Editing First generation of video game hardware

The '''First generation of video game hardware''' approximately covers the period between 1972 and 1980, although video gaming had existed in one form or another since the 1950s. The '''[[Magnavox Odyssey]]''' is often cited as the true beginning of the first generation of video game hardware, which itself was an evolution of "[[The Brown Box]]"<ref name="AboutGames">[http://classicgames.about.com/od/classicvideogames101/p/MagnavoxOdyssey.htm Magnavox Odyssey @ About.com]</ref>, a prototype for a video game console developed in 1967.

==Features==
{{VG History|expandmenu=2}}

The hardware seen in this era of video gaming is very different to the consoles that would be manufactured afterwards. Removable or swappable media, such as cartridges for video games was not widespread, so the games that were provided often came with the console itself. This limitation caused a fair amount of consoles to be spawned, as each company strove for their standard to be accepted.

The most striking feature of this generation was that they did not feature microprocessors in their circuitry, instead having to make do with a series of logic circuits. Many consoles of this era were just hardware platforms for "[[Pong]]", with a small number aiming higher. [[Atari]], [[Magnavox]] (later bought by [[Philips]]) and [[General Instrument]] were the biggest players of this era.

The ''Magnagox Odyssey'' featured an early optical [[light gun]] accessory called ''[[Shooting Gallery]]'', released in 1972. This light gun peripheral was manufactured by [[Nintendo]], marking their first entry into the [[video game industry]]. On September 12, 1975 [[Epoch]] released [[Japan]]'s first console, the [[TV Tennis]], a home version of ''Pong'', several months before the release of ''[[Home Pong]]'' in North America. The most unique feature of the ''TV Tennis'' was that the console was [[wireless]], functioning through a UHF antenna. Japan's most successful consoles of the first generation, however, was Nintendo's [[Color TV-Game (series)|''Color TV-Game'' series]] of video game consoles, first released in 1977.<ref name="picard2013">Martin Picard (December 2013), [http://gamestudies.org/1302/articles/picard The Foundation of Geemu: A Brief History of Early Japanese video games], ''The International Journal of Computer Game Research'' '''13''' (2), Game Studies</ref> The Color TV Game sold 3 million units,<ref name="tv_game"/><ref name="sheff 27">{{Cite book |title=Game Over: Press Start to Continue - The Maturing of Mario|last=Sheff |first=David |last2=Eddy |first2=Andy |author-link=David Sheff |publisher=Cyberactive Media Group/GamePress |date= April 15, 1999 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=0dK2AAAAIAAJ&q=%22Color+TV+Game%22|pages=27–28 |isbn=9780966961706|quote=Nintendo entered the home market in Japan with the dramatic unveiling of Color TV Game 6, which played six versions of light tennis. It was followed by a more powerful sequel, Color TV Game 15. A million units of each were sold. The engineering team also came up with systems that played a more complex game, called "Blockbuster," as well as a racing game. Half a million units of these were sold.}}</ref> making it the [[List of best-selling game consoles|best-selling console]] of the first generation.

==Membership==
The following can be considered part of the first generation of video gaming:

* [[APF TV Fun]]<ref name="AboutGames" />
* [[Binatone TV Master]]
* [[Blip]]<ref name="AboutGames" />
* [[Color TV-Game (series)|Color TV-Game series]]
* [[Magnavox Odyssey (series)|Magnavox Odyssey series]]<ref name="AboutGames" />
* [[Name of the Game]]
* [[Ping-o-Tronic]]<ref name="AboutGames" />
* [[Pong]]<ref name="AboutGames" />
* [[Radio Shack TV Scoreboard]]<ref name="AboutGames" />
* [[TV Tennis]]<ref name="picard2013"/>
* [[Telstar]]<ref name="AboutGames" />
* [[Unisonic Sportsman T101]]<ref name="AboutGames" />

