1974 in video games
1974 has several new titles such as Shark Jaws, Speed Race and Dungeon.
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Events
- The number of copies of Pong and its commercial clones exceed 100,000 units. Approximately 10,000 of these units were manufactured by Atari, the original developer of the Pong.[1]
- H.R. "Pete" Kaufman leaves Ramtek to found Exidy, Inc.[1]
- Namco acquires the Japanese division of Atari, Inc. and formally enters the video arcade game market.[1]
- Atari acquires Kee Games as a "marketing ploy." Atari will continue to use the "Kee Games" title as a brand name until 1978.[1]
- Royal Philips Electronics N.V. acquires Magnavox, which becomes "Philips Consumer Electronics."[2]
Notable releases
Magazines
- Play Meter, the first magazine devoted to coin-operated amusements (including arcade games), publishes its first issue.[1]
Arcade games
- February – Taito releases Basketball,[3] an early example of sprite graphics, used to represent baskets and player characters,[4] making it the first video game with human figures.[3] The same month, Midway licenses the game for a North American release under the title TV Basketball, making it the first Japanese game licensed for North American release.[3]
- July 24 – Atari releases Gran Trak 10, the first car-racing video game, to video arcades.[5]
- November – Taito releases Tomohiro Nishikado's Speed Race,[6] the second car-racing video game. It introduces scrolling sprite graphics with collision detection,[7] and uses a racing wheel controller.[8] Midway releases it as Wheels and Racer in the United States.[7]
- November 5[9] – Prior to their acquisition by Atari, Kee Games releases Tank to video arcades.[1]
Computer games
Maze War, an ancestor of the first-person shooter genre, was ported to a number of computer systems. The above image was created from a version of the game written for the Xerox Star 8010 in 1985.
- Steve Colley, Howard Palmer, and Greg Johnson develop Maze War on the Imlac PDS-1 at the NASA Ames Research Center in California.[10] It is recognized as an ancestor of the first-person shooter genre.
- Jim Bowery develops Spasim for the PLATO system. Two versions are released, the first in March and the second in July.[11] It is also recognized as an ancestor of the first-person shooter genre.
- Gary Whisenhunt and Ray Wood develop dnd, the first game with a boss, and arguably the first role-playing video game, for the PLATO system.[12] Development continued into 1975; it is unclear at what point the game became playable.
Video game consoles
- Magnavox reissues the Odyssey and releases it in Australia, Belgium, the United Kingdom, France, West Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Switzerland, and Venezuela.[13]
References
- Thomas, Donald A. Jr. (2005). "–1974–". ICWhen.com. Archived from the original on March 17, 2006. Retrieved February 16, 2006.
- Kaiser, Robert D. (1999). "The Ultimate Odyssey2 and Odyssey3 FAQ". Archived from the original (text) on March 8, 2008. Retrieved February 16, 2006.
- http://allincolorforaquarter.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/video-game-firsts.html
- Basketball at the Killer List of Videogames
- Cassidy, William (2003). "Hall of Fame / Gran Trak 10 and Sprint 2". GameSpy. Archived from the original on February 1, 2010. Retrieved February 16, 2006.
- http://www.arcade-history.com/?n=speed-race&page=detail&id=19475
- Bill Loguidice & Matt Barton (2009), Vintage games: an insider look at the history of Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario, and the most influential games of all time, p. 197, Focal Press, ISBN 0-240-81146-1
- Speed Race at the Killer List of Videogames
- http://www.arcade-history.com/?n=tank-upright-model&page=detail&id=3383
- "The Maze War 30 Year Retrospective". DigiBarn Games. 2004. Retrieved February 25, 2012.
- Bowery, Jim (2010). "Spasim (1978) The First First-Person-Shooter 3D Multiplayer Networked Game". Archived from the original on October 21, 2009. Retrieved February 16, 2006.
- Koster, Raph (February 17, 2002). "Online World Timeline". Raph Koster's Website. Archived from the original on January 16, 2009. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
- Gegan, Shaun and David Winter (2003). "Magnavox Odyssey FAQ version 2.9.1" (text). Archived from the original on February 13, 2006. Retrieved February 16, 2006.
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