The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokémon and Beyond—The Story Behind the Craze That Touched Our Lives and Changed the World (2 page)

And while I am at it, on many occasions I also referred back to
Game Over
, by David Sheff. While both Nintendo of America and Nintendo Co., Ltd., in Japan, have been very generous with me, I have never interviewed Hiroshi Yamauchi. I learned about him by reading the works of Mr. Sheff.

I also wish to thank the many people who helped me get this manuscript knocked into shape. I am quite grateful to Lynelle Klein, who transcribed most of my interviews.

Also, I need to acknowledge the people who took time out of their busy schedules to help me check facts. Amazingly, Al Alcorn and Steve Bristow were kind enough to read the chapters about Atari for me; John Romero helped with the modern PC stuff; Richard Brudvik-Lindner helped with the Genesis years; and many others chipped in.

One thing I have learned while working on this project is that the gaming community is filled with people who know an awful lot about history and will do anything they can to preserve it. A number of people worked very hard to help me comb out errors that had crept into my text. When they first approached me to offer this help, I greeted them suspiciously. As we worked together, however, I realized that these folks did not want credit. They simply wanted to see history preserved correctly.

But they deserve credit. First and foremost, I wish to thank a gentleman at Colorado State who prefers to be known as “Zube.” Meticulous and with far too much time on his hands, this fellow combed through my text and found pages of minutia and larger errors, all wanting correction. There were moments when I cursed Zube; but now I wish to thank him.

Then there was Tim Ferrante of
Gameroom Magazine.
One night, as I prepared to send my manuscript to Prima, Tim and I did a page-by-page search through the book. After three hours, I complained that I was tired, but he kept going. Only later did I realize that while I was in Seattle, where it was only 1:00
A.M.
, he was on the East Coast, and it was 4:00
A.M.
for him.

I also owe debts of gratitude to Curt Vendel, Ken Gagne, and Lenny Herman, a true guardian of video game history. And all the way through this process, I frequently relied on help from my good friend, Jeremy Horwitz—once the world’s best-connected video game player, now on his way to a fine career in law.

I also want to thank Eddie Adlum, Ingrid Milkes, Key Snodgress, and the rest of the staff of
RePlay Magazine
—the real experts on the coin-op industry—for taking the time to teach me about the workings of the arcade industry and for lending me valuable photographs to enhance my book.

Finally, I absolutely need to thank Steve Martin, David Richardson, and Andrew Vallas at Prima. These are the guys who shine up my work, and I am most grateful.

Fusajiro Yamauchi establishes the Marufuku Company to manufacture and distribute Hanafuda, Japanese playing cards.

The Connecticut Leather Company is established by a Russian immigrant named Maurice Greenberg to distribute leather products to shoemakers.

Yamauchi changes the name of Marufuku Co. Ltd. to Nintendo, a term meaning “leave luck to heaven.”!

United States passes new laws regulating slot machines. Marty Bromley, who manages game rooms at military bases in Hawaii, buys machines and opens Service Games (SEGA).

David Rosen, returning from service in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War, opens portrait painting business in Japan.

David Rosen starts Rosen Enterprises and begins shipping photo booths to Japan.

Rosen imports $200,000 worth of coin-operated electromechanical games to Japan and starts the country’s coin-op business.

Physicist Willy Higinbotham of the Brookhaven National Laboratories in New York invents an interactive table-tennis–like game that is displayed on an oscilloscope.

MIT student Steve Russell creates
Spacewar
, the first interactive computer game.

Nolan Bushnell enters engineering school at the University of Utah.

Rosen Enterprises, Japan’s largest amusement company, merges with Service Games, which now has jukeboxes in over 6,000 locations, to form Sega Enterprises.

Nolan Bushnell gets a summer job at a Salt Lake City carnival where he is in charge of the games midway.

Ralph Baer begins researching interactive television games at Sanders Associates.

Sega releases
Periscope
, a game that becomes such a hit in Japan that U.S. and European companies begin importing it. This is Japan’s first amusement game export. Because of the high cost of shipping, U.S. arcade owners charge players $0.25 per play, setting what will eventually become the standard price for playing arcade games.

Ralph Baer patents his interactive television game.

Gulf & Western purchases Sega.

Nolan Bushnell graduates from the University of Utah and accepts a job in California.

Magnavox licenses Ralph Baer’s television game from Sanders Associates.

Bushnell begins work on an arcade version of
Spacewar
called
Computer Space.

Nutting Associates purchases
Computer Space
from Nolan Bushnell and hires him to help manufacture it.

Nutting begins shipping
Computer Space
, the first arcade video game machine.

Magnavox begins demonstrating Odyssey in private showings. Bushnell attends a demonstration of the console on May 24, in Burlingame, California.

