A brief history of video games (Part I) - Safwat Saleem

Video games are everywhere these days, but where did they actually come from? The history of video games is a complicated story that involves giant computers in science labs, the founder of Chuck E. Cheese and billions of dollars in quarters. Safwat Saleem examines the evolution of the beloved world of gaming.

Lesson and animation by Safwat Saleem.

[EmpressKoves]

In his Ted talk, he cites that the reason he won't release part two is that people made fun of his accent- that he sounded like he had peanut butter in his mouth. I wish he would release part two-- I want part two of the history, and his accent is fine just as it is.

[sabreene]

Safwat, you should do the part two! I loved your TedTalk. Continue to speak up!

[mohammedfouzan]

It’s been nearly 10 years and stll no sign of part two 😢

[TEDEd]

Stay tuned. We're as excited as you are!

[adamhlj]

"Did you know that the original name for Pac-Man was Puck-Man? You’d think it was because he looks like a hockey puck but it actually comes from the Japanese phrase ‘Paku-Paku, ’ which means to flap one’s mouth open and closed. They changed it because they thought Puck-Man would be too easy to vandalize, you know, like people could just scratch off the P and turn it into an F or whatever." - Scott Pilgrim

[jpoundz]

I need a part 2 like last week!!!! Wanted to use these for a project I'm doing in the military!

[SohelShekhash]

When Part 2 is going to be released? Thumbs up to get them noticed.

[renvanacker]

Its been 8 years now, where still waiting for a part two. Dont let it wait longer than gta 6 lmao

[강민재]

한번도 생각해보지 않았던 개임의 역사에 대하여 알아보았더니 느낌이 새로웠습니다. 모든것이라도 그것이 가지고있는 역사에 대하여 배우면 더 재미있어지는것 같습니다. 재미있는 시간이 되었습니다. 감사합니다.

[Moonlight-khq]

I'm so addicted to video games, still remember the one with sport car racing, i played at 7 years old

[tammyschoenfeldt]

From a southern girl in the U.S., I enjoyed your exotic accent and video full of just enough information to cite in my paper. Please release part 2 of your video. Forget the haters. Thank you for the effort you put into making this for all of us to see.

[thedrivereraworld]

A brief history of video games – Part I (Transcrição)
Hi, I’m Medium Invader from the classic video game Space Invaders, and I want to tell you a little bit about where video games came from. A video game is an electronic game that has an interface designed for human interaction on a video device. Simple.

Video games are used by scientists, the military, and people like you, and their evolution has spread across arcades, consoles, computers, smart phones, and all kinds of other electronics. These days video games are everywhere, but they were actually made in science labs. In fact, the earliest U.S. video game patent on record was in 1948, and at the time it was referred to as a cathode-ray tube amusement device.

That’s a mouthful! Some of the earliest video games include the Nimrod computer, OXO, Tennis for Two, and my personal favorite, Spacewar! But none of these early video games were ever sold to the public because they were either too huge or too expensive to get out of the lab.

This all changed when a man named Ralph Baer looked at his television screen and wondered how else it might be used. In 1972, Baer’s idea to get video games out of the science lab and into the living room led to the release of a game console called Odyssey. Odyssey allowed you to play a game on your TV.

At about the same time, two other people, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, were working on something similar in a little company called Atari. You might have heard of it, and even if you haven’t, I’m sure that your Dad has. Atari’s first major game release was in 1972, an arcade game called Pong. It was an immediate hit, and it’s credited as the first commercially successful video game.

Atari then released a home version of Pong in 1974. By 1978, competition between Atari and another game company called Midway was heating up. Midway had licensed an arcade game for the Japanese company, Taito, that put them on the map. The game: Space Invaders. It featured iconic actors, like me, and it went on to become the second highest selling arcade game of all time.

Space Invaders also helped kick off what is known as the Golden Age of Arcade Games. In response, Atari followed with the release of the arcade game Asteroids, which ranked sixth on the list of highest selling arcade games. It was a good game, but it’s no Space Invaders. By 1980, color came to arcade games, and this was also the year that another video gaming milestone was born.

Pac-Man, created by the Japanese company Namco, was brought to the U.S. by Midway. Important to the spread of video games into popular culture, Pac-Man was a character that could be licensed. It wasn’t long before it had a song on the charts, a Saturday morning television show, and all sorts of other products. In just a year, Pac-Man arcade games made over one billion dollars in quarters.

Then, in 1981, a company called Nintendo started making waves in the U.S. video game market with their release of Donkey Kong. It was the earliest video game to have a storyline. The story went a bit like this: Donkey Kong is the pet of a carpenter named Jumpman. Jumpman mistreats his pet ape, so the ape steals his girlfriend, leaving the game player to assume the role of Jumpman and rescue the girl.

Jumpman was eventually renamed to Mario. Other iconic arcade games from the early 80s include Frogger, Dragon’s Lair, and Mario Brothers. Perhaps the last iconic game considered to be part of the Golden Age of Arcade Games is Double Dragon. It was the first really successful example of the beat-them-up genre. It was released in 1987, and, like Donkey Kong, it featured a damsel in distress storyline, a storyline common in many video games.

By the mid-90s, the Golden Age of Arcade Games was coming to an end, and the home game console was gaining in popularity. While arcade games continued to decline in sales over the years, the popularity of video games was merely beginning, and we’ll talk about that and a lot more in part two of a brief history of video games.

[tking]

Here's to Part Two and listening to your beautiful voice again!

[jeseviso-su]

Great video. I really want to get into videogame design.

[lolahawk]

Love it! Very instructive! (And, Mr. Safwat Saleem, I love your voice!)

[Stilluetto]

I love the pac man music and also NO PT 2?!

[codeXenigma]

Did some research for you because I'm so nice ;-)
'Since Donkey Kong was set on a construction site, Mario was made into a carpenter. When he appeared again in Mario Bros., it was decided he should be a plumber, since a lot of the game is played in underground settings.[10] Mario's character design, particularly his large nose, draws on western influences; once he became a plumber, Miyamoto decided to "put him in New York" and make him Italian'

[DazmoTube]

You have a much better understanding of how it all played out, then, than the person who made this video does, trust me.

[alyjimenez]

I can't believe I played most of the first games ever created...and had NO IDEA they were invented earlier than I expected.Nice!

[zombiecrossbonesthenuthead]

make a part 2 it has bin 4 years and a bit