==Comparison==
{{See also|List of best-selling game consoles}}

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!style="width: 10%"  | Name
!style="width: 13%;" | [[Magnavox Odyssey]]
!style="width: 13%;" | [[Magnavox Odyssey (series)|Magnavox Odyssey series]]
!style="width: 13%;" | [[TV Tennis]]
!style="width: 13%;" | [[Home Pong]]
!style="width: 13%;" | [[Name of the Game]]
!style="width: 13%;" | [[Telstar]]
!style="width: 13%;" | [[Color TV-Game]]
|- style="text-align:center;"
! Manufacturer
| [[Magnavox]]
| [[Magnavox]]
| [[Epoch]]
| [[Atari]]
| [[Allied Leisure]]
| [[Coleco]]
| [[Nintendo]]
|- style="text-align:center;"
! Console
| [[File:Magnavox-Odyssey-Console-Set.png|140px]]
| [[File:Odyssey-300.png|120px]]
| 
| [[File:TeleGames-Atari-Pong.png|120px]]
| 
| [[File:Coleco-Telstar-Colortron.jpg|120px]]
| [[File:Nintendo-TV-Game-BK6.png|120px]]
|-
! Launch price
| US$100
| US$100–230
| 
| US$98.95
| $67
| US$50
| ¥8,300 - ¥48,000 (roughly $100 – $594.80 today)
|- style="vertical-align: top"
! Release dates
| May [[1972 in video gaming|1972]] ([[North America|NA]])<br>[[1973 in video gaming|1973]] ([[Europe|EU]])<br>[[1974 in video gaming|1974]] ([[Japan|JP]])
| [[1975 in video gaming|1975]] ([[North America|NA]])
| September 12, [[1975 in video gaming|1975]] ([[Japan|JP]])
| December [[1975 in video gaming|1975]] ([[North America|NA]])
| [[1976 in video gaming|1976]] ([[North America|NA]])
| [[1976 in video gaming|1976]] ([[North America|NA]])<br>[[1977 in video gaming|1977]] ([[Japan|JP]])
| [[1977 in video gaming|1977]] ([[Japan|JP]])
|-
! Media
| Plastic overlay
| Various
| Inbuilt chip
| Inbuilt chip<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.pong-story.com/atpong2.htm |title=Atari home PONG systems |publisher=Pong-Story |date= |accessdate=2010-09-13}}</ref>
| Inbuilt chip<ref name="allied_name">[http://www.pong-story.com/allieds.htm] [http://allincolorforaquarter.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/allied-leisures-name-of-game-home-video.html]</ref>
| n/a (most models)<br>[[Cartridge]] ([[Telstar Arcade]])
| n/a
|-
! Accessories (retail)
| Light gun
| n/a
| [[Wireless controller]]<ref name="picard2013"/>
| n/a
| n/a
| Controller styles
| n/a
|-
!Sales
| 330,000<ref name="baerwinter">{{Cite web|url=http://www.pong-story.com/odyssey.htm |title=Magnavox Odyssey, the first video game system |publisher=Pong-Story |date=1972-06-27 |accessdate=2012-11-17}}</ref>
| 
| 440,000<ref name="epoch_sales">http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=981407</ref>
| 150,000<ref name="PriceGuide-2">{{Cite book| title = Official Price Guide to Classic Video Games| first = David| last = Ellis| pages = 33–36| chapter = Dedicated Consoles| publisher = Random House| isbn = 0-375-72038-3| year = 2004}}</ref><ref name="Ultimate-Home3">{{Cite book| title = Ultimate History of Video Games| first = Steven| last = Kent| pages = 94–95| chapter = Strange Bedfellows| publisher = Three Rivers Press| isbn = 0-7615-3643-4| year = 2001}}</ref>
| 16,000<ref name="allied_name"/>
| 1 million<ref name="telstar">{{Cite book|last=Herman|first=Leonard|title=Phoenix: the fall & rise of videogames|year=1997|publisher=Rolenta Press|location=Union, NJ|isbn=0-9643848-2-5|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=duITAQAAIAAJ|edition=2nd ed.|accessdate=16 February 2012|page=20|quote=Like Pong, Telstar could only play video tennis but it retailed at an inexpensive $50 that made it attractive to most families that were on a budget. Coleco managed to sell over a million units that year.}}</ref>
| 3 million<ref name="tv_game">{{Cite book |title=[[Game Over: How Nintendo Zapped an American Industry, Captured Your Dollars, and Enslaved Your Children]] |last=Sheff |first=David |last2=Eddy |first2=Andy |author-link=David Sheff |publisher=GamePress |year=1999 |page=[https://archive.org/stream/Game_Over_1999_Cyberactive_Publishing#page/n35/mode/2up 27] |isbn=978-0-9669617-0-6|quote=Nintendo entered the home market in Japan with the dramatic unveiling of Color TV-Game 6, which played six versions of light tennis. It was followed by a more powerful sequel, Color TV-Game 15. A million units of each were sold. The engineering team also came up with systems that played a more complex game, called "Blockbuster," as well as a racing game. Half a million units of these were sold.}}</ref>
|}

