Playing video games isnt just one of the worlds most popular pastimes.
The First Video Game Spacewar!
So, before video games became a household activity, they were a social one.
WhileComputer Spacesold most of the units manufactured for its initial run, it was not a runaway success.
Instead, one ofComputer Spaces most enduring legacies may be its forward leap in computational design.
IfPongushered in the age of the video arcade, though,Space InvadersandPac-Mancemented its presence.
It wasnt even the first console with changeable game cartridges.
That honor goes to the Channel F, manufactured by Fairchild Semiconductor and released in 1976.
Gamers and games retailers grew skeptical, and total sales in the industry fell by 97%.
Though faith in the industry was shaken, it would soon prove not altogether lost.
While Nintendo dominated the North American market, though, it didnt take over the world entire.
(This record still holds).
Even companies that werent in the top three were taking strides toward a better home gaming experience.
This allowed Microsoft to successfully launch Xbox Live, its online gaming service that found success where Sega stumbled.
Sonys first handheld, the PlayStation Portable, released in 2005, by comparison, sold 82 million units.
And now here we are.
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image credit:Betsy Weber/Flickr, CC2.0
