Chronological History of Video Games:
Early History of Video Games (1971)
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Look at that... cabinet!
COMPUTER SPACEThe "arcade video game" got its first actual commercial game in 1971... Computer Space. Nolan Bushnell was an engineer/entrepreneur who experienced Spacewar! while attending college, and was now involved with the arcade scene. He thought it'd be a hit if he could make Spacewar! playable in the arcades, alongside the other electro-mechanical games, pinball machines and more. The only problem was that it was still prohibitively expensive to setup a PDP microcomputer... it would never enough money to pay for the equipment.
The solution he came up with was a more simplistic version of Spacewar! that could run on dedicated transistors. (how this actually works is beyond me, since it has nothing to do with programming, and everything to do with engineering). Nolan called his game Computer Space (ironically, since he had just ditched the actual computer part of the design entirely). He made a deal with his employer, Nutting Associates, to produce and sell the game. They made about 1500 cabinets total, and it was such a futuristic and cool looking design they've become collector items, and have even made cameo movie appearances. (see links at end of article).
As a commercial endeavor, it wasn't a huge hit. The usual reason you'll hear a lot of videogame history books is that the game was "too complicated." Well, I'll have more to say on that front after we first take a look at the OTHER big arcade development of 1971.
GALAXY GAME
Resides in the Computer History Museum - Mtn. View, CA
Remember how Nolan decided it was too expensive to run Spacewar! commercially on that expensive PDP11? Well we actually have a glimpse into the road not taken with Galaxy Game. This was a version of Spacewar! modified for coin-operation at 10 cents a game, or 25 cents for 3 plays. It was installed at the Tresidder Union at Stanford University in September, 1971, beating Nolan's Computer Space into customer usage by a month or two.
But, this was not a commercial product. It was only a prototype... a test market game if you will. Programmed by Bill Pitts and Hugh Tuck, it ran on a single PDP11. Eventually it had two separate vector displays... two games running, and each one you could have 2 players competing head-to-head.
Th estimated hardware cost was around $20,000 in 1971 money. At 10 cents a play, you'd make your money back after just 200,000 games... well, you'd also have to earn money for the rent, power, cleaning, maintenance and repairs. So basically never.
In June 1972 the hardware was updated... allowing four to eight consoles to run at the same time. It was actually well-received on campus, much like Spacewar! had many fans in its time. Galaxy Game remained on campus until May of 1979, with reported wait times of as much as an hour during its peak popularity.
TOO COMPLICATED?
Was it really too complex?
We'll see the first mega-hit of arcade games in 1972, Pong (it' really not a secret). And that game was very simple... just a single analog knob for each player. Thus the reasoning is always that Nolan Bushnell's Computer Space failed commercially because it was just too complicated. But I don't think so. I think it was just a boring game. Have you watched game footage? Example:
If it was so complicated, why was Spacewar! so popular? Why was Galaxy Game so popular and remained so for years? I've even seen Galaxy Game described as an instant hit. How can you have an instant hit if the controls were so complicated!?
No, I don't think the reason for its failure was simply its level of complexity. I believe Computer Space just didn't hold enough interest for players to WANT to learn it. This is proven again and again as games got more complex. Look at Defender (1980)! It was a game with a myriad of buttons, an up/down joystick, and also incredible difficulty. But because it had some whiz-bang action, a story and really fun gameplay, people learned it. By far the most complex thing of its day, yet it was a HUGE success.
So, to me anyway, I think saying "too complicated" is just a cop-out. Time to admit the game looked cool, was certainly a pioneer, but the gameplay lacked staying power. And that's okay. It's part of a rich history now.
Unfortunately it's hard to play either of these games today. You have to visit a museum to play Galaxy Game, and Computer Space is also more of a museum display than video game even in retro arcades. Still.. I really like the cabinet for Computer Space, very slick! Wish there were more out there, and would love to try the authentic experience.
MOVIE: A Computer Space unit appears in the 1973 movie 'Soylent Green', starring Charlton Heston. It appears briefly on screen being played by a woman while policeman Heston is visiting the apartment's owner.
MOVIE: A yellow Computer Space unit appears in the 1975 movie 'Jaws', during the arcade/beach scene (approximately 40 minutes from the beginning).
===================COMPUTER GAMING:
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| Look at that... cabinet! |
COMPUTER SPACE
The "arcade video game" got its first actual commercial game in 1971... Computer Space. Nolan Bushnell was an engineer/entrepreneur who experienced Spacewar! while attending college, and was now involved with the arcade scene. He thought it'd be a hit if he could make Spacewar! playable in the arcades, alongside the other electro-mechanical games, pinball machines and more. The only problem was that it was still prohibitively expensive to setup a PDP microcomputer... it would never enough money to pay for the equipment.