===Sales comparison===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Console !! Worldwide sales !! [[United States]] !! [[Video gaming in Japan|Japan]]
|-
| [[Color TV-Game]] || 3 million<ref name="tv_game"/> <small>(1980)</small> || N/A || 3 million
|-
| [[Telstar]] || 1 million <small>(1976)</small><ref name="telstar"/> || 1 million || N/A
|-
| [[TV Tennis]] || 440,000<ref name="epoch_sales"/> <small>(1975)</small> || N/A || 3 million
|-
| [[Magnavox Odyssey]] || 330,000 <small>(1975)</small><ref name="baerwinter"/> || 330,000 || N/A
|-
| [[Home Pong]] || 150,000 <small>(1975)</small><ref name="PriceGuide-2"/> || 150,000 || N/A
|-
| [[Name of the Game]] || 16,000 <small>(1977)</small><ref name="allied_name"/> || 16,000 || N/A
|}

===Sales history===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! rowspan=3  | Year
! colspan=10 | Sales
|-
! rowspan=2  | [[Magnavox Odyssey]]<ref name="baerwinter"/>
! rowspan=2  | [[TV Tennis]]<ref name="epoch_sales"/>
! rowspan=2  | [[Pong]] <ref name="PriceGuide-2"/>
! rowspan=2  | [[Telstar]] <ref name="telstar"/>
! rowspan=2  | [[Name of the Game]]<br><ref name="allied_name"/>
! colspan=5  | [[Color TV-Game|Color TV-Game]] <ref name="tv_game"/><ref>http://kotaku.com/5785568/nintendos-first-console-is-one-youve-never-played</ref>
|-
! [[Color TV-Game 6|Game 6]]
! [[Color TV-Game 15|Game 15]]
! [[Color TV-Racing 112|Racing 112]]
! [[Color TV-Game Block Breaker|Block Breaker]]
! [[Computer TV-Game]]
|-
| '''[[1972 in video gaming|1972]]'''
| 130,000
|
|
| rowspan=2 |
| rowspan=3 |
| rowspan=3 |
| rowspan=3 |
| rowspan=4 |
| rowspan=5 |
| rowspan=6 |
|-
| '''[[1975 in video gaming|1975]]'''
| 330,000
| 10,000
| 150,000
|-
| '''[[1976 in video gaming|1976]]'''
| 
| 
| 
| 1 million
|-
| '''[[1977 in video gaming|1977]]'''
| 
| 210,000<br>(+200,000)
| colspan=2 |
| 16,000
| 350,000
| 700,000
|-
| '''[[1978 in video gaming|1978]]'''
| 
| 440,000<br>(+230,000)
| colspan=3 |
| 1 million<br>(+650,000)
| 1 million<br>(+300,000)
| 500,000
|-
| '''[[1979 in video gaming|1979]]'''
| colspan=5 |
| colspan=4 align=center | 2.5 million

|-
| '''[[1980 in video gaming|1980]]'''
| colspan=5 |
| colspan=4 align=center | 2.5 million
| colspan=1 | 500,000
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{First-Generation Hardware}}
{{History of video games}}