Pong in '69
From MSN Features 26.08.2009Pong WAS the first video game
True hardcore gamers will know that Pong was not the first video game, simply the first to gain widespread fame.
This simple tennis title was revealed to the world on November 29, 1972, but a full year earlier the little known 'Computer Space' had become the first video game released.
That was, however, rock hard to play, and is the reason why most recognise the more playable, more popular Pong as the genesis of video gaming.
Not exactly true !
I remember specifically playing "pong" in the summer of '69. My father at the time was stationed in Mulheim an de Ruhr as part of the Malta 1st Regiment Royal Malta Artillery. My mother and 2 kid sisters went too, but my brother and myself were left in Malta with an aunt to finish the scholastic year and in my case take some GCE 'O' levels.
We did get to visit Germany that summer experiencing many wonderful things along the way - my first flight, Heathrow, a BAC 111 to Duesseldorf, drip dry nylon shirts, Bayern Munich FC, those adorable german garden gnomes - die mainzelmaennchen, the zoo, skyscrapers and BMW.
But I remember distinctly in the officers' mess, a sort of squarish coffee table, with an embedded TV screen together with a power switch and 2 knobs. Push the power switch and the screen comes on - a greyish background. Wait about half a minute and the perimiter lines, together with 2 x1" lines, one on each side of the screen (the bats), and a small cube (depicting the ball !) basically floating along the whole playing area of the screen appear. You didn't even need any money as there weren't any moneyslots. Pong it was, and it was playable for free.
That was 1969 and at least 3 years prior to it being acknowledged as the first computer game. How could I ever forget, I turned 15 that summer and Pong was there !
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