The solution he came up with was a more simplistic version of Spacewar! that could run on dedicated transistors. (how this actually works is beyond me, since it has nothing to do with programming, and everything to do with engineering). Nolan called his game Computer Space (ironically, since he had just ditched the actual computer part of the design entirely). He made a deal with his employer, Nutting Associates, to produce and sell the game. They made about 1500 cabinets total, and it was such a futuristic and cool looking design they've become collector items, and have even made cameo movie appearances. (see links at end of article).
As a commercial endeavor, it wasn't a huge hit. The usual reason you'll hear a lot of videogame history books is that the game was "too complicated." Well, I'll have more to say on that front after we first take a look at the OTHER big arcade development of 1971.
GALAXY GAME
 |
| Resides in the Computer History Museum - Mtn. View, CA |
But, this was not a commercial product. It was only a prototype... a test market game if you will. Programmed by Bill Pitts and Hugh Tuck, it ran on a single PDP11. Eventually it had two separate vector displays... two games running, and each one you could have 2 players competing head-to-head.
Th estimated hardware cost was around $20,000 in 1971 money. At 10 cents a play, you'd make your money back after just 200,000 games... well, you'd also have to earn money for the rent, power, cleaning, maintenance and repairs. So basically never.
In June 1972 the hardware was updated... allowing four to eight consoles to run at the same time. It was actually well-received on campus, much like Spacewar! had many fans in its time. Galaxy Game remained on campus until May of 1979, with reported wait times of as much as an hour during its peak popularity.
TOO COMPLICATED?
 |
| Was it really too complex? |
We'll see the first mega-hit of arcade games in 1972, Pong (it' really not a secret). And that game was very simple... just a single analog knob for each player. Thus the reasoning is always that Nolan Bushnell's Computer Space failed commercially because it was just too complicated. But I don't think so. I think it was just a boring game. Have you watched game footage? Example:
If it was so complicated, why was Spacewar! so popular? Why was Galaxy Game so popular and remained so for years? I've even seen Galaxy Game described as an instant hit. How can you have an instant hit if the controls were so complicated!?
No, I don't think the reason for its failure was simply its level of complexity. I believe Computer Space just didn't hold enough interest for players to WANT to learn it. This is proven again and again as games got more complex. Look at Defender (1980)! It was a game with a myriad of buttons, an up/down joystick, and also incredible difficulty. But because it had some whiz-bang action, a story and really fun gameplay, people learned it. By far the most complex thing of its day, yet it was a HUGE success.
So, to me anyway, I think saying "too complicated" is just a cop-out. Time to admit the game looked cool, was certainly a pioneer, but the gameplay lacked staying power. And that's okay. It's part of a rich history now.
Unfortunately it's hard to play either of these games today. You have to visit a museum to play Galaxy Game, and Computer Space is also more of a museum display than video game even in retro arcades. Still.. I really like the cabinet for Computer Space, very slick! Wish there were more out there, and would love to try the authentic experience.
MOVIE: A Computer Space unit appears in the 1973 movie 'Soylent Green', starring Charlton Heston. It appears briefly on screen being played by a woman while policeman Heston is visiting the apartment's owner.
MOVIE: A yellow Computer Space unit appears in the 1975 movie 'Jaws', during the arcade/beach scene (approximately 40 minutes from the beginning).
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Ralph Baer's Brown Box (prototype) is picked up by Magnavox for exclusive manufacturing and distribution. We are going to look at the very first home video game console coming soon.
OREGON TRAIL
- Yes, this venerable game actually got its start in 1971, where you'd play by entering some commands into a terminal, and then a printer/teletype would print out some results, and you'd play on. This really isn't anything like the classroom classic which was a school staple in the late 80's. Text-only... printed out. Imagine the trees destroyed by typing BANG! to hunt for food as the paper spooled ever onward.
I remember playing what I thought was Oregon Trail in 6th grade. My school had a Commodore lab, though... and looking into it I believe it was actually a knock-off from a type-in magazine listing called Westward Ho. But yes, I love the constant evolution of Edutainment and hope to cover a lot more of it in the future.
CIVILIZATION / a.k.a. Empire - This was an early version of a management/economy simulation, written for the PDP 11/45 platform. Naturally, as all "unpurposeful" data in the early computing days - it was deleted.
And finally... The first emails were sent over ARPANET - and established the @ sign in email addresses.
- Yes, this venerable game actually got its start in 1971, where you'd play by entering some commands into a terminal, and then a printer/teletype would print out some results, and you'd play on. This really isn't anything like the classroom classic which was a school staple in the late 80's. Text-only... printed out. Imagine the trees destroyed by typing BANG! to hunt for food as the paper spooled ever onward.
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