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The etymology of "video game"
One subject I have toyed with addressing on this blog is the subject of what was the first video game or who created the first video game. So far, however, I have avoided tackling the subject,...
View ArticleAtari Depositions - Part 6
First, for those who read my last post on the etymology of "video game," I was able to get some more issues of Cash Box and find a little more information - including a usage of the term in the March...
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The First Light Gun Game
I suspect that most readers of this blog have played an arcade light gun game – those rifle games that used a beam of light instead of bullets or wiper blades and contacts to determine when a target...
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The Early History of Sega - Service Games Part 1 - the Prehistory of Service...
If you’ve read Steven Kent’s seminal Ultimate History of Video Games (and if you’re reading this blog, I suspect you have) then you probably know that Sega was formed in 1965 from a merger or two...
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The Early History of Sega - Service Games Part 2 - When was Sega/Service...
NOTE - since my first post, I have finished reading the two source documents (or at least the parts referencing Service Games and Sega) and have new information, so I thought I would reorganize the...
View ArticleThe Early History of Sega - Service Games Part 3 - Running Afoul of the...
Last time we talked about the founding of Service Games and a few of the many entities that were related to it. Today, we discuss their many run-ins with the government.Service Games was initially...
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The Early History of Sega - Rosen Enterprises
For the last few posts, we've been looking at the history of one of Sega Enterprises' predecessors, Service Games. Today, we take a look at the other one - Rosen Enterprises. Before we do, however, a...
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The Early History of Sega - What Was Sega's First Arcade Game
This is my final post on the early history of Sega. In this post, we take up the question of what was Sega’s first arcade game. Of course, the answer to this question depends on which Sega you’re...
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Atari Depositions Part 7
Here is the last half Nolan Bushnell's July 3, 1974. Deposition. Kind of dry I know but think some of the others will be more interesting.MR. HERBERT: As I understand it it's a paper you signed for the...
View ArticleAtari Depositions - Part 8
I have been on vacation and haven't had time to post in a while. Today is another of Nolan Bushnell's depositions for the Magnavox case. This one was taken on June 28, 1978 at Atari's 1165 Borregas...
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The 1982 Tron Tournament - eSports' First Super Tournament?
Back in November 2012, I posted about the disastrous Atari $50,000 Centipede tournament fiasco in October 1981. That tournament was a disaster, drawing less than 200 contestants – a far cry from the...
View ArticleClassic Apple II Games - an Analyis of Softalk's Bestseller Lists
As much as I enjoyed playing arcade games back in the day, I probably enjoyed playing games on my Apple II even more. In part this was because computer games were much more involved and told more of a...
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Nasir Gebelli and the early days of Sirius Software
In my last post, I made mention of Apple II game programmer Nasir Gebelli. Today, I will take a closer look at Nasir, his work at Sirius Software and Gebelli Software, and the founding of Sirius....
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The 1982 Wizard vs. Wizards Tournament - eSport's forgotten competition
Today’s post completes my recent trio of computer game posts (don’t worry. I’ll get back to coin-op games soon enough) with a look at one of the most interesting and little-known “video game”...
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1982 Tron Tournament Press Kit and Other Tourney Photos
After my recent post on the 1982 TRON Tournament, someone (who goes by the name Joe Zydeco) was kind enough to send me a scan of the press kit that Bally created for the tournament. I thought I'd...
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The Ultimate (So-Far) History of Gremlin Industries Part 1
After a few digressions, I thought it was high time I got back to my main topic - the history of the coin-op video game industry. Since I covered the early history of Sega in some recent posts, this...
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The Ultimate (So-Far) History of Gremlin Industries Part 2
Continuing with our history of Gremlin, we take a look at their first video games and an almost forgotten personal computer.BlockadeOne person at Gremlin who was interested in video games was Lane...
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The Ultimate (So-Far) History of Gremlin Industries Part 3
Before I jump into today's post, I wanted to mention a book I recently read that had some additional info on Nasir Gebelli, including why he left Sirius and why Gebelli Software failed. It is 1985's...
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Preliminary Report - Was The Devil's Dungeon the First Commercial CPRG and...
While arcade games are the focus of my research, I occasionally delve into computer game history. While I certainly played my share of arcade games and spent a good deal of time with my Atari 2600...
View ArticleAtari Depositions - Part 9
Today I thought I’d post another deposition from the Magnavox v Bally et al case.This one, from June 25, 1974, is from Bally VP John Britz, who was involved in the negotiations between Bally and Nolan...
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Mirco's PT-109 - the first microprocessor-based video game??
The introduction of the first microprocessor games in 1975 revolutionized the coin-op industry. For both video and pinball games it lowered production costs, simplified the design process, and allowed...
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The Ultimate (so Far) History of Nutting Associates - Part 1
I have been too busy to post for several months. I am still on the book, but it’s going slowly. I hoped to have something out by this summer but I don’t know if I will make that date or not.Anyhow, I...
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The Ultimate (so Far) History of Nutting Associates - Part 2
The last time, I discussed the early years of Nutting Associates before they released Computer Space. Today's post will cover Computer Space in terms of Nutting's relation to it. Be sure to read the...
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The Ultimate (so Far) History of Nutting Associates - Part 3
Part of the reason Bill Nutting had turned down Bushnell’s offer of a 10% royalty to license Pong was that he was sure he could produce a similar game without Nolan’s help. Bushnell’s visit, in fact,...
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New Info on Galaxy Game
I’ve been too busy to post much lately, but I did want to post a quick note about some new information that has recently emerged about Galaxy Game (the two-off game created at Stanford in 1971). As I...
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