Supercade: A Visual History of the Videogame Age 1971-1984 available in Paperback
Supercade: A Visual History of the Videogame Age 1971-1984
- ISBN-10:
- 0262524201
- ISBN-13:
- 9780262524209
- Pub. Date:
- 10/24/2003
- Publisher:
- MIT Press
- ISBN-10:
- 0262524201
- ISBN-13:
- 9780262524209
- Pub. Date:
- 10/24/2003
- Publisher:
- MIT Press
Supercade: A Visual History of the Videogame Age 1971-1984
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Overview
It was a time when technology was king, status was determined by your high score, and videogames were blitzing the world... From Pong to Pac-Man, Asteroids to Zaxxon—more than fifty million people around the world have come of age within the electronic flux of videogames, their subconscious forever etched with images projected from arcade and home videogame systems.
From the first interactive blips of electronic light at Brookhaven National Labs and the creation of Spacewar! at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; to the invention of the TV Game Project and the myriad systems of Magnavox, Atari, Coleco, and Mattel that followed; through the rise of the Golden Age of videogames and forward into the imagination of millions, Supercade is the first book to illustrate and document the history, legacy, and visual language of the videogame phenomenon.
Exuberantly written and illustrated in full color, Supercade pays tribute to the technology, games, and visionaries of one of the most influential periods in the history of computer science—one that profoundly shaped the modern technological landscape and helped change the way people view entertainment.
Supercade includes contributions from such commentators and particpants as Ralph Baer, Julian Dibbell, Keith Feinstein, Joe Fielder, Lauren Fielder, Justin Hall, Leonard Herman, Steven Johnson, Steven Kent, Nick Montfort, Bob Parks, Carl Steadman, and Tom Vanderbilt.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780262524209 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | MIT Press |
| Publication date: | 10/24/2003 |
| Series: | The MIT Press |
| Pages: | 448 |
| Product dimensions: | 10.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 1.08(d) |
| Age Range: | 18 Years |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
In the beginning there was MIT's Whirlwind and Bouncing Ball. Then, in 1958, physicist Willy Higinbotham created Tennis for Two for the annual Visitor's Day display at Brookhaven National Laboratory. It was likely the first interactive computer game, played out on a 5" black and white oscilloscope with control boxes to serve and rally a blip of electronic light.
Then in 1961, an MIT student named Steve Russell programmed the first computer game Spacewar! on a DEC PDP-1. Inspired by E.E. "Doc" Smith's Lensman pulp science fiction novels, this space-age dogfight was played out on a CRT screen using the PDP's control panel switches to maneuver two warring spaceships as they orbit a gravitational sun.
In the fall of 1966, Ralph H. Baer conceived of the first home videogame system utilizing a television set as a display. As chief engineer and manager of equipment design for Sanders Associates a military electronics consulting firm in Nashua, New Hampshire Baer begins to translate his idea for a "Television Gaming Apparatus" with fellow engineers Bill Harrison and Bill Rusch. After myriad iterations, including vacuum tube, IC, and transistor-based systems, they finally create the "Brown Box" prototype.
In 1971, as a young Ampex engineer in Silicon Valley, Nolan Bushnell designs the first coin-operated arcade videogame Computer Space. As a student at the University of Utah, Bushnell played Spacewar! on the computer science lab's PDP system and dreamed of a day when arcade midways would be lined with machines offering a round of Spacewar! for a quarter. That same year, Ralph Baer's Brown Box technology is licensed to Magnavox and evolves into the world's first home videogame system the Magnavox Odyssey.
It were these key events in the history of videogame technology that led to the creation of the twenty billion dollar interactive industry that exists today. The rest, as they say, is history...
