answersLogoWhite

0


Best Answer

Before the era of electronic ping pong, hungry yellow dots, plumbers, mushrooms, and fire-flowers, people waited in line to play Video Games at roller-skating rinks, arcades, and other hangouts. Fifty years ago, before either arcades or home video games, visitors waited in line at Brookhaven National Laboratory to play "Tennis for Two," an electronic tennis game that is unquestionably a forerunner of the modern video game. Tennis for Two was first introduced on October 18, 1958, at one of the Lab's annual visitors' days. Two people played the electronic tennis game with separate controllers that connected to an analog computer and used an oscilloscope for a screen. The game's creator, William Higinbotham, was a nuclear physicist who had worked on the Manhattan Project and lobbied for nuclear nonproliferation as the first chair of the Federation of American Scientists. Higinbotham realized how static and non-interactive most science exhibits were at that time. As head of Brookhaven Lab's Instrumentation Division, he would change that. While reflecting on his creation, Higinbotham wrote, "it might liven up the place to have a game that people could play, and which would convey the message that our scientific endeavors have relevance for society."

Visitors playing Tennis for Two saw a two-dimensional, side view of a tennis court on the oscilloscope screen, which used a cathode-ray tube similar to a black and white television tube. The ball, a brightly lit, moving dot, left trails as it bounced to alternating sides of the net. Players served and volleyed using controllers with buttons and rotating dials to control the angle of an invisible tennis racquet's swing. Liven up the place it did! Hundreds of visitors lined up for a chance to play the electronic tennis game. And Higinbotham could not have dreamed that his game would be a forerunner to an entire industry that less than fifty years later, would account for $9.5 billion in sales in 2006 and 2007 in the U.S. alone, according to a report published by the Electronic Software Association. In 1982, Creative Computing magazine picked up on the idea that Tennis for Two might be the first video game ever and it published a story on the game in that year's October issue. It credited Higinbotham as the inventor of the video game - until they heard from someone who could document an earlier game. The same story was reprinted in the Spring 1983 issue of Video and Arcade Games, a sister magazine to Creative Computing.

User Avatar

Wiki User

15y ago
This answer is:
User Avatar

Add your answer:

Earn +20 pts
Q: When did video games first come out?
Write your answer...
Submit
Still have questions?
magnify glass
imp
Related questions

Do from amazon video games come through the mail or truck?

sorry do video games from amazon.com come in the truck or mail?


Can video games be good for you?

yes it can certain video games are good for you


How they invented video games?

The invention of video games has been a continuous process which dates back as far as late 1940s. Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann were the first ones to come up with the very first video game in 1948 on a cathode ray tube.


What came first the book of Mario or the game of Mario?

I think the book of Mario. Books come before video games!


Why do a lot of video games come out in November?

Many video games come out in November just in time for the Christmas shopping season, which begins with Thanksgiving weekend.


When did the first video game come out?

The first video game that came out was for the atari2600


What percent of video games come from japan?

most of the Nintendo games by desmond


Where could you find video games online and know when they come out?

The place that I go to is xbox.com for video games about the xbox360, but if you want a wider range of video games I recommend gamestop.com or gamezone.com


Does it cost money to play games for video game companies?

Many times major video game corporations will have "testers" or people qualified in video game testing that are paid to come to a facility and just play video games for a living. Other people can go to events where games are shown for the first time and pay to play the game on the company owned systems and games.


Are all video games from japan?

No, most of them come from china.


When did video games first exist?

1973


What was the color of the first Pokemon video game?

The very first Pokemon video games were Red and Blue. Next came Yellow, then Gold and Silver, then Ruby and Sapphire, and then Emerald, then Fire Red and Leaf Green, after that the games started to come for DS. Next was Diamond and Pearl. After that came Platinum, and then Heart Gold and Soul Silver. And soon, Black and White will come out. Hope this helps!