The first video game was the precursor to Pong, called Tennis for Two. It was created on an oscilloscope in Brookhaven National Laboratory. Had they thought to patent it, the US government would’ve held ownership of all video games.
This photo was taken ten minutes before the first ever rage quit in a video game to occur … the lab was set on fire and two players and an innocent bystander were hospitalized
Wow, there is so much misinformation in this thread… I’m not going to include references for the following statements, but just as a couple of pointers for further research:
Pong came out in 1972, not 1978.
Hunt the Wumpus was created in 1973, after Pong.
There is no “the first video game” as it is almost impossible to find the definitive first example. Turing had written a chess algorithm before there even was a computer that could run it.
Tennis for Two was not the first video game, whichever way you see it: there were several graphical games for the Whirlwind project that came out at least 3-4 years before TfT.
Tennis for Two was also not Pong’s precursor. That would be Computer Space, which came out in 1971, a year before Pong, and was created by the creator of Pong, Nolan Bushnell. (Edit: yes, well, it was a precursor, but not “the precursor to Pong”.)
I’m not blaming anyone here: it is very hard to keep up with new research at the moment. Many things people thought were true even one or two years ago might quickly be superseded by current findings. But please don’t just quote things from memory when trying to correct statements.
Incidentally, the first rage quit did have something to do with Pong: There is a fantastic video of Ralph Baer, the creator of the Brown Box and therefore the spiritual predecessor to Pong, rage quitting in 1969 at a demonstration he had organised himself.
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I’m sure there was a chess table flip back in the day.
The first video game was the precursor to Pong, called Tennis for Two. It was created on an oscilloscope in Brookhaven National Laboratory. Had they thought to patent it, the US government would’ve held ownership of all video games.
https://www.bnl.gov/about/history/firstvideo.php
Is noone going to mention the bulge?
I was looking more at the ‘stache than the bulge tbh
The 70’s were a sexy, sexy decade. Lotsa polyester and great facial hair.
This photo was taken ten minutes before the first ever rage quit in a video game to occur … the lab was set on fire and two players and an innocent bystander were hospitalized
Monopoly was around before pong.
Wow, there is so much misinformation in this thread… I’m not going to include references for the following statements, but just as a couple of pointers for further research:
I’m not blaming anyone here: it is very hard to keep up with new research at the moment. Many things people thought were true even one or two years ago might quickly be superseded by current findings. But please don’t just quote things from memory when trying to correct statements.
Incidentally, the first rage quit did have something to do with Pong: There is a fantastic video of Ralph Baer, the creator of the Brown Box and therefore the spiritual predecessor to Pong, rage quitting in 1969 at a demonstration he had organised himself.
Ever heard of SpaceWar? Hunt the Wumpus? Tennis for Two? Pong didn’t introduce violence to the world.