Re: 50 Years

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From	Francois LE COAT <lecoat@atari.org>
Newsgroups	comp.sys.atari.st
Subject	Re: 50 Years
Date	Wed, 20 Oct 2021 18:30:03 +0200
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Hi,

Here is Ahoy's documentary about the historical first video game...

	<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHQ4WCU1WQc>

The day when we are celebrating 50 years of first arcade game, it's
interesting to understand more about the video games' first steps =)

Francois LE COAT writes:
> Arcade was born 50 years ago...
> 
> *Before Pong, There Was Computer Space*
> At mit.edu by Noah Wardrip-Fruin 2021/10/15
> 
> Fifty years ago, Computer Space launched the video game industry.
> Here's why it never took off.
> 
> Before Pong there was Computer Space, the first commercial video game.
> The progenitor of today’s US$175 billion industry debuted on Oct. 15,
> 1971, at the Music Operators of America trade show in Chicago. Housed
> in a futuristic-looking cabinet, Computer Space took its place alongside
> the latest jukeboxes, pinball machines and other coin-operated games
> manufacturers were pitching to arcade and bar owners.
> 
> Computer Space, made by the small company Nutting Associates, seemed
> to have everything going for it. Its scenario – flying a rocket ship
> through space locked in a dogfight with two flying saucers – seemed
> perfect for the times. The Apollo Moon missions were in full swing. The
> game was a good match for people who enjoyed science-fiction movies like
> “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “Planet of the Apes” and television shows
> like “Star Trek” and “Lost in Space,” or those who had thrilled to the
> aerial combat of the movies “The Battle of Britain” and “Tora! Tora!
> Tora!” There was even prominent placement of a Computer Space cabinet
> in Charlton Heston’s film “Soylent Green.”
> 
> But when Computer Space was unveiled, it didn’t generate a flood of
> orders, and no flood ever arrived. It wasn’t until Computer Space’s
> makers left the company, founded Atari and released Pong the next year
> that the commercial potential of video games became apparent. The
> company sold 8,000 Pong units by 1974.
> 
> Nolan Bushnell, who led the development of both Computer Space and Pong,
> has recounted Computer Space’s inauspicious start many times. He claimed
> that Computer Space failed to take off because it overestimated the
> public. Bushnell is widely quoted as saying the game was too complicated
> for typical bar-goers, and that no one would want to read instructions
> to play a video game.
> 
> In single-player mode, the arcade video game Computer Space pitted the
> player controlling a rocket ship against two flying saucers controlled
> by the game.
> 
> As a researcher who studies video game design and history, I’ve found
> that isn’t the case...
> 
> <https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/before-pong-there-was-computer-space/>
> 
> Original Computer Space <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR7gmVpw6Io>

Regards,

-- 
François LE COAT
Author of Eureka 2.12 (2D Graph Describer, 3D Modeller)
http://eureka.atari.org/

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50 Years Francois LE COAT <lecoat@atari.org> - 2021-10-19 17:00 +0200
  Re: 50 Years Francois LE COAT <lecoat@atari.org> - 2021-10-20 18:30 +0200
    Re: 50 Years Francois LE COAT <lecoat@atari.org> - 2021-11-10 17:00 +0100

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