First generation of video game consoles: Difference between revisions

{{VG history|expandmenu=2}}

The '''first generation of [[video game consoles]]''' began in 1972 with the [[Magnavox Odyssey]] (which began development in 1968 by [[Ralph Baer]] under the code name "The Brown Box"), until 1977, when "[[pong]]"-style console manufacturers left the market ''en masse'' due to the [[video game crash of 1977]] and when [[microprocessor]]-based consoles were introduced.<ref name="1stcrash">{{cite book

| last = Wolf

| first = Mark J.P.

| title = The Video Game Explosion

| publisher = Greenwood Publishing Group

| year = 2008

| pages = Page xviii

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=to5zEwOC9BcC&pg=PR18&dq=1st+video+game+crash+1977#PPR18,M1

| isbn = 0-313-33868-X |id=ISBN 9780313338687}}

</ref> In Japan, the generation continued until 1980 with the [[Color TV-Game]] series.

Some defining characteristics of first generation consoles include:

* [[Discrete circuit|Discrete]] transistor-based digital game [[Discrete logic|logic]].

* Games were native components of consoles rather than based on external or removable media.

* Entire game playfield occupies only one screen.

* Players and objects consist of very basic lines, dots or blocks.

* Colour graphics are basic (mostly black and white or other dichromatic combination; later games may display three or more colours).

* Either single-channel or no audio.

* Lacked features of [[History of video game consoles (second generation)|second generation consoles]], such as [[microprocessor]] logic, [[ROM cartridge]]s, [[flip-screen]] playfields, [[Sprite (computer graphics)|sprite-based graphics]], and [[List of video game console palettes|multi-color graphics]].

== History ==

=== Interactive television ===

[[Television]] engineer [[Ralph Baer]] created "The Brown Box" in 1966. Baer conceived the idea of an [[interactive television]] while building a television set from scratch for [[Loral Corporation|Loral]] in 1951 in [[Bronx County, New York|the Bronx]], [[New York City|New York]]. He explored these ideas further in 1966 when he was the Chief Engineer and manager of the Equipment Design Division at [[Sanders Associates]]. Baer created a simple two-player video game that could be displayed on a standard [[television]] set called ''Chase'', where two dots chased each other around the screen. After a demonstration to the company's director of R&D Herbert Campman, some funding was allotted and the project was made official. In 1967 Bill Harrison was brought on board, and a [[light gun]]<ref name=m>{{cite book | title=Game Industry Career Guide | last1=Moore | first1=Michael E. | last2=Novak | first2=Jeannie | year=2010 | publisher=Cengage Learning | location=Delmar | isbn=1-4283-7647-X | page=7 | quote=In 1966, Ralph H. Baer .. pitched an idea .. to create interactive games to be played on the television. Over the next two years, his team developed the first video game system—and in 1968, they demonstrated the "Brown Box," a device on which several games could be played and that used a light gun to shoot targets on the screen. After several more years of development, the system was licensed by Magnavox in 1970 and the first game console system, the Odyssey, was released in 1972 at the then high price of $100. }}</ref> was constructed from a toy rifle that was aimed at a target moved by another player.

[[Bill Rusch]] joined the project to speed up development and soon a third machine-controlled dot was used to create a [[Table tennis|ping-pong]] game. With more funding additional games were created, and Baer had the idea of selling the product to [[cable television|cable TV]] companies, who could transmit static images as game backgrounds. A prototype was demonstrated in February 1968 to [[TelePrompTer]] Vice President [[Hubert Schlafly]], who signed an agreement with Sanders. The Cable TV industry was in a slump during the late '60s and early '70s and a lack of funding meant other avenues had to be pursued. Development continued on the hardware and games resulting in the final "Brown Box" prototype,<ref name=m /> which had two controllers, a light gun and sixteen switches on the console that selected the game to be played. Baer approached various U.S. Television manufacturers and an agreement was eventually signed with [[Magnavox]] in late 1969. Magnavox's main alterations to the Brown Box were to use plug-in circuits to change the games, and to remove the color graphics capabilities in favor of color overlays in order to reduce manufacturing costs. It was released in May 1972 as the [[Magnavox Odyssey]].<ref name=m />

