Hyderabad: The first recognized example of a game machine was unveiled by Dr. Edward Uhler Condon at the New York World’s Fair in 1940. The game, based on the ancient mathematical game of Nim, was played by about 50,000 people during the six months, it was on display, with the computer reportedly winning more than 90 percent of the games.
- The earliest video games began in the 1950s in universities like the University of Cambridge and MIT. Some games that came out of these were virtual tic tac toe, and “Spacewar!”
- In 1952, for instance, British professor A.S. Douglas created OXO, also known as noughts and crosses or tic-tac-toe, as part of his doctoral dissertation at the University of Cambridge.
- In 1958, William Higinbotham created Tennis for Two on a large analog computer and connected the oscilloscope screen for the annual visitor’s day at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York.
- In 1962, Steve Russell at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology invented Spacewar!, a computer-based space combat video game for the PDP-1 (Programmed Data Processor-1), then a cutting-edge computer mostly found at universities. It was the first video game that could be played on multiple computer installations.
- The first game system designed for commercial home use did not emerge until nearly three decades later, when Ralph Baer and his team released his prototype, the “Brown Box,” in 1967.
After the video game market crash in 1983, Japanese company Nintendo burst onto the scene. Nintendo is responsible for some of the most important franchises around — Super Mario Bros, The Legend of Zelda, and Metroid. Nintendo found a challenger in Sega, driving the market into the 3D Gaming world.
The modern era of gaming was truly kicked off in the early 21st century with the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and the Wii. Video games then invaded media platforms and video game apps flooded the app stores. Lucrative competitions for skilled gamers have begun to spring up worldwide. These days, big video game console companies like Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft, have their sights set on VR.
Early examples include:
- The Nimrod computer at the Festival of Britain (1951)
- 0X0 – a tic-tac-toe computer game by Alexander S. Douglas for the EDSAC (1952)
- Tennis For Two – An electronic interactive game engineered by William Higinbotham (1958)
- Spacewar (1961)
Each game used a different means of display. Some used a panel of lights or graphical display. Yet others featured an oscilloscope or the DEC PDP-1 vector display.
- Space war became the first commercially sold coin-operated video game.
- Magnavox Odyssey launched the first home console in 1972.
- Atari’s Pong followed with an arcade version in 1972 and a home version in 1975.
Modern Age of Gaming:In 2005 and 2006, Microsoft’s Xbox 360, Sony’s Playstation 3, and Nintendo’s Wii kicked off the modern age of high-definition gaming.
The Move Toward Mobile :Since smartphones and app stores hit the market in 2007, gaming has undergone yet another rapid evolution that has changed not only the way people play games, but also brought gaming into the mainstream pop culture in a way never before seen.