The First Home Consoles: Crash Course Games #5

So last week Andre talked about Atari’s role in the rise of the video game industry, but Atari wasn’t the only major player in the 1970s. So we’re going to step back a few years and first talk about Ralph Baer who designed the first video game console - the Magnavox Odyssey. The Odyssey would go on to inspire the industry including of course Atari but also Mattel and many others. This was the start of the first console wars and with it we see huge improvements in graphics, gameplay, and of course better storytelling. But we’ll also see a flooding of the market which will have a cost, but we’ll get to that next week.

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Want to find Crash Course elsewhere on the internet?

[whatwouldsallydo]

This show is so much fun and I love Andre!! He's a perfect host!!

[matthewherndon]

I think the crash course theme is one of the only tunes I enjoy having stuck in my head.

[luxtenax]

The Magnavox Odyssey 2 was also a competitor to the Atari 2600.

Also, you guys should have mentioned the _PlayCable_ service for the Intellivision, which was an online service introduced in 1981 that allowed local cable television system operators to send games for the Intellivision over cable wires alongside normal television signals. Sure, it was a massive failure, but it was technically the first instance of the DLC that now we all know and -love-

[ModelOmegaForReal]

Just FYI Nintendo's been around since *1889* making playing cards and more traditional "toys, " they just switched to video games in the 1970s.

[carissacollins]

I would love to see an art history crash course series!

[skylar]

I enjoy learning about the history of video games in these fun and simple series. I personally love crashcourse's style in teaching, it's relaxed and easy to follow, especially for people who've had no understanding of the topics before. Love your work and stay awesome!

[redlion]

This course is like reading Ready Player One with cliff notes.

[stephaniehight]

The Mattel handheld football game taught me what "downs" were in football. This show brought back some great memories! Thanks.

[Pbrett]

OMG thank you so much! You have really helped me on my AP video games tests! You are the reason i am passing.

[godofthedesecrated]

My childhood all over again.. sigh. That Mattel hand held, you were a cool kid if you had one of those! Surprised we still have thumbs that work and Adventure... so many hours!

[Darkdjinn]

I'm glad you guys took a step back to mention Ralph and the Odyssey.

[kalibos]

People who find this interesting (like me), check out The Gaming Historian. He's made a ton of videos about video games/hardware with comparable production quality as this.

[shadanan]

You are so much fun to watch. I'm always sad when the episode ends.

[ImmortalInflames]

looking forward to more, great fun recap of Genesis, The Golden Years & Retro - looking forward to 16-bit wars, perhaps a mention of the Vectrex! ^^

[lildramatic]

I really love this series. It'd be cool to see crash course do more niche history and culture like this!

[Somebeach]

I was sad to not see John or Hank at first but you're growing on my Andre! Looking forward to the next one!!

[AndiTheValkyrie]

I say it every week and I'll keep saying it till the end of this series: Best. CrashCourse. Ever. Every episode is just too short.

[finishercar]

This takes me back to my high school project about the 1960s and technology. The only thing I wanted to talk about was video games, so I wrote the first section of it on the evolution of Nintendo and the Magnavox Odyssey. The space race was more or less an afterthought I tacked on lol

[LittleAnnoyngThing]

This is so education and Aah!! Please keep up the good work, I can't wait until we get to the videogame crash or the console wars of the 90's!!!

[georgehenson]

Further exploration into the facts here.

-Baer's idea was an interactive TV, not a TV device. He wanted people to essentially fool with knobs on the TV itself to make things move around. It's an important distinction because the "decoupling" from the TV needed to be much later.

-The whole structure of the Odyssey section is just weird. You could have saved the "inspired Pong" until the end of that section rather than the beginning.

-"First to feature two joysticks" meaning... What, exactly? Specifically that it was a mounted joystick? The Fairchild Channel F had joysticks too. It was unconventional, yes, but not even arcades had conventions at the time.

-Not the first Easter Egg.

-Robinett didn't get fired because he left Atari immediately after submitting Adventure for release. He didn't stick around to get any flack taken.

-Not sure what game you're referring to the Activision Four putting their name into an Atari game. If they had it would have pre-dated Robinett.

-Political commentator? He's a sports author!

-Auto Race was first in 1976. Dunno why people gloss over that one. Less flashy, yes, but it was a hot Christmas item for '76.

-Dunno why Bushnell's shaking the hand. He was way gone by that time.