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Space Race (video Game)
''Space Race'' is an arcade game developed by Atari, Inc. and released on July 16, 1973. It was the second game by the company, after ''Pong'' (1972), which marked the beginning of the commercial video game industry. In the game, two players each control a rocket ship, with the goal of being the first to move their ship from the bottom of the screen to the top. Along the way are asteroids, which the players must avoid. ''Space Race'' was the first racing arcade video game and the first game with a goal of crossing the screen while avoiding obstacles. Development of ''Space Race'' began in Summer 1972 under the name ''Asteroid'' by Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell, based on ideas by him and co-founder Ted Dabney. The final design was done by Dabney, possibly with assistance by Bushnell and ''Pong'' designer Allan Alcorn. The game was planned to be quick to create to fulfill an earlier contract with Midway Manufacturing. The engineering and prototyping was done by Alcorn; after i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atari, Inc
Atari, Inc. was an American video game developer and home computer company founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Atari was a key player in the formation of the video arcade and video game industry. Based primarily around the Sunnyvale, California, area in the center of Silicon Valley, the company was initially formed to develop arcade games, launching with ''Pong'' in 1972. As computer technology matured with low-cost integrated circuits, Atari ventured into the consumer market, first with dedicated home video game console, home versions of ''Pong'' and other arcade successes around 1975, and into programmable consoles using game cartridges with the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS or later branded as the Atari 2600) in 1977. To bring the Atari VCS to market, Bushnell sold Atari to Warner Communications in 1976. In 1978, Warner brought in Ray Kassar to help run the company, but over the next few years, gave Kassar more of a leadership role in the company. Bushn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Video Game Clone
A video game clone is either a video game or a video game console very similar to, or heavily inspired by, a previous popular game or console. Clones are typically made to take financial advantage of the popularity of the cloned game or system, but clones may also result from earnest attempts to create homages or expand on game mechanics from the original game. An additional motivation unique to the medium of games as software with limited compatibility, is the desire to port a simulacrum of a game to platforms that the original is unavailable for or unsatisfactorily implemented on. The legality of video game clones is governed by copyright and patent law. In the 1970s, Magnavox controlled several patents to the hardware for ''Pong'', and pursued action against unlicensed ''Pong'' clones that led to court rulings in their favor, as well as legal settlements for compensation. As game production shifted to software on discs and cartridges, Atari sued Philips under copyright law ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ANALOG Computing
''ANALOG Computing'' (an acronym for Atari Newsletter And Lots Of Games) was an American computer magazine devoted to the Atari 8-bit family of home computers. It was published from 1981 until 1989. In addition to reviews and tutorials, ''ANALOG'' printed multiple programs in each issue for users to type in. The magazine had a reputation for listings of machine language games–much smoother than those written in Atari BASIC—and which were uncommon in competing magazines. Such games were accompanied by the assembly language source code. ''ANALOG'' also sold commercial games, two books of type-in software, and access to a custom bulletin-board system. Originally the title as printed on the cover was ''A.N.A.L.O.G. 400/800 Magazine'', but by the eighth issue it changed to ''A.N.A.L.O.G. Computing''. Though the dots remained in the logo, it was simply referred to as ''ANALOG'' or ''ANALOG Computing'' inside the magazine. While the program listings were covered under the m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Freeway (video Game)
''Freeway'' is an action video game written by David Crane (programmer), David Crane for the Atari 2600 and published by Activision in 1981. One or two players control chickens who can be made to run across a ten lane highway filled with traffic in an effort to "Why did the chicken cross the road?, get to the other side". Every time a chicken gets across a point is earned for that player. If hit by a car, a chicken is forced back either slightly, or pushed back to the bottom of the screen, depending on what difficulty the switch is set to. The winner is the player who has scored the most points in the time allotted. Development David Crane got the idea from the SCES in Chicago, where a man tried to cross the street. This was mentioned in the first issue of Electronic Games magazine. Patch If a player scored 20 or more points on either Road 3 or Road 7 and sent in a photograph of the television screen, Activision would send the player a cloth "Save The Chicken Foundation" patc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atari 2600
The Atari 2600, initially branded as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS) from its release until November 1982, is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977, it popularized microprocessor-based hardware and games stored on swappable ROM cartridges, a format first used with the Fairchild Channel F in 1976. The VCS was bundled with two joystick controllers, a conjoined pair of paddle controllers, and a game cartridgeinitially '' Combat'' and later '' Pac-Man''. Atari was successful at creating arcade video games, but their development cost and limited lifespan drove CEO Nolan Bushnell to seek a programmable home system. The first inexpensive microprocessors from MOS Technology in late 1975 made this feasible. The console was prototyped as codename Stella by Atari subsidiary Cyan Engineering. Lacking funding to complete the project, Bushnell sold Atari to Warner Communications in 1976. The Atari VCS launched in 1977 with n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frogger
