For some irrational reason this article annoyed me. It came across arrogant with an attempt at being high-brow, and included too much fluff. Describing the founders as "foundering figures" was amusing - I don't know if the image of taking on water and sinking was the author's intent, but I think I've just become guilty of the same thing I've accused the article of.
Christopher Strachey wrote a version of draughts/checkers for the Manchester Mark 1 that was fully functional in 1952. This is IMO the first video game. Earlier candidates use single-purpose display hardware, which disqualifies them from being "video".
If the wikipedia image is accurate, its technically not "displaying" the board, its just in ram. The RAM just happens to be visible. But you get into a lot of technicalities when talking about the "first video game", so its up to interpretation. There was the "Cathode-ray tube amusement device" in 1947 that, by some interpretations could also be the "first video game" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathode-ray_tube_amusement_dev...
I think it is at least safe to say that PONG isn't the first
I remember back in the 80s writing a CGA text-mode game (they were quite in vogue at the time), and (as I assume most programmers did) I used the video memory directly as the source of truth about the current state of the level.
OP's distinction about video being a raster-based signal that you feed into a regular TV-like device, rather than being vector based or hard wired lights seems sensible. As to how that video signal is generated is kind of irrelevant.
I don't think it's necessary for video RAM to be separate from code RAM. The BBC Micro game "Revs" runs code from the video RAM and sets the palette to make it look like blue sky.
There was also SpaceWar! from MIT, which Nolan Bushnell turned into a standalone cabinet game. Though I think you could make a case for Pong being the first coin-op video game, a commercial game rather than something that primarily existed in academic labs.
For some irrational reason this article annoyed me. It came across arrogant with an attempt at being high-brow, and included too much fluff. Describing the founders as "foundering figures" was amusing - I don't know if the image of taking on water and sinking was the author's intent, but I think I've just become guilty of the same thing I've accused the article of.
It's not irrational to be irritated by bad writing.
"weird pbotons"
> "A revolution was televised in 1972"
Well Tennis for Two was created in 1958 so "the first video game" seems like a stretch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennis_for_Two
Christopher Strachey wrote a version of draughts/checkers for the Manchester Mark 1 that was fully functional in 1952. This is IMO the first video game. Earlier candidates use single-purpose display hardware, which disqualifies them from being "video".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Strachey
If the wikipedia image is accurate, its technically not "displaying" the board, its just in ram. The RAM just happens to be visible. But you get into a lot of technicalities when talking about the "first video game", so its up to interpretation. There was the "Cathode-ray tube amusement device" in 1947 that, by some interpretations could also be the "first video game" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathode-ray_tube_amusement_dev...
I think it is at least safe to say that PONG isn't the first
That's a pretty weird distinction to make.
I remember back in the 80s writing a CGA text-mode game (they were quite in vogue at the time), and (as I assume most programmers did) I used the video memory directly as the source of truth about the current state of the level.
OP's distinction about video being a raster-based signal that you feed into a regular TV-like device, rather than being vector based or hard wired lights seems sensible. As to how that video signal is generated is kind of irrelevant.
I don't think it's necessary for video RAM to be separate from code RAM. The BBC Micro game "Revs" runs code from the video RAM and sets the palette to make it look like blue sky.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revs_(video_game)
CRT Amusement Device is IMO disqualified for not using any form of computer.
There was also SpaceWar! from MIT, which Nolan Bushnell turned into a standalone cabinet game. Though I think you could make a case for Pong being the first coin-op video game, a commercial game rather than something that primarily existed in academic labs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_text-based_computer_ga...
Star Trek itself, which I own several ports, it's from 1971.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_(1971_video_game)
First computer games predate commercial releases of Pong.
Most of the console isolated journalists have no idea of 60 and 70's computers at all.