=== Digital electronics ===

The Magnavox Odyssey is a digital console, the same as all other game consoles. However, like all video game consoles up until the [[History of video game consoles (sixth generation)|sixth generation]], it uses analog circuitry for the output to match the televisions of its era, which were analog; also, like all later consoles from the [[Nintendo 64]] onwards, it features analog game controllers. Due to these two facts, many collectors have mistakenly considered the Odyssey to be an [[analog computer|analog]] console, with the misunderstanding becoming so widespread that Baer was eventually led to clarify that the Odyssey is indeed a digital console: all of the electronic signals exchanged between the various parts responsible for gameplay (ball and players generators, sync generators, [[diode matrix]], etc.) are binary.<ref>{{cite web | last=Bub | first=Andrew | date=June 7, 2005 | url=http://www.gamerdad.com/detail.cfm?itemID=1049 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060213141334/http://www.gamerdad.com/detail.cfm?itemID=1049 | archivedate=February 13, 2006 | title=The Original GamerDad: Ralph Baer | publisher=[[GamerDad]] | accessdate=November 10, 2006}}</ref> The type of digital components used feature [[Diode–transistor logic|DTL]], a common pre-[[Transistor–transistor logic|TTL]] digital design component using discrete [[transistors]] and [[diode]]s.

This was also the first involvement of [[History of Nintendo|Nintendo in video games]]. According to Martin Picard in the ''International Journal of Computer Game Research'': "in 1971, [[Nintendo]] had -- even before the marketing of the first home console in the United States -- an alliance with the American pioneer Magnavox to develop and produce optoelectronic guns for the Odyssey (released in 1972), since it was similar to what Nintendo was able to offer in the Japanese toy market in 1970s".<ref name=picard>Martin Picard, [http://gamestudies.org/1302/articles/picard The Foundation of Geemu: A Brief History of Early Japanese video games], ''International Journal of Computer Game Research'', 2013</ref>

The Odyssey was not a large success due to restrictive marketing, although other companies with similar products (including Atari) had to pay a licensing fee for some time. For a time it was Sanders' most profitable line, even though many in the company had been unsupportive of game development.

[[File:Pong.png|thumb|right|170px|''[[Pong]]'' arcade version]]

Many of the earliest games utilizing [[digital electronics]] ran on [[university]] [[mainframe computer]]s in the [[United States]], developed by individual users who programmed them in their spare time. In 1962, a group of students at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] programmed a game called ''[[Spacewar!]]'' on a [[Digital Equipment Corporation|DEC]] [[PDP-1]]. In 1970 [[Nolan Bushnell]] saw ''Spacewar!'' for the first time at the [[University of Utah]]. Deciding there was commercial potential in an [[Arcade game|arcade]] version, he hand-wired a custom computer capable of playing it on a black and white [[television]]. The resulting game, ''[[Computer Space]]'', did not fare well commercially and Bushnell started looking for new ideas. In early 1972 he saw a demonstration of the [[Magnavox Odyssey]], and hired [[Allan Alcorn|Al Alcorn]] to produce an arcade version of the Odyssey's ping-pong game (using [[Transistor-transistor logic]]), called ''[[Pong]]''.

On September 12, 1975, [[Epoch Co.|Epoch]] released [[Japan]]'s first console, the [[TV Tennis Electrotennis]], a home version of ''Pong'', several months before the release of Home Pong in North America. A unique feature of the TV Tennis Electrotennis is that the console is [[wireless]], functioning through a [[Ultra high frequency|UHF]] antenna.<ref name=picard/>

Home video games achieved widespread popularity with the release of a home version of ''Pong'' in the Christmas of 1975. Its success sparked hundreds of clones, including the [[Coleco Telstar]], which went on to be a success in its own right, with over a dozen models and the Binatone TV Master by British company [[Binatone]].

