| Gaming today is a recognized element of our | | | | fantasies and sci-fi visions into digital |
| cultural scenery, even to people who are over | | | | applications which we are still using. Their |
| thirty or who can barely recall the time | | | | imaginations have turned gaming into a |
| before arcade games were invented. Gone are | | | | digital masterpiece. |
| the days when you would play Pac-Man or the | | | | |
| famous Mario Brothers game. Although they are | | | | The perception of establishing an electronic |
| still played and enjoyed today, they have | | | | game system to the screen or the television |
| been enhanced into dimensional games and | | | | was invented by Ralph Bauer during the early |
| versions. People will never forget the old | | | | 1950's. This made the first game possible. |
| games and that's a good thing because there | | | | After that, he introduced and presented his |
| is a history here that shouldn't be | | | | ideas to Magnavox, a television company. The |
| forgotten. | | | | company liked his ideas and inventions so |
| | | | well that they have released a sophisticated |
| Gaming is not a recent breakthrough. Arcade | | | | version of Bauer's "Brown Box" prototype, |
| games began many years ago. They weren't as | | | | known as the Magnavox Odyssey in 1972. By |
| acceptable as they are now. Artifacts from | | | | today's standards, the Odyssey was |
| Egypt and Sumeria have revealed that our | | | | prehistoric, displaying only spots of light |
| ancestors enjoyed playing board games | | | | on the screen. It also required the use of |
| thousands of years ago. | | | | translucent plastic overlays to replicate the |
| | | | appearance of the game. |
| The electronic games we have now required the | | | | |
| creation of electronic computers. The early | | | | The first truly popular console system was |
| computers were slow and prone to failures. | | | | known as the Atari 2600. It was released in |
| Early programmers felt obliged to waste their | | | | 1977. The Atari made use of plug-in |
| time by programming these computers to do | | | | cartridges in order to play a variety of |
| things like tic-tac-toe. When World War II | | | | games. The popularity of Space Invaders was a |
| ended, electronic computers started becoming | | | | breakthrough and it became a best seller |
| standard equipment in the more progressive | | | | during that time. The computer games written |
| laboratories. Soon afterwards, they were | | | | for the TRS-80 and Apple II computers were |
| incorporated with large corporations, | | | | attracting interest at this time. |
| establishments and companies. It can be | | | | |
| argued that university students were the | | | | There are several books and articles about |
| first game programmers, exploring their | | | | the history of arcade games. |