A History of Video Games

Interesting Facts
Nintendo – established in 1889 as a playing card

company
Sony – started in 1947 as Tokyo Telecommunications

Engineering Company. Made first pocket-sized battery-
powered radio.
1951 - Ralph Baer suggests adding an interactive game to

TV. Management ignores the idea.
1954 – Service Games starts making coin operated

games. SErvice GAmes later becomes SEGA.

Interesting Facts
1958 - physicist Willy Higinbotham invents an interactive

table-tennis-like game that is displayed on an oscilloscope
1961 - Steve Russell creates Spacewar, the first

interactive computer game
1967 - Ralph Baer leads a team that creates an

interactive game that can be played on a TV screen.

Pong
Arcade 1972

Atari Home Version 1975


Atari 2600 (VCS)
Introduced in 1977

Original Retail Price: $249

Number of Games: nearly 1000

Asteroids
Centipede

Atari 2600
Pac-Man
Donkey Kong
Pitfall!
Frogger

Intellivision
Introduced in 1980

Original Retail Price: $299

Number of Games: about 180

Astrosmash
Bump ‘N’ Jump

Intellivision
Major League Baseball BurgerTime
Pac-Man Snafu

Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
Introduced in 1985

Original Retail Price: $199

Number of Games: about 850

Bases Loaded
Double Dragon

Nintendo Entertainment System
Excitebike Super Mario Bros. Tecmo Super Bowl
Legend Of Zelda Super Mario Bros. 3 Tetris

Sega Genesis
Introduced in 1989

Original Retail Price: $249

Number of Games: about 650

Columns
Earthworm Jim

Sega Genesis
Micro Machines NBA Jam
Sonic The Hedgehog
Mortal Kombat

Super Nintendo (SNES)
Introduced in 1991

Original Retail Price: $249

Number of Games: about 780

Donkey Kong Country
Madden NFL ‘96

Super Nintendo
Uniracers
Super Mario Kart
WWF Royal Rumble
Super Mario World

Sony Playstation
Introduced in 1994

Original Retail Price: $299

Number of Games: over 1500

Crash Bandicoot
Gran Turismo 2

Sony Playstation
NFL Blitz 2000 Tomb Raider
Tekken Doom

Nintendo 64
Introduced in 1996

Original Retail Price: $199

Number of Games: about 310

Cruisin’ USA
Mario Kart 64

Nintendo 64
Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time
Super Mario 64
GoldenEye 007
Super Smash Brothers

Sega Dreamcast
Introduced in 1998

Original Retail Price: $199

Number of Games: about 330

Crazy Taxi
Soul Caliber

Sega Dreamcast
NFL Quarterback Club 2001 Sonic Adventure
Quake III Arena
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six

Sony Playstation 2 (PS2)
Introduced in 2000

Original Retail Price: $299

Number of Games: over 1600

Grand Theft Auto III
ESPN NFL 2K5

Sony Playstation 2 (PS2)
Metal Gear Solid Virtua Fighter 4
Final Fantasy X
Need For Speed: Underground

Microsoft Xbox
Introduced: November 15, 2001

Original Retail Price: $299

Number of Games: over 1000

Ghost Recon 2
Mech Assault

Microsoft Xbox
WWF RAW Project Gotham Racing
Halo 2 MLB 2K5

Nintendo Gamecube
Introduced: November 18, 2001

Original Retail Price: $199

Number of Games: over 600

Metroid Prime
Super Smash Bros. Melee

Nintendo Gamecube
Super Mario Sunshine Resident Evil Zero
Mario Kart: Double Dash Mario Party 7

Microsoft Xbox 360
Introduced: November 22, 2005

Original Retail Price: $299/$399

Number of Games: about 155

Project Gotham Racing 3
Call of Duty 2

Microsoft Xbox 360
Tiger Woods 2006 Gears of War
Gun Quake 4

Sony Playstation 3 (PS3)
Introduced: November 17, 2006

Retail Price: $499/$599

Number of Games: about 40

Resistance: Fall of Man
NBA 2K7

Sony Playstation 3 (PS3)
Call of Duty 3 Need For Speed Carbon
Ridge Racer 7 Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Nintendo Wii
Introduced: November 19, 2006

Retail Price: $249

Number of Games: about 60

Mario Party 8
Excite Truck

Nintendo Wii
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Super Paper Mario
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz Wii Sports

Sources
GameSpot – The History of Video Games

http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/video/hov/index.html

Business Week – A Brief History of Video Game

Warfare
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06/10/game_consoles/index.htm?chan=search
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