Post by wafflerevolution on Sept 8, 2013 21:09:32 GMT
by GAMECAMILLER
It's an arguable subject concerning who created the first video game. Forget Pong. Forget the Brown Box. History says the first video games came way before then.
Some say it's "Tennis For Two."In 1958, "Tennis for Two" was created originally as a science experiment, by William Higinbotham. It was for the annual visitor's day at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, N.Y. to prove to the public that (the experiment can) "convey the message that our scientific endeavors have relevance for society."
"Tennis for Two" was revealed to the public on Oct. 18, 1958 . Players saw a side view of a tennis court on an oscilloscope screen and used an aluminum controller to serve and volley an on screen dot to the otehr player. Yes it was two player operated! In addition, because of the screen, it left a glowing trail behind the dot.
But some say the first video game was created before that. "In 1952, Alexander S. Douglas made the first computer game to use a digital graphical display, OXO (Noughts and Crosses), for the EDSAC computer." (Wikipedia). It was highly sophisticated in such that The EDSAC computer was programed to play perfect games of tic-tac-toe against a human opponent. Talk about tough A.I.!
But some say the first video game goes back even further to 1951! "On May 5, 1951, the NIMROD computer was presented at the Festival of Britain. Using a panel of lights for its display, it was designed exclusively to play the game of NIM; this was the first instance of a digital computer designed specifically to play a game NIMROD could play either the traditional or "reverse" form of the game." (wikipedia/goodeveca.net) It was the first computer exclusively designed to play a game, though its true intention was to reveal the abilities of a digital computer for the public. Though, some even think the first video game was 1947(!). Created by Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann on a cathode ray tube in 1947, "the game was a missile simulator inspired by radar displays from World War II. It used analog circuitry, not digital, to control the CRT beam and position a dot on the screen. Screen overlays were used for targets since graphics could not be drawn at the time." (wikipedia/pong-story.com)
So what do you consider to be the first Video game?
For further reading (and research) check these articles out:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_video_game
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimrod_(computing)
www.pong-story.com
www.goodeveca.net/nimrod
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27328345/ ("Antaomy of The First Video Game")
www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/history/higinbotham.asp ("The first Video game")