is a 1981 arcade action game developed by Konami and manufactured by Sega. In North America, it was released by Sega/Gremlin. The object of the game is to direct a series of frogs to their homes by crossing a busy road and a hazardous river. ''Frogger'' was positively received as one of the greatest video games ever made and followed by several clones and sequels. By 2005, 20 million copies of its various home video game incarnations had been sold worldwide. It entered popular culture, including television and music. Gameplay The objective of the game is to guide a frog to each of the empty homes at the top of the screen. The game starts with three, five, or seven frogs, depending on the machine's settings. Losing all frogs is game over. The player uses the 4-direction joystick to hop the frog once. ''Frogger'' is either single-player or two players alternating. The frog starts at the bottom of the screen, which contains a horizontal road occupied by speeding cars, tr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Home Video Game Console
A home video game console is a video game console that is designed to be connected to a display device, such as a television, and an external power source as to play video games. Home consoles are generally less powerful and customizable than personal computers, designed to have advanced graphics abilities but limited memory and storage space to keep the units affordable. While initial consoles were dedicated units with only a few games fixed into the electronic circuits of the system, most consoles since support the use of swappable game media, either through game cartridges, optical discs, or through digital distribution to internal storage. There have been numerous home video game consoles since the first commercial unit, the Magnavox Odyssey in 1972. Historically these consoles have been grouped into generations lasting each about six years based on common technical specifications. As of 2021, there have been nine console generations, with the current leading manufactures ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magnavox Odyssey
The Magnavox Odyssey is the first commercial home video game console. The hardware was designed by a small team led by Ralph H. Baer at Sanders Associates, while Magnavox completed development and released it in the United States in September 1972 and overseas the following year. The Odyssey consists of a white, black, and brown box that connects to a television set, and two rectangular controllers attached by wires. It is capable of displaying three square dots and one line of varying height on the screen in monochrome black and white, with differing behavior for the dots depending on the game played. Players place plastic overlays on the screen to display additional visual elements for each game, and one or two players for each game control their dots with the knobs and buttons on the controller by the rules given for the game. The console cannot generate audio or track scores. The Odyssey console came packaged with dice, paper money, and other board game paraphernalia to ac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Racing Video Game
Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic racing simulations and more fantastical arcade-style racing games. Kart racing games emerged in the 1990s as a popular sub-genre of the latter. Racing games may also fall under the category of sports video games. Sub-genres Arcade-style racing Arcade-style racing games put fun and a fast-paced experience above all else, as cars usually compete in unique ways. A key feature of arcade-style racers that specifically distinguishes them from simulation racers is their far more liberal physics. Whereas in real racing (and subsequently, the simulation equivalents) the driver must reduce their speed significantly to take most turns, arcade-style racing games generally encourage the player to "powerslide" the car to allow the player to keep up thei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1973 In Video Games
Events * March 19 – Kagemasa Kōzuki establishes Konami Industry Co., Ltd. Formerly the owner of a jukebox repair/rental business in Osaka, Japan, Kozuki launches Konami to manufacture amusement machines for video arcades. * May – Hudson Soft Ltd. is established in Sapporo, Japan for the purpose of marketing telecommunications devices and art photographs. * Taito, an electro-mechanical arcade game manufacturer, enters the video game industry and opens a North American branch. * Sega, an electro-mechanical arcade game manufacturer, enters the video game industry with ''Pong'' clones. * '' Computer Space'' makes appearances in the films ''Soylent Green'' and ''Sleeper''. * Empire versions I, II and III are developed for the PLATO system by John Daleske. Possibly the first team game ever, the first fifty-player game ever, and numerous other innovations. * Silas Warner takes over PLATO Empire version I and renames it Civilization. * Lemonade Stand is developed for the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taito
is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, toys, arcade cabinets and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, vending machines and jukeboxes into Japan. It began production of video games in 1973. In 2005, Taito was purchased by Square Enix, becoming a wholly owned subsidiary by 2006. Taito is recognized as an important industry influencer in the early days of video games, producing a number of hit arcade games such as ''Speed Race'' (1974), ''Western Gun'' (1975), ''Space Invaders'' (1978), ''Bubble Bobble'' (1986) and ''Arkanoid'' (1986). Alongside Capcom, Konami, Namco and Sega, it is one of the most prominent video game companies from Japan and the first that exported its games into other countries. Several of its games have since been recognized as important and revolutionary for the industry - ''Space Invaders'' in particular was a major contributor to the growth of video games in the l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ralph Baer
Ralph Henry Baer (born Rudolf Heinrich Baer; March 8, 1922 – December 6, 2014) was a German-American inventor, game developer, and engineer. Baer's family fled Germany just before World War II and Baer served the American war effort, gaining an interest in electronics shortly thereafter. Through several jobs in the electronics industry, he was working as an engineer at Sanders Associates (now BAE Systems) in Nashua, NH, when he conceived the idea of playing games on a television screen around 1966. With support of his employers, he worked through several prototypes until he arrived at a "Brown Box" that would later become the blueprint for the first home video game console, licensed by Magnavox as the Magnavox Odyssey. Baer continued to design several other consoles and computer game units, including contributing to design of the ''Simon'' electronic game. Baer continued to work in electronics until his death in 2014, with over 150 patents to his name. Baer is considered ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
