Almost everyone today, in the modern world, has played, seen or heard of computer games/video games, but this was not so 60-70 years ago as this was roughly the time when computer games were first being realised.
Where it all began is up for debate, largely due to the undecided definition of the term “video game”,, but for me it was ‘Goldsmith Jr ‘ and ‘Ray Mann’ who created a missile simulator game in the late 1940’s using a Cathode Ray Tube.
Thomas T. Goldsmith was a Physics Professor at Furman University and a TV technology pioneer only passed away relatively recently in 2009 at the age of 99. His work with Estel Ray Mann on creating a computer game which was inspired by the radars used in WW2, which he and ‘DuMont’ shared their knowledge of with various companies for using Cathode Ray Tubes in Radar Displays: After the war they went on to share their knowledge on Picture Tube Displays, creating a number of manufacturing and engineering techniques that would make it possible for televisions to be made on a mass commercial basis. It’s unfortunate that “Goldsmith” and “Ray Mann” couldn’t take their game any further than the patent stage as they didn’t have the financial means with which to do so.
Games produced in this time period were not commercially available until the early 70’s and were generally found on company mainframe systems, but the development of arcade video game machines began to change all that. ‘Pong’ was the most wide spreading title of its time and inspired a number of clones throughout gaming history which made their way onto a number of console platforms which brought about the first game industry crash in 1977.
After the crash came a Golden Age for arcade machines when Taito released ‘Space Invaders’; This inspired a number of game manufacturers with games such as ‘Asteroids’, ‘Pac-Man’ and ‘Galaxian’. The coin slot machines spread like wildfire and could be found everywhere from convenience stores and shopping centres to restaurants! This boom in the games industry generated revenue of up to $8 billion, which surpassed both pop music and the film industry at that time by significant amounts in North America alone!
To be continued…
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