Although there are other earlier examples of computer games, most consider the first true computer video game or digital game to be “Spacewar!”. This game was programmed and first played by Steve Russell, and released in February 1962. The game ran on the DEC PDP-1 computer, and consisted of two spaceships that maneuvered around a star that pulled at the ships with its gravity. The goal of the game was to avoid colliding with the star while trying to shoot the other ship with missiles.
The player controlled the game using control switches or a control box. They had the ability to rotate the ship clockwise or counterclockwise, provide the ship with thrust, fire missiles, and go to hyperspace.
It would be something of a misnomer to attribute the creation and development of video games to any singular moment or event. Rather, the process can be best described as an ongoing evolution, a long and winding journey of advancements with numerous inventors all playing pivotal roles.
- In 1952, A.S. Douglas wrote his Ph.D. thesis at the University of Cambridge on Human-Computer interaction. As part of the project, Douglas created the first graphics-based computer game: a version of Tic-Tac-Toe. The game was programmed on an EDSAC vacuum-tube computer, which relied on a cathode ray tube display.
- In 1958, William Higinbotham created the first true video game. His game, titled “Tennis for Two,” was devised and played on a Brookhaven National Laboratory oscilloscope. Using an MIT PDP-1 mainframe computer, Steve Russell designed “SpaceWar!”—the first game specifically made for computer play in 1962.
- In 1967, Ralph Baer wrote “Chase,” the first video game played on a television set. (Baer, who was then part of military electronics firm Sanders Associates, first conceived of his idea in 1951 while working for Loral, a television company.)
- In 1971, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney created the first arcade game. It was called “Computer Space” and was based on Steve Russell’s earlier game of “Spacewar!” A year later, the arcade game “Pong” was created by Bushnell, with help from Al Alcorn. Bushnell and Dabney would go on to become the founders of Atari Computers that same year. In 1975, Atari re-released “Pong” as a home video game.
