We reach the conclusion of the first season of Play History with Episode #5. Covering the origins of Atari, the beginnings of home console gaming, and the longest running relevant game franchise in history, there’s a lot of ground to cover. That’s what makes it the longest one yet! For more information on sourcing, the Episode 5 script is available for your viewing.
In this episode:
- Timesharing computing and BASIC finds a killer app even more powerful than Star Trek.
- Early computer programs in the Midwest join together to create one of the first mass-linked networks.
- How the technology of Sanders Associates was saved by a job-hop.
- What it means to invent an entirely new market out of whole cloth.
- The true value of the Odyssey to Magnavox.
- Why Atari came to be and what it planned to do before it became something new.
- The role of invention and ingenuity in making a simple game like Pong special.
- Where the newly formed category of video games will be going after this.
Thanks for indulging me especially through this long wait for the final episode. More to come in audio, written, and video form. Please be sure to subscribe on YouTube, support via Patreon or Ko-Fi, and keep pushing for better game history!
►Twitter: https://twitter.com/GameResearch_E
►Mastodon: https://oldbytes.space/@PlayHistory
►Gaming Alexandria Discord: https://www.gamingalexandria.com/wp/
The History of How We Play 
Thank you for all your excellent work. Since I know you are sticklers for getting the small details right, I just want to point out that the PONG arcade machine makes three different sounds, not two. The sounds are: hitting the paddle, bouncing off the top or bottom walls, and a third sound when the ball is missed and goes out of play. Thanks again for documenting this history so well.
LikeLike
Thanks Ed! Blew it on that one.
LikeLike