The History of the Console – Part 1

When Tic-Tac-Toe was programmed into an EDSAC computer - a massive vacuum-valve mainframe with a primitive screen - in Cambridge back in 1952, the graphical computer game was born.

The first video game, however, arrived in 1958 when 'tennis for two' was programmed into an oscilloscope. But it was to be four years later when arguably the first computer-based video game appeared: SpaceWar! by Steve Russell.

From that primitive black and white game all the way to the PlayStations and Xboxes that adorn our living rooms and lives today, there stretches a long line of daring, dodgy and dated consoles. Here are some of the best:

The First Console
The first real console that could be plugged into the back of a television set was created in 1966-7 by Ralph Baer. It included a version of tennis as well as a chase game, but sadly was never officially released because it was intended for military training uses only!

Odyssey
Electronics manufacturer Magnavox were interested in Bauer's concept and together, they developed the Odyssey, which became the first commercially available video console. Released in 1972, it came complete with 12 games. However, sales were kept low by its high price ($100 - a lot of money in post-war America) and some misleading marketing which suggested that the Odyssey would only work with Magnavox televisions.



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