Over the past 50+ years, the video game has taken its place in culture and has even become the nucleus around which its own virtual subculture has formed. The sights and sounds of video games can produce a distinct sense of nostalgia in some, or an exciting sense of adventure for others.
Whether looking toward the past or the future, National Video Game Day provides an opportunity for anyone and everyone who loves video games to celebrate this day!
- In 1947, the earliest form of video games was created. It was a “cathode-ray tube amusement device” which was filed for a patent on 25th January 1947 by Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann. On 14th December 1948, it was issued as a U.S. Patent 2455992.
- 1958 – First video game is created by physicist William Higinbotham, a very simple tennis video game becomes popular at an open house of the Brookhaven National Laboratory.
- 1972 – First Home Video Game System is sold. From a prototype multi-player, a multi-program video game created by Ralph Baer, the Odyssey is sold as the first home console video game.
- 1975, Atari developed the home version of Pong which was released on Christmas Day. Odyssey and Pong which are both arcade games and home machines became a success.
- 1977 – Atari 2600 released. Known as the Video Computer System, Atari’s console features joysticks and interchangeable cartridges for multicolored games.
- 1981 – Donkey Kong is released. A Japanese company, Nintendo, releases this game featuring an ape who will eventually be the beginning of a franchise.
- 1989 – Nintendo’s Game Boy is released. After a slump in the video game industry, Nintendo makes a comeback with the Gameboy that becomes a dominator in the market.
- There are about 1,181,019 existing video games as of 2019.
- E-sports is the professional competition for video games.
- In 1993, Tetris was brought aboard a Soyuz TM-17 rocket to the MIR Space Station, where the Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr A. Serebrov played it.
- Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate is the longest-running game ever. The Monster Hunter franchise is notorious for its dedication to realism – (Seriously, no pause menu?!) – and with Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, you’ll definitely feel like a hunter yourself with the time it takes to finish this game. You can try a hand at it if you’d like, but MH3 Ultimate takes a whopping average of 693 hours to finish: and that’s just an average!
- Minecraft is the best-selling video game of all time.
- Antonio Monteiro of Texas holds the Guinness World Record for the largest video game collection at 20,139 video games. The collection features games from the 2nd to 8th generation consoles and over 100 devices to play them on. One of the most hardcore video game facts: It took Guinness 8 days to finish counting them all!
- On October 19, 1972, the Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence at Stanford University organized the world’s first eSports tournament: the Intergalactic Spacewar Olympics. However, no prize money was involved yet – the winner would only receive a subscription to Rolling Stones.
- Grand Theft Auto was supposed to be a much tamer Race’n’Chase, but during a test run, a glitch made the police cars attack the player. The glitch was so well-received by testers that the developers had to scrap the original concept and rebuild the game around high-speed police chases.
- There is a hiding spot in Pac-Man where you can be safe. Once you find this location, you can sit safely for as long as you want.
- The first console to have games available in cartridges was the Fairchild Channel F console, introduced in August 1976.
- Released by Atari in 1981, Battlezone was the first successful 3D game.
- Aside from being the first commercially-successful 3D game, Battlezone was also used by the U.S. Army to train their tank gunners.
- The Wii’s motion sensor technology was rejected by Sony and Microsoft. Gyration Inc was behind the iconic motion sensor of the Wii. However, it was rejected twice.
- The Nintendo Switch is the only commercial hybrid console to date.
- The term “video game” first appeared in print in 1973. The Oxford English Dictionary cites a BusinessWeek story from November 10th, 1973 as the first printed use of the word.
- In 2008, Burnout Paradise surprised many as it featured a campaign ad for former President Barack Obama. On one of the billboards of the game, there was the “Vote for Change” campaign sign of Barrack Obama.
- PlayStation 2 is the Best-selling Video Game Console of All-time.
- The Video Game Industry Generated $180 Billion in 2021
- The average age of a video game designer is between 30-40 years old.
- The average salary for a video game designer in the United States is around $85,000 per year
- As of 2022, the video game industry is estimated to be worth around $184 billion
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