Gaming

May 7, 1967: Fox and Hounds – Ralph Baer Plays First Two-Player Game

Jeffrey Powers @geekazine 0507, 5 million, alignleft, Arcade games, architecture, bus, card slot, Central processing unit, Components, external cache, games, Google, Handheld TV game, Hardware, Hertz, intel, intel pentium ii, intel pentium ii slot 1, IPad, isa, magnavox odyssey, Magnavox Odyssey Series, memory, Microsoft, millionaire, mips, pentium, Pentium II, pentium ii processor, pong, process technology, processor intel, processor prices, Ralph H. Baer, satellite, slot 1 processor, speed, transistors, video game 0 Comments May 6, 2024

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1967 – Video game developer Ralph Baer plays the first two-player video game. Fox and Hounds was a game where the fox (a red dot) was chased by the hounds (white dots). The controller were two knobs – horizontal and vertical. You would see how long you could avoid the hounds.

From his own website: 7 May 1967 – Played first two-player video game (I lost!)

This was part of a series of more complex video games including shooting games, handball and Ping Pong. Ultimately leading to the Magnavox Odyssey TV game system in 1972.

Baer passed away on December 8, 2014.

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Day in Tech History/ Gaming

January 27, 2006: Western Union discontinued Telegram and Commercial Messaging services

Jeffrey Powers @geekazine aggregator, day in tech history, e mail, Geek, iTunes, january 27, kevin mitnik, Lucida Sans Unicode, Magnavox, magnavox odyssey, magnovox, Podcast, primitive system, processors, release date, RSS, Technology, technology history, Telegraphy, twitter, Verdana, Video game console, video game system, Western Union, white house 0 Comments January 26, 2019

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2006– Founded in 1851, Western Union was responsible for getting the important messages from point A to B. Whether through telegram or commercial messaging, Western Union was synonymous with the service. But on January 27, 2006, that all ended. As Western Union wrote:

“Effective 2006-01-27, Western Union will discontinue all Telegram and Commercial Messaging services. We regret any inconvenience this may cause you, and we thank you for your loyal patronage. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact a customer service representative.”

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Day in Tech History/ Gaming

January 6, 2001: XBox Unveiled

Jeffrey Powers @geekazine 6 years, aggregator, apple, Apple II, apple iie, Atari Jaguar, commodore, cycle 1, day in tech history, Geek, Geomatics, global positioning system, Google, GPS, gps system, graphics processor, jack tramiel, january 6, Liskula Cohen, Podcast, system dates, technology history, United States, XBox Media Center, XBox video game system 0 Comments January 5, 2019

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2001– It was CES where Microsoft unveiled the XBox video game system. The system had a 733 MHz processor, hard drive and 250MHz graphics processor. The console didn’t release until November 15, 2001.

XBox was the first American gaming system since the Atari Jaguar, which folded in 1996.

XBox live was added to the unit in 2002, but it was the ability to mod the XBox so people could turn their consoles into a XMBC (XBox Media Center).

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Day in Tech History/ Gaming

October 18, 1931: Thomas Alva Edison Passes

Jeffrey Powers @geekazine aggregator, apple performa, case design, day in tech history, duck hunt, favorite game, floppy drive, games, light gun, money, NES, nes system, nintendo entertainment system, performa 6360, pin case, Podcast, predecessor, riding my bike, several points, super mario brothers, technology history, thomas edisons, vidalinux, worldwide release 0 Comments October 18, 2018

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A lot happened on this day that Thomas Edison was responsible for. In 1878, Edison brought electricity into the home. 1879 Edison manufacturers the first incandescent light bulb, which was tested on October 22nd. Two major leaps in the technology ago.

But it was on October 18, 1931, Edison died of complications to diabetes in New Jersey. His last breath was captured in a test tube, which is on display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI.

1985– The Nintendo Entertainment System, along with the Robotic Operating Buddy (R.O.B.) and the Zapper light gun are released in New York. Eighteen games were available, two of which came bundled with the system: Duck Hunt and Super Mario Brothers.

The NES was a step up to it’s predecessor – the Famicon Disk system (which looks like a Steampunk version of the NES). Differences included 60-pin cartridges (famicon had 72-pin), case design and extra peripherals, like a 3.5 inch floppy drive.