Bushnell Leaves Nutting and starts Syzygy with partner Ted Dabney. Finding that the name
Syzygy
is already taken, they rename their company Atari.

Atari engineer Al Alcorn creates
Pong.

Magnavox releases Odyssey.

Magnavox sues Atari on grounds that
Pong
infringes on Ralph Baer’s patents. Nolan Bushnell decides to settle out of court.

Taito, Williams, and Midway enter the video game business.

Atari creates prototypical
Home Pong
unit and sells idea to Sears Roebuck.

Namco begins making video games.

Strapped for cash, Nolan Bushnell approaches venture capitalist Don Valentine for funding.

Midway Games imports a Taito game called
Gunfight
, the first game to use a microprocessor.

The Connecticut Leather Company, now known as Coleco, releases
Telstar
, a television tennis game.

Fairchild Camera & Instrument releases
Channel F
, the first programmable home game to use cartridges.

Exidy Games releases
Death Race
, a game in which players drive over stick figures. Protests about the game are featured on
60 Minutes.

Bushnell sells Atari to Warner Communications for $28 million.

Atari opens the first Pizza Time Theatre.

Atari releases the Video Computer System, also known as the 2600.

Mattel introduces a line of LED-based handheld video games.

Shigeru Miyamoto joins Nintendo.

Bally releases the Bally Professional Arcade home console.

Nintendo releases its first home video game in Japan.

Bushnell is forced out of Atari and buys the rights to Pizza Time Theatre.

Ray Kassar becomes the CEO of Atari.

Nintendo releases
Othello
, its first arcade game.

Atari releases
Football
and Midway releases
Space Invaders.
Both games attract record business.

Magnavox releases the Odyssey2.

Cinematronics releases
Space Wars
, an arcade adaptation of the
Spacewars
game created at MIT.

Capcom is founded in Japan.

Atari releases
Lunar Lander
, its first vector-graphics game. Later that year, Atari releases
Asteroids
, the company’s all-time bestselling game.

Atari game designer Warren Robinett introduces concept of “Easter Eggs” to video games by hiding a room with his name in a 2600 game called
Adventure.

Mattel Electronics introduces the Intellivision game console.

Milton Bradley releases Microvision, the first handheld programmable game system.

Atari releases
Space Invaders
for the Video Computer System. The practice of selling home versions of arcade hits is started.

Renegade programmers fleeing from Atari create Activision, the first third-party game publisher.

Namco releases
Pac-Man
, the most popular arcade game of all time. Over 300,000 units are sold worldwide.

Minoru Arakawa opens Nintendo of America.

Williams releases
Defender.

Nintendo releases the arcade game
Donkey Kong.

Atari releases
Pac-Man
for the Video Computer System.

Atari releases
Tempest.

U.S. arcades revenues reach $5 billion as Americans spend more than 75,000 man-hours playing video games.

Arnie Katz, Bill Kunkel, and Joyce Worley begin publishing
Electronic Games
, the first magazine about video games.

Coleco releases Colecovision.

Atari wins lawsuit accusing Magnavox of infringing on its
Pac-Man
license with K.C. Munchkin.

Atari releases
E.T.
for the Video Computer System.

Activision releases
Pitfall
for the Video Computer System.

Atari releases the 5200 game console.

General Consumer Electronics releases the Vectrex.

Midway releases
Ms. Pac-Man
, the biggest arcade game in American history.

When Warner Communications announces that Atari sales have not met predictions, Warner stock drops 32 percent.

Nolan Bushnell opens an arcade company called Sente Games.

Yu Suzuki joins Sega.

Sega releases its first home console in Japan—SG-1000.

Cinematronics releases
Dragon’s Lair
, the first arcade game to feature laser-disc technology.

Former Philip Morris executive James Morgan replaces Ray Kassar as head of Atari.

Nintendo releases the Family Computer (Famicom) in Japan.

David Rosen and Isao Okawa purchase Sega Enterprises back from Gulf & Western for $38 million.

Coleco begins marketing the Adam Computer.

Hisao Oguchi and Yuji Naka join Sega.

Warner Communications sells Atari Corporation to Commodore Computers founder Jack Tramiel but retains the arcade division as Atari Games.

Nintendo test-markets the Famicom in New York as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).

Russian mathematician Alex Pajitnov designs
Tetris.

Nintendo of America releases NES nationwide.

Sega releases its Sega Master System.

Atari releases the 7800 game console.

Nintendo publishes
The Legend of Zelda.

NEC releases the 16-bit/8-bit hybrid PC-Engine game console in Japan.

Sega unveils 16-bit Mega Drive game console.

Square Soft publishes
Final Fantasy.

Atari Games releases unlicensed games for the NES under its new Tengen label.