Table of Contents
| Foreword | 17 | |
| Introduction | 21 | |
| 01 | Brookhaven National Labs | 27 |
| Tennis for Two | ||
| 02 | MIT | 33 |
| Building 20 | ||
| Tmrc | ||
| The Origin of Spacewar! | ||
| Dictionary of the Tmrc Language | ||
| 03 | TV Game Project | 51 |
| Television Gaming Apparatus | ||
| The Brown Box | ||
| 04 | Timeline | 56 |
| 05 | 1971 | 65 |
| Syzygy | ||
| Computer Space | ||
| 06 | 1972 | 75 |
| Atari | ||
| Odyssey | ||
| Pong | ||
| 07 | 1973 | 89 |
| TV Ping-Pong | ||
| Asteroid | ||
| Gotcha | ||
| Paddle Ball | ||
| Rally | ||
| Space Race | ||
| Winner | ||
| 08 | 1974 | 99 |
| Gran Trak 10 | ||
| Puppy Pong | ||
| Qwak! | ||
| Rebound | ||
| Speed Race | ||
| Tank | ||
| Touch Me | ||
| 09 | 1975 | 111 |
| Atari Pong | ||
| Odyssey 100-5000 | ||
| Alley Rally | ||
| Avenger | ||
| Gun Fight | ||
| Maneater | ||
| Shark Jaws | ||
| Steeplechase | ||
| 10 | 1976 | 127 |
| Telstar | ||
| Channel F | ||
| Adventure | ||
| Breakout | ||
| Death Race | ||
| Night Driver | ||
| Sea Wolf | ||
| Sprint 2 | ||
| Stunt Cycle | ||
| 11 | 1977 | 147 |
| Atari Vcs | ||
| Studio II | ||
| Apple II | ||
| Pet | ||
| TRS-80 | ||
| Canyon Bomber | ||
| Circus | ||
| Drag Race | ||
| Safari | ||
| Starship 1 | ||
| 12 | 1978 | 157 |
| The Professional Arcade | ||
| Odyssey[superscript 2] | ||
| Atari Football | ||
| Avalanche | ||
| Blasto | ||
| Fire Truck | ||
| Gee Bee | ||
| Space Invaders | ||
| Space Wars | ||
| 13 | 1979 | 185 |
| Intellivision | ||
| Atari Home Computers | ||
| TI-99 | ||
| Asteroids | ||
| Basketball | ||
| Galaxian | ||
| Galaxy Wars | ||
| Lunar Lander | ||
| Rip Off | ||
| Speed Freak | ||
| Warrior | ||
| Interview: Tim Skelly | ||
| 14 | 1980 | 209 |
| Activision | ||
| Game & Watch | ||
| Battlezone | ||
| Berzerk | ||
| Carnival | ||
| Centipede | ||
| Crazy Climber | ||
| Defender | ||
| Missile Command | ||
| Pac-Man | ||
| Phoenix | ||
| Radarscope | ||
| Red Baron | ||
| Space Invaders Deluxe | ||
| Star Castle | ||
| Stratovox | ||
| 15 | 1981 | 233 |
| Pac-Man Fever | ||
| Twin Galaxies | ||
| Interview: Walter Day | ||
| Cosmos | ||
| Commodore VIC-20 | ||
| Ibm Pc | ||
| Donkey Kong | ||
| Frogger | ||
| Galaga | ||
| Gorf | ||
| Hangly Man | ||
| Jump Bug | ||
| Kaos | ||
| Lady Bug | ||
| Lock 'N Chase | ||
| Make Trax | ||
| Mouse Trap | ||
| MS. PAC-MAN | ||
| Pleiads | ||
| Qix | ||
| Scramble | ||
| Space Odyssey | ||
| Stargate | ||
| Tempest | ||
| Thief | ||
| Turbo | ||
| Vanguard | ||
| Venture | ||
| Warlords | ||
| Wizard of Wor | ||
| 16 | 1982 | 277 |
| Gronk! Flash! Zap! | ||
| Imagic | ||
| Atari 5200 | ||
| Colecovision | ||
| Vectrex | ||
| Commodore 64 | ||
| Zx Spectrum | ||
| Burgertime | ||
| Dig Dug | ||
| Disco No. 1 | ||
| Donkey Kong Junior | ||
| Joust | ||
| Jungle King | ||
| Kangaroo | ||
| Moon Patrol | ||
| Mr. Do | ||
| Pengo | ||
| Pole Position | ||
| Popeye | ||
| Pop Flamer | ||
| Q*Bert | ||
| Reactor | ||
| Robotron: 2084 | ||
| Robby Roto! | ||
| Satan's Hollow | ||
| Sinistar | ||
| Time Pilot | ||
| Tron | ||
| Tutankham | ||
| Wacko | ||
