplaying game is released with it and its derivatives influencing a number of programmers, and through them highly influenced the creation of both Western computer RPGs and Japanese RPG genres.The Unlikely Origin Story of JRPGs https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/DanielSchuller/20170305/292964/The_Unlikely_Origin_Story_of_JRPGs.php www.gamasutra.com 12 November 2020 enMessner Steven The forgotten origins of JRPGs on the PC https://www.pcgamer.com/the-forgotten-origins-of-jrpgs-on-the-pc/ PC Gamer 12 November 2020 15 April 2017​Henk Rogers: The Dutch Godfather of Japanese RPGs https://www.vice.com/en/article/z4m7v4/henk-rogers-the-dutch-godfather-of-japanese-rpgs www.vice.com 28 November 2020 en 1975 Video Games on Planes In 1975 Braniff Airlines offers Pong during flights, becoming the perhaps first airline to offer a video game as an official in flight entertainment option.Beautiful posters from the golden age of flying – where are the airlines now? https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/lists/posters-golden-age-air-travel/braniff/ 14 December 2020 The Telegraph 13 September 2018A Brief History of In Flight Entertainment – Imagik Corp https://imagikcorp.com/brief-history-flight-entertainment/ 14 December 2020 First Digital Camera On December 12th, 1975 the first digital photograph is taken by Kodak employee Steven Sasson of subject Joy Marshall.How the Digital Camera Transformed Our Concept of History https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-history/silicon-revolution/how-the-digital-camera-transformed-our-concept-of-history IEEE Spectrum: Technology, Engineering, and Science News 22 November 2020 en The Camera captures the image using a CCD from Fairchild Semiconductor and then takes 26 seconds to record the result onto an audio tape. Later on gaming devices such as the GameBoy camera and the Xbox Kinect used digital cameras to offer unique gameplay experiences.Hands on: Xbox One Kinect review https://www.techradar.com/reviews/gaming/gaming-accessories/xbox-one-kinect-1153962/review TechRadar 22 November 2020 enThe Game Boy Camera, Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Pixels https://hackaday.com/2020/10/26/the-game-boy-camera-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-pixels/ Hackaday 22 November 2020 26 October 2020 Graphic Music Synergy At ACM SIGGRAPH 1975 in Bowling Green, Ohio a presentation is given on graphics influenced by musicKaczmarek Thomas Smoliar Stephen W. An experiment in interaction between independent music and graphics processors Association for Computing Machinery 978-1-4503-7354-8 208–211 https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/563732.1138369 5 December 2020, an early example of a relationship that would become common in games with adaptive music. 1976 thumb|upright|A flyer for Fonz, a 1976 arcade game by Sega Cars! 1976 was an important year for automobiles and racing in video games. Datsun became the first automaker to license one of it's cars for a arcade game in 1976,Datsun Was The First Car Maker To Officially Brand A Video Game https://jalopnik.com/datsun-was-the-first-car-maker-to-officially-brand-a-vi-1652829922 13 January 2021 Jalopnik en-us later seeing a home console port to the Bally Professional Arcade.The Torchinsky Files: I'm Betting Most Of You Have Never Seen A Bally Professional Arcade https://jalopnik.com/the-torchinsky-files-im-betting-most-of-you-have-never-1844218806 13 January 2021 Jalopnik en-us Later on, real automobile brands would later proliferate in racing games, adding to realism and immersion, as well as being a powerful marketing tool for the automobile industry.Wilson Mark How Do Real Cars End Up In Video Games? And Does It Help The Brands? https://www.fastcompany.com/1669990/how-do-real-cars-end-up-in-video-games-and-does-it-help-the-brands 13 January 2021 Fast Company 8 June 2012 In 1976 the Death Race arcade game is introduced, prompting media to question the violence featured in the game.The Media vs. Death Race https://gamehistory.org/media-vs-death-race/ Video Game History Foundation 12 November 2020 1 June 2018 The newness of video games meant that some outlets struggled to differentiate the game from a pinball machine or board game.A Video Game By Any Other Name https://gamehistory.org/a-video-game-by-any-other-name/ Video Game History Foundation 12 November 2020 24 May 2018 The sensationalism surrounding the game ultimately boosted it's sales.Kocurek Carly A. The Agony and the Exidy: A History of Video Game Violence and the Legacy of Death Race http://gamestudies.org/1201/articles/carly_kocurek Game Studies 12 November 2020 September 2012 Apple Computer thumb|The Garage where Apple Computer was first based. On April 1st, 1976, Apple Computer is founded by Steve "Woz" Wozniak and Steve Jobs in the latter's garageApple Computers: This Month in Business History (Business Reference Services, Library of Congress) https://www.loc.gov/rr/business/businesshistory/April/apple.html www.loc.gov 12 November 2020. The initial purpose of the company is to manufacture Woz's Apple I motherboard. The company later produces a number of computers which were commonly used for gaming, and would even help produce the short lived Apple Pippin game console during the 1990's. 1978 The gameshow TV Powww debuts, focusing on playing video games on a television show via telephone. 1979 Mobile Suit Gundam The Anime Mobile Suit Gundam is released in Japan, having a huge influence on Japanese geek culture, and by extension influencing a number of Japanese game designers. The designs of Mobile Suits from Gundam may have had an influence on other game series as well.Barder Ollie Understanding How Gundam May Have Influenced Halo Over The Years https://www.forbes.com/sites/olliebarder/2015/07/01/understanding-how-gundam-may-have-influenced-halo-over-the-years/?sh=6586cd8655eb 5 March 2021 Forbes en References 1970s in video games 2 1960-1969 1980-1989 100%