Japan's most successful console of the first generation was [[Nintendo]]'s [[Color TV Game]], released in 1977.<ref name=picard/> The Color TV Game sold 3 million units,<ref name=sheff/> the [[List of best-selling game consoles|highest]] for a first generation console.

The first generation of video games did not feature a [[microprocessor]], and were based on custom codeless [[Finite state machine|state machine computers]] consisting of [[Logic gate|discrete logic]] circuits comprising each element of the game itself. Later consoles of this generation moved the bulk of the circuitry to custom "pong on a chip" IC's such as Atari's custom Pong chips and General Instruments' [[AY-3-8500]] series.<ref name="customic">{{cite web|url=http://www.pong-story.com/gi.htm |title=PONG in a Chip |publisher=Pong-Story |date= |accessdate=September 13, 2010}}</ref>

==Home [[Systems]]==

===Comparison===

{| class="wikitable"

|-

!style="width: 10%" | Name

!style="width: 15%;" | [[Magnavox Odyssey]]

!style="width: 15%;" | [[Magnavox Odyssey series]]*<br><small>(11 consoles)</small>

!style="width: 15%;" | TV Tennis Electrotennis

!style="width: 15%;" | [[Pong|Home Pong]]

|- style="text-align:center;"

! Manufacturer

| [[Magnavox]]

| Magnavox, [[Philips]]

| [[Epoch Co.]]

| [[Atari]], [[Sears|Sears Tele-Games]]

|- style="text-align:center;"

!Image

| [[File:Magnavox-Odyssey-Console-Set.png|140px]]

| [[File:Odyssey-300.png|120px]]<br><small>Odyssey 300<small>

|

| [[File:TeleGames-Atari-Pong.png|120px]]

|-

!Launch price

| [[US$]]100 (equivalent to ${{inflation|US|100|1972|r=0}} in {{CURRENTYEAR}})

| US$100–230 (equivalent to ${{inflation|US|100|1975|r=0}}–{{inflation|US|230|1975|r=0}} in {{CURRENTYEAR}})

| [[Japanese yen|¥]]20,000<ref name=picard/> (equivalent to ${{inflation|US|{{To USD|{{inflation|JP|20000|1975|2012|r=0}}|JPN}}|2012}} in {{CURRENTYEAR}})

| US$98.95 (equivalent to ${{inflation|US|98.95|1975|r=0}} in {{CURRENTYEAR}})

|- style="vertical-align: top"

!Release date

| {{vgrelease|NA|August {{vgy|1972}}|EU|{{vgy|1973}}}} {{vgrelease|JP|1974 <small>(licensed to [[Nintendo]])</small>}}

| {{vgrelease|NA|{{vgy|1975}}—{{vgy|1978}}}}

| {{vgrelease|JP|September 12, {{vgy|1975}}<ref name=picard/>}}

| {{vgrelease|NA|December {{vgy|1975}}}}

|-

!Media

| [[Printed circuit board]]

| Various

| Inbuilt chip

| Inbuilt chip<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pong-story.com/atpong2.htm |title=Atari home PONG systems |publisher=Pong-Story |date= |accessdate=September 13, 2010}}</ref>

|-

!Accessories (retail)

| [[Shooting Gallery (game accessory)|Shooting Gallery]]

| n/a

| [[Wireless]] [[Game controller|controller]]<ref name=picard/>

| n/a

|-

!Sales

| 330,000<ref name="baerwinter">{{cite web|url=http://www.pong-story.com/odyssey.htm |title=Magnavox Odyssey, the first video game system |publisher=Pong-Story |date=June 27, 1972 |accessdate=November 17, 2012}}</ref>

| n/a

| 10,000<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://toarcade.wordpress.com/2015/09/12/japans-1st-video-game-console-was-released-40-years-ago/|title=Japan’s 1st Video Game Console was released 40 Years ago!|last=toarcade|date=2015-09-12|website=Toarcade|access-date=2017-01-18}}</ref>

