Computer Space

Computer Space is a video arcade game released in 1971 by Nutting Associates. Created by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, who would both later found Atari, Inc., it is generally accepted that it was the world's first commercially sold coin-operated video game of any kind, predating the Magnavox Odyssey's release by six months, and Atari's Pong by one year. It was first location tested at a Palo Alto restaurant and bar called The Dutch Goose in August 1971, then debuted at the MOA show on October 15, 1971, and then officially released in November 1971. Though not commercially sold, the coin operated minicomputer-driven Galaxy Game appeared around the same time, located solely at Stanford University.

History

Previous efforts in bringing the experience of Spacewar! to a mass market were centered on the minicomputer paradigm of the college campuses where it originated - that of a central computer distributing software to various remote terminals. Computer Space was innovative for establishing the basic form of all arcade games to come - that of a dedicated computing device built to play only that one game.

Computer

A computer is a general purpose device that can be programmed to carry out a set of arithmetic or logical operations automatically. Since a sequence of operations can be readily changed, the computer can solve more than one kind of problem.

Conventionally, a computer consists of at least one processing element, typically a central processing unit (CPU), and some form of memory. The processing element carries out arithmetic and logic operations, and a sequencing and control unit can change the order of operations in response to stored information. Peripheral devices allow information to be retrieved from an external source, and the result of operations saved and retrieved.

Mechanical analog computers started appearing in the first century and were later used in the medieval era for astronomical calculations. In World War II, mechanical analog computers were used for specialized military applications such as calculating torpedo aiming. During this time the first electronic digital computers were developed. Originally they were the size of a large room, consuming as much power as several hundred modern personal computers (PCs).

Space

Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless four-dimensional continuum known as spacetime. The concept of space is considered to be of fundamental importance to an understanding of the physical universe. However, disagreement continues between philosophers over whether it is itself an entity, a relationship between entities, or part of a conceptual framework.

Nutting Associates

Nutting Associates was an arcade game manufacturer from Mountain View, California, formed in 1965 when Bill Nutting spun off "The Knowledge Computer" prototype from Edex Corp. Nutting, Richard Ball, and an electronic technician redesigned it to "The Computer Quiz" coin-operated trivia game. It underwent two redesigns, the third being the first solid state plug-in coin-op game. Ball did a concept, design and marketing brief for a coin-op video game. He started to develop "Space Command" but left Nutting to develop Cointronics Corp. with co-worker Ransom White. Their game "Lunar Lander" was the first audio reward game that in 1969 used the NASA tape "The Eagle has landed," as the reward.

In August 1971, Nutting hired Nolan Bushnell who had an idea to put a clone of Spacewar! in its own box. Production began by the end of the year on a run of 1,500 Computer Space games, but neither Nutting nor Bushnell considered it a real success and only 500 to 1,000 were actually sold. Bushnell proposed to create a sequel/remake of the game but demanded he be given an ownership stake in the company in return. Nutting refused, and Bushnell left to form Atari.

Nolan Bushnell

Nolan Kay Bushnell (born February 5, 1943) is an American engineer and entrepreneur who founded both Atari, Inc. and the Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza-Time Theaters chain. Bushnell has been inducted into the Video Game Hall of Fame and the Consumer Electronics Association Hall of Fame, received the BAFTA Fellowship and the Nations Restaurant News “Innovator of the Year” award, and was named one of Newsweek's "50 Men Who Changed America." Bushnell has started more than twenty companies and is one of the founding fathers of the video game industry. He is currently on the board of Anti-Aging Games, but his latest venture is an educational software company called Brainrush that is using video game technology in educational software, incorporating real brain science, in a way that Bushnell believes will fundamentally change education. Nolan, who is co-founder and chairman of Brainrush, believes that Brainrush will be his biggest success.

Nolan is credited with Bushnell's Law, an aphorism about games "easy to learn and difficult to master" being rewarding.