Nintendo Favicon Family Computer with HVC-022 floppy disk drive

I remember riding my bike to the bank (there was no on-line banking in 85) – which actually was 35 miles away from my house – to get the money and buy this system. It was well worth it. My favorite game to date is still Tetris.

The NES system cost $125. Worldwide release would be in Feb 1986.Now You’re Playing With Power!

This Day in Tech History podcast show notes for October 18

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Day in Tech History/ Gaming

September 2, 1995: Sega Saturn Launched, 1969: ARPANET Connects

Jeffrey Powers @geekazine aggregator, arpanet, auction, ebay, europe, game system, hitachi, hitachi sh, human kidney, interface message processor, japan, loading system, risc, saturn, sega saturn, stitcher, video game 0 Comments September 2, 2018

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1995 – Sega launches the Saturn video game console in the US. The 32-bit Cartridge loading system contained the 2 x Hitachi SH-2 32-bit RISC (28.6 MHz). It was launched in Japan and Europe earlier in the year, but didn’t hit the US until this date.

This Day in Tech History podcast show notes for September 2

You could get the system with Virtua Fighter for $399. Below is the teaser commercial for the game system.

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Ultima I released
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eBay stops an auction of a human kidney
Both the VHS (1983) and the CD-Video (1987) were introduced

Day in Tech History/ Gaming

July 25, 2005: Violent Video Games Bill Goes into Law

Jeffrey Powers @geekazine adult, aggregator, assets, cdma, day in tech history, district judge, Duck Dodgers, free speech, game groups, games, Geek, history, illinois governer, lte, Nortel, Podcast, restriction, rod blagojevich, RSS, selling games, signs, Sinclair Radionics, stitcher, technology history, twitter, video game, violent video games 0 Comments July 25, 2018

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The sale of Video Games began to really heat up in 2005 as Illinois Governer Rod Blagojevich signs a bill into law restricting the sale of violent video games to minors. You could be fined up to $1,000 for selling games with adult ratings. Immediately, video game groups sued, claiming the law is a restriction on free speech.The law would be deemed unconstitutional and repealed by US District Judge Matthew Kennelly.

Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for July 25

Ericsson purchases Nortel‘s CDMA and LTE assets
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Day in Tech History/ Gaming

May 8, 2006: Playstation 3 Announced

Jeffrey Powers @geekazine apple, Bluetooth, building, building computers, Computer hardware, Google, HDMI, kaypro, Linear, linear systems, mobile solution, Playstation 3, powerbook 2400c, predecessors, press conference, sony computer entertainment, stitcher, Video game console 0 Comments May 8, 2018

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2006– At a press conference before E3, Sony announced the Playstation 3 gaming console. This would be for a November 17 release and would feature items like Bluetooth wireless controllers, Wi-Fi and HDMI video output, and more. The system also will contain a Blu-ray disc system and pre-installed HDD.

Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for May 8

JavE 6.0 is released
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Day in Tech History/ Gaming

May 7, 1967: Ralph Baer Plays First Two-Player Game: Fox and Hounds

Jeffrey Powers @geekazine 5 million, alignleft, Arcade games, architecture, bus, card slot, Central processing unit, Components, external cache, games, Google, Handheld TV game, Hardware, Hertz, intel, intel pentium ii, intel pentium ii slot 1, IPad, isa, magnavox odyssey, Magnavox Odyssey Series, memory, Microsoft, millionaire, mips, pentium, Pentium II, pentium ii processor, pong, process technology, processor intel, processor prices, Ralph H. Baer, satellite, slot 1 processor, speed, transistors, video game 0 Comments May 7, 2018

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From his own website: 7 May 1967 – Played first two-player video game (I lost!)

This was part of a series of more complex video games including shooting games, handball and Ping Pong. Ultimately leading to the Magnavox Odyssey TV game system in 1972.

Baer passed away on December 8, 2014.

Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for May 7

The Millionaire Calculating Machine
Telstar II Satellite is launched
Microsoft lays off 3,000
Syria cuts off Internet and phones for 24 hours

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