The swinging 60’s and 70’s

This was where the basics were laid down in basements. Games were still unknown to world at this point however there were certain individuals who began programming and creating their own games in their spare time. In 1961 a game called Spacewar! was created and available to purchase, it was also traded online .
The 60’s might have been where it started to form yet the 70’s is where it began to prosper.
A coin operated version of Spacewar! was released in 1971 but renamed Computer space however it wasn’t a big success. Nolan Bushnell finally made his own company Atari in which was a huge success with games such as pong (I remember spending many a day playing this). The craze had started and was paving the way to the huge worldwide success of video games. Space Invaders soon followed and was a big hit, Atari followed this with Asteroids and use of colour was becoming more and more popular. Arcades sprung up over midnight and the coin-operated games of the 1970’s ruled.
The 70’s saw the first portable handheld games such as Tic Tac Toe. LED’s and VFD technology would last until the 80’s when LCD technology would become more affordable to become the leading alternative. The 70’s also ushered in home computers and consoles. A popular way of getting a new game for yourself was simply to type in the games source code (which were widely available in books and magazines) and program it yourself. I’m sure glad it’s not like that now.