During my first talk last week I mentioned the game “Spacewar!” as the first video-game, said it was invented in the late 1950’s at Stanford. I also said it was multiplayer. Of those facts, I got two right. The game itself was called “Spacewar!” and it was multiplayer (two person). But it wasn’t invented in the late 1950’s at Stanford, but in the early 1960’s at M.I.T.
It also was not the first video-game (which was indeed invented in the late 1950’s). As will be illustrated below, “Spacewar!” was thought to be the first video-game for a long time, largely because there was a historical lineage that tied Spacewar! to the creation of Pong, which truly was the first mass-market breakthrough game. But history and the internet being what they are, the truth emerges.
If you are curious to know more, here are some links:
The History of Spacewar: In 1962, Steve Russell invented Spacewar.
Spacewar! Was The World’s First Video Game
Spacewar!: Original 1962 game code running on a PDP-1 emulator in JavaScript
Check out Rolling Stone’s 1972 coverage of Spacewar!
What Was The First Video Game, Who Invented It And Why
This Month in Physics History – October 1958: Physicist Invents First Video Game
Jon
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