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Anatomy of the First Video Game, Born 1958

Posted by timothy on from the go-ahead-and-present-your-counter-theories dept.

afabbro writes "Fifty years ago, before 'Pong' and 'Space Invaders,' a nuclear physicist created 'Tennis for Two,' a 2-D tennis game that some say was the first video game ever. Built in 1958, it was 'gynormous.' 'In addition to the oscilloscope screen and the controller, the guts of the original game were contained in an analog computer, which is "about as big as a microwave oven."' 'We have to load it into the back of a station wagon to move it. It's not a Game Boy that you put in your pocket.'"

6 of 137 comments (clear)

  1. Writing quality? by stonecypher · · Score: 3, Informative

    The prefix "gyn" means female. Maybe you meant "ginormous", but even so...

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    StoneCypher is Full of BS
    1. Re:Writing quality? by hairyfeet · · Score: 4, Informative

      True. He should have used gargantuan,after all you so rarely get to use it in a sentence.

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      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
  2. Re:Nope, it was the second video game. by Neon+Aardvark · · Score: 5, Informative

    And your suggestion is in turn the third oldest according to wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_video_game"

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    Azural - instrumentals
  3. Re:Technically it isn't by mzs · · Score: 2, Informative

    Man do you fail. "Vector" games used CRTs much like oscilloscopes. Some even used storage scopes. The video in video game does not need to be a raster display.

  4. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 2, Informative

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  5. Re:Anyone have more information? by black_lbi · · Score: 2, Informative

    [...] had a version that had been rewritten for modern machines and even network play.

    http://gamersquarter.com/tennisfortwo/