| 150,000<ref name="PriceGuide-2">{{cite book| title = Official Price Guide to Classic Video Games| first = David| last = Ellis| pages = 33–36| chapter = Dedicated Consoles| publisher = Random House| isbn = 0-375-72038-3| year = 2004}}</ref><ref name="Ultimate-Home3">{{cite book| title = Ultimate History of Video Games| first = Steven| last = Kent| pages = 94–95| chapter = Strange Bedfellows| publisher = Three Rivers Press| isbn = 0-7615-3643-4| year = 2001}}</ref>

|}

<small>* = Does not include the separatedly-listed [[Magnavox Odyssey]] and the second-generation [[Magnavox Odyssey 2]].</small>

{| class="wikitable"

|-

!style="width: 10%"|Name

!style="width: 15%;" | Binatone TV Master

!style="width: 15%;" | [[Coleco Telstar|Telstar series]]<br><small>(14 models)</small>

!style="width: 15%;" | [[Color TV-Game|Color TV-Game series]]<br><small>(5 consoles)</small>

|- style="text-align:center;"

! Manufacturer

| [[Binatone]]

| [[Coleco]]

| [[Nintendo]]

|- style="text-align:center;"

!Image

| [[File:Binatone TV Master Mk IV.jpg|120px]]

| [[File:Coleco-Telstar-Colortron.jpg|120px]]<br><small>Telstar Colortron<small>

| [[File:Nintendo-Color-TV-Game-Blockbreaker-FL.jpg|120px]]<br><small>Color TV-Game Block Breaker<small>

|-

!Launch price

| [[£]]35 (equivalent to £{{inflation|UK|35|1975|r=0}}, or ${{inflation|US|{{To USD|{{inflation|UK|35|1975|2012|r=0}}|GBR}}|2012}}, in {{CURRENTYEAR}})

| US$50 (equivalent to ${{inflation|US|50|1976|r=0}} in {{CURRENTYEAR}})

| ¥8300–48,000 (equivalent to ${{inflation|US|{{To USD|{{inflation|JP|8300|1977|2012|r=0}}|JPN}}|2012}}–{{inflation|US|{{To USD|{{inflation|JP|48000|1977|2012|r=0}}|JPN}}|2012}} in {{CURRENTYEAR}})

|- style="vertical-align: top"

!Release date

| {{vgrelease|UK|{{vgy|1975}}}} {{vgrelease|NA|{{vgy|1976}} <small>(licensed to [[Magnavox]])</small>}}

| {{vgrelease|NA|{{vgy|1976}}—{{vgy|1978}}}}

| {{vgrelease|JP|{{vgy|1977}}—{{vgy|1980}}}}

|-

!Media

| Inbuilt chip

| Inbuilt chip (most models)<br />Cartridge (Telstar Arcade, 1977)

| Inbuilt chip

|-

!Accessories (retail)

| Paddles and [[light gun]]

| Controller styles

| n/a

|-

!Sales

| n/a

| 1 million<ref>{{cite book|last=Herman|first=Leonard|title=Phoenix: the fall & rise of videogames|year=1997|publisher=Rolenta Press|location=Union, NJ|isbn=0-9643848-2-5|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=duITAQAAIAAJ|edition=2nd|accessdate=February 16, 2012|page=20|quote=Like Pong, Telstar could only play video tennis but it retailed at an inexpensive $50 that made it attractive to most families that were on a budget. Coleco managed to sell over a million units that year.}}</ref>

| 3 million<ref name=sheff>{{Citation |title=[[Game Over: How Nintendo Zapped an American Industry, Captured Your Dollars, and Enslaved Your Children|Game Over: How Nintendo Conquered the World]] |last=Sheff |first=David |last2=Eddy |first2=Andy |author-link=David Sheff |publisher=GamePress |year=1999 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=0dK2AAAAIAAJ&q=%22Color+TV+Game%22 27] |isbn=978-0-9669617-0-6|quote=Nintendo entered the home market in Japan with the dramatic unveiling of Color TV Game 6, which played six versions of light tennis. It was followed by a more powerful sequel, Color TV Game 15. A million units of each were sold. The engineering team also came up with systems that played a more complex game, called "Blockbuster," as well as a racing game. Half a million units of these were sold.}}</ref>

|}

===Pong on a chip===

<ref name="customic"/>

The table lists only the most known consoles and relative used chip.

