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The tenth day of November 1995, was a sad day in video game history. The world saw the last day of William A. Higinbotham. Educated at Cornell University as a physics graduate, Higinbotham had been involved in the Manhattan Project and had actually been witness to the first detonation of the atomic bomb. However, the most noted of his achievements was the invention of the video game. The following text will discuss the circumstances and controversy surrounding this issue, and will compare gaming from Higinbotham’s original video game to the multi-billion dollar industry that is gaming today.
Higinbotham, noticing that people attending the annual autumn open houses, are bored with the displays of simple photographs and static equipment, sets out to design an interactive demonstration on the trajectory plotting powers of the computer. As head of Brookhavens Instrumentation Division, and being used to building such complicated electronic devices as radiation detectors, its no problem for Higinbotham to create in three weeks the game system he names Tennis for Two. ... With Higinbotham’s idea of interactive computer program set loose, programmers across the globe begin designing progressively more complex games. Most of these video game designers are college students who have both the access to the college’s powerful computer, and the desire to make simple games. ... While Baer and his team had the various games displayed on colored backgrounds, Magnavox cuts costs by going strictly black and white and no sound effects. ... There are 12 different plug-in circuit boards available to make the machine play different games; they also serve as a power switch. ... Nolan realizes the commercial value of video games and sets to work on scaling Spacewar! ... Later Nolan Bushnell, along with partner Ted Dabney, both go on to create their own video game company.
Approximate Word count = 1428
Approximate Pages = 5.7
(250 words per page double spaced)
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