Ping-pong balls and cartridges, a blast from the past

Pong, one of the original games, turns 50 on November 30th, created by Nolan Bushnell

by Aditya Deshbandhu

This week’s column is a little different, emphasizing the need to look back and reflect, especially in an industry that often moves at lightning speed. It’s a challenging task, especially for a column trying to capture a rapidly changing industry, how it looks retrospectively and simultaneously stays up to date.

I try this week by telling you a little bit about Nolan Bushnell, who was recently celebrated for Google’s incredible interactive doodle, and Gerald Lawson, who created one of the first games, Pong. Pang turns 50 on November 30.

I started with Lawson and his Fairchild Channel F, a video game console that used swappable game cartridges, an ingenious system that formed the basis for consoles all over the world. Before Fairchild, machines were dedicated to playing one game, and the desire to play another meant buying a whole new computer/equipment.

Lawson’s idea is something we use every day when we play games, since our console games are still sold on interchangeable media. Cassette tapes gave way to compact discs and later other storage media, but the core idea remained the same, and gaming as an activity became more accessible and personal as a result.

Google did a great job with its Lawson tribute, not only eliciting the necessary nostalgia, but also giving players the chance to design their own version of a playable sequence. I especially like the way Doodle recreates the options to play other game sequences, and essentially highlights Lawson’s contribution.

Initiatives like this can get young gamers thinking about how games are conceptualized, and who knows if game making can be rethought from the core? I stand by that, does Lawson’s history provide us with more Lawson-like game makers?

Second, the story of Bushnell and Pong has been told several times, but his desire not to give up despite initial obstacles is something that we as players embody every time we decide not to give up in a game. One might find some parallels in Bushnell’s and Atari’s successes and failures, as well as our own gaming lives. Still, Pong will remain timeless for its re-creation of the tennis-like game, showing us not only how information systems relay and receive packets, but how, if skill and chance are incorporated, everyday life How interesting it will be.

So this week, take a look back at what two pioneers in the gaming industry have contributed. I am very interested in graffiti, time flies. You have to try and make sure to try to build your own playable scenarios.

Lawson and Bushnell! Two men redefining how the world experiences leisure.