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|-

! Chip code/name

! Year

! Manufacturer

! Colors

! Games

! Consoles

|-

| [[AY-3-8500]]

| 1976

| [[General Instrument]]

| No (1)

| Tennis, soccer, squash, practice, 2 rifle games

| [[Coleco Telstar|Telstar]] (Telstar, Classic, Deluxe, Ranger, Alpha, Colormatic, Regent, Sportsman) <br/> [[Magnavox Odyssey Series|Odyssey]] (300,2000,3000) <br/> Radio Shack [[TV Scoreboard]] <br/>Unisonic Sportsman/Tournament <br/>[[Philips Tele-Spiel series|Philips Tele-Spiel ES2203 and ES2204]] <br/> Zanussi/Seleco [[Play-O-Tronic]] <br/>Videomaster (Strika, Strika 2,ColourScore 2, SuperScore) <br /> [[APF TV Fun]] (Model 401) <br/>[[BSS 01]]

|-

| [[AY-3-8500|AY-3-8510]]

| 1978?

| [[General Instrument]]

| Yes

| Tennis, hockey, squash, [[jai alai]]

| [[Coleco Telstar|Telstar Colortron]] <br />

|-

| [[AY-3-8500|AY-3-8512]]

| 1978?

| [[General Instrument]]

| Yes

| Tennis, hockey, squash, [[jai alai]], skeet, target

| [[Coleco Telstar|Telstar Marksman]] <br />

|-

| [[AY-3-8500#AY-3-8600|AY-3-8600]]

| 1977

| [[General Instrument]]

| No(2)

| 8 games with balls and paddles

| [[Coleco Telstar|Telstar Galaxy]] <br /> [[Magnavox Odyssey Series|Odyssey 4000]] <br /> [[Philips Tele-Spiel series|Philips Tele-Spiel ES2218]]

|-

| [[AY-3-8500#AY-3-8610|AY-3-8610]]

| 1977

| [[General Instrument]]

| No(2)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pong-story.com/GIMINI1978.pdf |title=?? |publisher=Pong-story.com |accessdate=November 17, 2012 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316160455/http://www.pong-story.com/GIMINI1978.pdf |archivedate=March 16, 2012 }}</ref>

| 8 games with balls and paddles + 2 rifle games

| Videomaster Sportsworld <br/> [[Philco/Ford Telejogo#Telejogo II|Philco/Ford Telejogo II]]

|-

| [[AY-3-8500#AY-3-8550|AY-3-8550]]

| 1976?

| [[General Instrument]]

| No(1)

| The same of 8500 but with the addition of horizontal movement of player

| [[Philips Tele-Spiel series|Philips Tele-Spiel ES2208]]

|-

| [[AY-3-8700]]

| 1978?

| [[General Instrument]]

|

| 4 games with tanks

| Telstar Combat!<br />

|-

| [[MPS-7600]]-001,002,003,004 (3)(4)

| 1977

| [[MOS Technology]]

|

| The four versions of chip usually support 4 games.

| Telstar Gemini(only version 004).<br/> Telstar Arcade(all 4 versions).<br/> [[Commodore TV Game 2000K/3000H]] and [[Colorsport VIII]](only version 001).

