1977 in video gaming

Events

*Agnes Kim opens the first Electronics Boutique, a kiosk at the King of Prussia Mall in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania selling transistor radios and calculators.

cite web
author=Fischer, John
year=2002
title=Famous Philadelphians – Nine Richest Philadelphians
url=http://philadelphia.about.com/cs/neighborhoods/a/rich_in_philly_2.htm
work= [http://philadelphia.about.com/ About.com – Greater Philadelphia / South Jersey]
accessmonthday=18 February
accessyear=2006

]
*Atari opens the first Pizza Time Theater (later Chuck E. Cheese's), a combination video arcade/pizzeria conceived by Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell. In June, Bushnell purchases the rights to Pizza Time Theater back from Atari for $500,000 USD.

cite web
author=Thomas, Donald A. Jr
year=2005
title=–1977–
url=http://www.icwhen.com/book/the_1970s/1977.shtml
work= [http://www.icwhen.com/book/ ICWhen.com]
accessmonthday=18 February
accessyear=2006

]
*Sega acquires Gremlin Industries, a major developer of coin-operated "wall games."

cite web
year=2004
title=Gremlin Industries Incorporated
url=http://www.wallgames.com/gremlin.htm
work= [http://www.wallgames.com/ Wall Games]
accessmonthday=18 February
accessyear=2006

]
*Nakamura Manufacturing Ltd. formally changes its name to Namco (which it has employed as a brand name since 1971), and establishes Namco Enterprises Asia Ltd. in Hong Kong, its first subsidiary based outside of Japan.

cite web
title=Namco History (English summary)
year=2001
url=http://www.namco.co.jp/eg/history.html
work= [http://www.namco.com/ NAMCO WonderPage]
accessmonthday=18 February
accessyear=2006

]

Notable releases

Video game consoles

*Atari develops the Game Brain (model C-700), a dedicated console and the first Atari system to utilize cartridges. Only a handful of Game Brain prototypes are produced, and none are released commercially.

cite web
author=Goldberg, Martin
year=2003
title=Museum of Home Video Gaming
url=http://www.classicgaming.com/gamingmuseum/museum.html
accessmonthday=18 February
accessyear=2006

]
*Coleco releases a number of new models of the Telstar console: the Telstar Alpha, the Telstar Colormatic, the Telstar Regent, the Telstar Ranger, the Telstar Galaxy, and the Telstar Combat. Most of these systems feature only minor variations on the original Telstar model, such as new controller types (for example, the Ranger featured a light gun, while the Galaxy included joysticks).
*Nintendo releases the Color TV Game 6 dedicated console, featuring six variations of "Light Tennis" (a "Pong" clone). Nintendo's partner, Mitsubishi, produces most of the system's hardware components.

cite web
title=Color TV Game 6
url=http://nindb.classicgaming.gamespy.com/ctv/g6.shtml
work= [http://nindb.classicgaming.gamespy.com/ Nintendo Database]
accessmonthday=18 February
accessyear=2006

]
*Bally releases the Bally Home Library Computer video game console through mail order retailer JS&A National Sales Group. Delays in production of the system, however, mean that none of the units will actually ship until the following year.

cite web
author=Squire, Lance F.
year=2005
title=The Bally/Astrocade FAQ version h2.8
url=http://www.alteeve.com/~lance/Ballyfaq.html
work= [http://www.alteeve.com/~lance/ Lance F. Squire Homepage]
accessmonthday=19 February
accessyear=2006

]
*In January, RCA Corporation releases the Studio II video game console.

cite web
author=Miller, Michael
year=2005
title=A History of Home Video Game Consoles > First Generation: 1972–1977
url=http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=378141
work= InformIT
accessmonthday=18 February
accessyear=2006

]
*In October, Atari releases the Video Computer System (later known as the Atari 2600) video game console alongside nine launch titles.

cite web
year=2006
title=Atari 2600 History
url=http://www.atariage.com/2600/history.html
work= [http://www.atariage.com/ AtariAge]
accessmonthday=18 February
accessyear=2006

]

Games

*Cinematronics releases Larry Rosenthal's "Space Wars", the first vector graphics arcade game.

cite web
author=Hunter, William
year=2005
title=Player 2 Stage 1: The Coin Eaters
url=http://www.thedoteaters.com/p2_stage1.php
work= [http://www.thedoteaters.com/ The Dot Eaters]
accessmonthday=18 February
accessyear=2006

]
*Mattel releases "Missile Attack", the first handheld electronic game to feature a light-emitting diode (LED) display.

cite web
author=Hunter, William
year=2005
title=Timescape
url=http://www.thedoteaters.com/timeline.php
work=The Dot Eaters
accessmonthday=18 February
accessyear=2006

]
*Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling, the future founders of Infocom, develop the first version of "Zork" on a PDP-10 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Laboratory for Computer Science.

cite web
title=History of Infocom
url=http://www.infocom-if.org/company/company.html
work= [http://www.infocom-if.org/ Infocom – The Master Storytellers]
accessmonthday=18 February
accessyear=2006

]
*While studying for a Ph.D. at the University of Virginia, Kelton Flinn begins developing a text-based aerial combat game called "Air", an early precursor to 1987's "Air Warrior", the first massively multiplayer online game.

cite web
author=Koster, Raph
year=2002
title=Online World Timeline
url=http://www.raphkoster.com/gaming/mudtimeline.shtml
work= [http://www.raphkoster.com/ Raph Koster's Website]
accessmonthday=18 February
accessyear=2006

]

References