Magnavox Odyssey Released
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The first home video console, the Magnavox Odyssey, is released in the US. The fully analog system is fully silent as well.
Pong Heard 'Round the World
Nolan Bushnell test-markets his protovideo game, Pong, at Andy Capp's Tavern in Sunnyvale, California. The arcade video game as we know it is born. The sonar-blip sound that's generated as a digital ball is batted back and forth proves to be oddly compelling and kind of hypnotic.
Simon Says
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Milton Bradley releases Simon, one of the most popular handheld games ever. Simon plays patterns using four separate tones and four different colored lights. You repeat the patterns; then a new note is added every go-around. In that sense, Simon was the first game to incorporate music as a game element--in a very loose, Zen-free jazz kind of way.
Shots Heard 'Round the World
Midway Games imports Gunfight from the Japanese company Taito. Gunfight is the first game to use a microprocessor (instead of hardwired circuits). A one-channel amplifier provides mono gunshot sounds.
Atari Comes Home
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The Atari Video Computer System (VCS) hits shelves in time for the Christmas holiday season. Nine game cartridges are available upon the system's release, and the sounds of a generation are born. Scratchy and primitive sound effects on the VCS (later known as the 2600) are still unlike anything to ever come out of a TV set. Highlights: The rumbling tanks of Combat; the bleep-bloop-bleep rhythm of Breakout; the ominous silence of Adventure.
Sound clips: Combat
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Sound clips: Breakout
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Space Invasion
Sound clips: Space Invaders
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Midway imports Space Invaders from Taito. A great example of simple, effective sound design, Space Invaders owes a large part of its appeal to its menacing, paranoia-inducing soundtrack. Not music per se, the thumping audio track actually accelerates in tempo as the enemy invaders draw nearer (and move faster). The effect: sweat, panic, and increased blood pressure in a generation of gamers.
Asteroids Arrives
Sound clips: Asteroids
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Atari's Asteroids hits arcades, and like Space Invaders, it employs a thumping, repetitive rhythm that speeds up as gameplay intensifies. The piercing laser shots, exploding asteroids, and high-pitched squall of enemy UFOs adds to the sonic tension. Another great, early sound design.
Baseball Gets a Word In
The first talking game to appear in the home console arena, Major League Baseball for the Intellivision system, featured a computer-generated voice with a woefully limited vocabulary: "strike," "ball," "out," and so forth. Talking commentary would go on to become a de rigueur element of sports games.