|-

| [[MM-57100]]/MM-57105 (PAL)

| 1976

| [[National Semiconductor]]

| Yes

| Tennis, Hockey, Squash

| National Adversary<br /> [[Magnavox Odyssey|Philips Odyssey 2001]]<br /> Videomaster (ColourScore, VisionScore, ColourShot) <br/> [[Philco/Ford Telejogo#Telejogo|Philco/Ford Telejogo]]

|-

| [[MM-57106]]/MM-57186 (PAL)

| 1977

| [[National Semiconductor]]

| Yes

| Tennis, Hockey, Squash, Breakout, Flipper e Football.

| Philips N30<br /> [[Magnavox Odyssey Series|Philips Odyssey 2100]]

|-

| [[F4301]]

| 1976

| [[Universal Research Labs]]

| N/A

| Two games with balls and paddles and two games of car racing

| Indy 500 system (Video Action 4) <br />Sears/Atari Speedway e Speedway IV<br /> Interton Video 2800<br /> MBO Tele-Ball VIII

|-

| [[SN76410N]]

| 1977

| [[Texas Instruments]]

| N/A

| Six games of balls and paddles

| Tele-Match 3300R<br /> Ricochet Super Pro (modello MT-4A)<br /> Venture Electronics Video Sports VS-5

|-

| [[3659-1C/C2566]]

| 1975

| [[Atari]]

| No

| Pong

| Atari [[PONG]]

|-

| [[3659-3]]

| 1975

| [[Atari]]

| No

| Pong

| Atari PONG Doubles<br /> Sears PONG IV

|-

| [[C010073-3]]

| 1976

| [[Atari]]

| No

| 4 Pong games

| Atari/Sears [[Super Pong|Super PONG]]

|-

| [[C010073-01/C2607]]

| 1976

| [[Atari]]

| N/A

| 10 Pong games

| Atari Super PONG Ten

|-

| [[C010765]]

| 1977

| [[Atari]]

| N/A

| Atari [[Ultra Pong|Ultra PONG]]<br /> Atari [[Ultra Pong Doubles|Ultra PONG Doubles]]

|

|-

| [[C011500-11/C011512-05]] (4)

| 1977

| [[Atari]]

| N/A

| 7 games (example: Pinball, Basketball and Breakout)

| [[Video Pinball|Atari Video Pinball]]

|-

| [[M58815P]] and [[M58816P]]

| 1977

| [[Mitsubishi]] (for [[Nintendo]])

| Yes

| 15 Pong games

| [[Color TV Game|Nintendo Color TV Game 6]]<br />[[Color TV Game|Nintendo Color TV Game 15]]

|}

(1) Colors could be obtained adding the AY-3-8515 chip<br />

(2) Colors could be obtained adding the AY-3-8615 chip<br />

(3) PAL version code is 7601<br />

(4) Advanced chip compared to classic Pong-in-a-chip: include a microcontroller and a little [[RAM]].

==See also==

*[[Second generation of video game consoles]]

* [[Home computer]]

* [[History of computing hardware (1960s–present)]]

* [[First video game]]

==References==

{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==

* [http://www.ralphbaer.com/how_video_games.htm How Video Games Invaded the Home TV Set] by Ralph Baer

* {{cite web |url=http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=378141 |title=A History of Home Video Game Consoles |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071226012027/http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=378141 |archivedate=December 26, 2007}} by Michael Miller

{{Portal|Video games}}

==External links==

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061120012048/http://www.thedoteaters.com/stage1.php The Dot Eaters: Bits From the Primordial Ooze]

* [http://classicgaming.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Articles.Listcgexpo2000/baerkeynote/ ClassicGaming Expo 2000: Baer Describes the Birth of Videogames]

* [http://www.1up.com/features/videogames-turn-40 Video Games Turn 40 (1UP.com)]

{{First generation game consoles}}

{{History of Video Games}}

[[Category:First-generation video game consoles| ]]

[[Category:History of video games|History of video game consoles 01]]

[[Category:Video game consoles by generation|01]]

[[Category:1970s in video gaming|.Consoles01]]

[[Category:1970s video games]]

[[Category:1970s toys|Video game consoles01]]