1972 in video gaming

Events

*Following the poor sales of "Computer Space", Nolan Bushnell leaves Nutting Associates to move his coin-op engineering and design firm with Ted Dabney in to a full fledged company. When officially incorporating, Bushnell discovers that a roofing company had already been using their name (syzygy). In its place, the new corporation is named "Atari."

cite web
title=The Games Begin 1971–1977
url=http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/video/hov/p3_01.html
author=Herman, Leonard et al.
year=2002
work= [http://www.gamespot.com/ GameSpot]
accessmonthday=15 February
accessyear=2006

]
*On 24 May, Magnavox unveils the Odyssey, the first video game console, at a Burlingame, California convention. Nutting Associates, manufacturer of "Computer Space", sends Nolan Bushnell to observe the launch. Bushnell reports back that he found the device underwhelming, and expresses no concern over the competition. Later that year, Magnavox files suit against Atari over "Pong", claiming that Atari founder Nolan Bushnell appropriated the concept from "Tennis", one of the games available for the Odyssey, after having witnessed it at the Odyssey's unveiling. Before the court could find against Atari, Nolan and company agree to license the game from Magnavox and Sanders for a one time fee of $700,000.

cite web
author=Gegan, Shaun
title=Magnavox Odyssey 1.71 FAQ
work= [http://www.classicgaming.com/ ClassicGaming.com]
year=1997
url=http://www.classicgaming.com/museum/o1faq.shtml
accessmonthday=15 February
accessyear=2006

]

Notable releases

*Magnavox begins to sell the Odyssey through its retail stores.
*Atari releases its first arcade game, Al Alcorn's Pong.
*Gregory Yob programs "Hunt the Wumpus", an early progenitor of the interactive fiction genre, in BASIC for mainframe computers.

cite web
url=http://jerz.setonhill.edu/if/canon/Hunt_the_Wumpus.htm
author=Jerz, Dennis G.
title=Hunt the Wumpus -- Gregory Yob (c. 1972)
work= [http://jerz.setonhill.edu/if/canon/ Interactive Fiction — Foundational Works]
year=2002
accessmonthday=15 February
accessyear=2006

]
*Don Daglow programs "Star Trek" on a PDP-10 mainframe computer at Pomona College. Note that this is a different game from the "Star Trek game of 1971"

cite web
url=http://gamedesign.uw.hu/gamedesign0033.html
title=Conclusion
work= [http://gamedesign.uw.hu/ Game Design Workshop: Designing, Prototyping, and Playtesting Games]
accessmonthday=15 February
accessyear=2006

]

* "Civilization" (not related to the Sid Meier "Civilization" games) written on the HP2000 minicomputer at Evergreen State College. A rewrite of this game would come be to known as "Empire Classic".

cite web
url=http://empireclassic.com/
title=Empire Classic homepage
work= [http://empireclassic.com/ Empire Classic website]
accessmonthday=7 April
accessyear=2007

]

References