15 Dec
2008
15 Dec
'08
3:28 a.m.
Ted actually contributed the major amount of work into Computer Space,
Nolan actually took most of the credit for it. You should see how
Nolan has systematically tried to put down Ralph Baer for many years, to
the point of belittling the man's work (and reputation) on the design
and engineering of Ralph's 1966 original designs for a Home TV based
video game system which he would later see become commericalized into
the Magnavox Odyssey in 1972.
Curt
Martin Scott Goldberg wrote:
Actually, Nolan and Ted Dabney's first foray in to
video games. The two designed and built it together.
Always amazes me how Nolan's PR over the years has effectively wiped Ted's
contributions, and in some cases sought to rewrite history.
Marty
----- Original Message -----
From: "Adrian Graham" <witchy at binarydinosaurs.co.uk>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at
classiccmp.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 13, 2008 11:26:13 AM GMT -06:00 Central America
Subject: Re: The first video game
On 13/12/2008 15:14, "Liam Proven" <lproven at gmail.com> wrote:
I never knew there was a coin-op Spacewar!
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/13/tob_computer_space/print.html
Yep, it was Nolan Bushnell's first foray into video games but didn't get too
much money because it was too complicated for the 'average' user. From my
own Atari page:
" Whilst working at Ampex (creators of the first practical video recorder no
less), Nolan Bushnell had already created an arcade video game based on
Spacewar, which was a game written by Steve Russell in 1961 for the PDP-1
from Digital Equipment. Nolan's version was called Computer Space and it was
being distributed by Nutting Associates. However, it wasn't as popular as
he'd have liked (he said you had to read the instructions, and people didn't
have the patience!)"