| Xevious | ||
| Zaxxon | ||
| Zookeeper | ||
| Zzyzzyxx | ||
| 17 | 1983 | 331 |
| Starcade | ||
| SG-1000 | ||
| Astron Belt | ||
| Cliff Hanger | ||
| Cloak & Dagger | ||
| Congo Bongo | ||
| Crystal Castles | ||
| Crossbow | ||
| Dragon's Lair | ||
| Elevator Action | ||
| Gyruss | ||
| Journey | ||
| M.A.C.H. 3 | ||
| Major Havoc | ||
| Mario Bros | ||
| Space Ace | ||
| Spy Hunter | ||
| Star Trek | ||
| Star Wars | ||
| Track & Field | ||
| Tropical Angel | ||
| Van-Van Car | ||
| 18 | 1984 | 371 |
| Atari 7800 | ||
| Famicom | ||
| Apple Macintosh | ||
| 720[degree] | ||
| Excitebike | ||
| I, Robot | ||
| Karate Champ | ||
| Lode Runner | ||
| Marble Madness | ||
| PAC-Land | ||
| Paperboy | ||
| Punch Out! | ||
| Tapper | ||
| Samurai Nipponichi | ||
| Snake Pit | ||
| TX-1 | ||
| Vs. Baseball | ||
| 19 | Collections | 401 |
| 20 | Exhibits | 409 |
| Today | 412 | |
| Resources | 422 | |
| Index | 428 | |
| Credits | 439 | |
| Author | 442 | |
| Contributors | 444 |
What People are Saying About This
Even though I have been a part of this industry since I joined Atari in 1978, I still find it interesting to hear what was going on with others in the games business. I look forward to the release of this book.
Supercade is an outstanding tribute to the industry of electronic videogames. Thorough yet concise, the book is perfect for the casual reference or as the primary text for students of the world's favorite contemporary pastime.
Van Burnham has dedicated herself to classic gaming journalism like no other. She's not just a writer...she's a GAMER!
Van Burnham has dedicated herself to classic gaming journalism like no other. She's not just a writer...she's a GAMER!
—Joe Santulli, Editor-in-Chief of Digital Press"Supercade is an outstanding tribute to the industry of electronic videogames. Thorough yet concise, the book is perfect for the casual reference or as the primary text for students of the world's favorite contemporary pastime."—Donald A. Thomas, Jr., Curator of I.C. When and former marketing manager of Atari
" Supercade is an outstanding tribute to the industry of electronic videogames. Thorough yet concise, the book is perfect for the casual reference or as the primary text for students of the world"s favorite contemporary pastime." Donald A. Thomas, Jr. , Curator of I.C. When and former marketing manager of Atari
"It's about time for a book to comprehensively review the history and evolution of the dynamic videogame world—fortunately, Supercade is that book."—Ralph H. Baer, The Father of Home Videogames and inventor of the Magnavox Odyssey
"Van Burnham has dedicated herself to classic gaming journalism like no other. She's not just a writer... she's a GAMER!" Joe Santulli ,Editor-in-Chief of Digital Press
"Van Burnham has dedicated herself to classic gaming journalism like no other. She's not just a writer... she's a GAMER!"—Joe Santulli, Editor-in-Chief of Digital Press
It's about time for a book to comprehensively review the history and evolution of the dynamic videogame world—fortunately, Supercade is that book.