Higinbotham vs. Rusell vs. Bushnell: The final battle

[Gamereviewgod]

So, who created the video game? In chronological order:

Higinbotham: Created a primitive version of Pong on an ocsilloscope (sp?)

Russell: Gave us Spacewar on a PDP-1

Bushnell: Started Atari, put Pong into arcades

You decide

[Lady Jaye]

That's not difficult. Higginbotham created the first videogame, Russell the first computer game, Baer the first TV game and Bushnell the first arcade videogame. :D

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

Erm...no Ralph Baer? He's the guy who got gaming out of the realm of huge mainframes with monitors and oscilloscopes as displays, and shifted them into the realm of being displayable on a consumer display device. This put the idea into the hands of the public, not just the campus computer clubs. He gets my vote.

[SoulBlazer]

I've allways looked at it this way:

Baer: Father of the home video game
Russel: Father of the home computer game
Bushnell: Father of the arcade game

Higgy? Well, it really was'nt a 'game' so much, and there's a million other arguments that I could use, but I just consider him someone who had a idea but did'nt expand on it. The three men above are the ones who should be considered the 'patron saints' of the industry.

[Gamereviewgod]

I debated putting in Baer, but he seems to be almost universally recognized for home games rather than gaming as a whole. He's certainly one of the most important people in the history of the industry, but as the "creator" per se, that's a tough call.

[wisekrak]

In the Documentary "Once Upon Atari" Nolan Bushnell admits to not inventing video games. He does however claim that he had invented many of the aspects of the market. Selling the system once and contining to sell game cartridges for example. These things weren't around then and he led the way...

[tom]

In 1952, another person named A.S.Douglas was passing his PhD degree at the University of Cambridge (United Kindgom). At that time, the university had an EDSAC vaccuum-tube computer, which used a cathode ray tube to display the contents of one of the 32 mercury delay lines (which stored the programs and data). The display was organized as a matrix of 35 by 16 dots, hence a 35x16 pixel display. A.S. Douglas wrote his thesis on the Human-Computer interraction, and illustrated it with a graphic Tic-Tac-Toe game displayed on a cathode ray tube. This is the earliest graphical computer game known to exist. The game was played against the machine, which used special algorithms to win whenever possible. This game can be played nowadays using the EDSAC simulator, which includes a copy of the original game.

You forgotten A.S. Douglas (UK)

With permission of David Winter Pong-Story.com (originally: UK Micro Mart)

[Mayhem]

So not only did we invent the computer, we invented the first computer game as well? Neat ;)

[Porkchop]

The answer is Russell.

He made his game on a ditital computer. That is what we are all playing today. Games on Digital Computers.

[digitalpress]

That's not difficult. Higginbotham created the first videogame, Russell the first computer game, Baer the first TV game and Bushnell the first arcade videogame. :D

There can be no other answer.

[Ed Oscuro]

Erm...no Ralph Baer?
Seconded

By the way, Higinbotham's game really wasn't THAT primitive...from what I've read it was a bit more advanced than pong (at least in wording - a tennis game).

[musical]

Higinbotham: Created a primitive version of Pong on an ocsilloscope (sp?)

Yeah, but was it playable? Or just a graphics demio?