Product Description

THE REAL STORY BEHIND VIDEOGAMES Long before there was a Sony Playstation, Microsoft Xbox or Nintendo Gamecube, there was the Magnavox Odyssey, the world’s first home videogame console. But the story of videogames predates the Odyssey by six years. It begins in 1966 when a television engineer named Ralph H. Baer sat down at a New York bus station and entered history. Videogames: In The Beginning is Ralph H. Baer’s account of how today’s $11-billion per year videogame industry began. A meticulous note keeper, Baer presents in his own words the real story of what led to the Odyssey… and beyond. But he doesn’t end there. In this book Baer also examines other products that he has worked on such as Simon, the most popular electronic toy ever created. He also discusses his pioneering work into early forms of CD-ROMs and digital imagery. Whether you are a student of videogame design, a game player, or a fan of inventions and history, you are sure to find Baer’s history fascinating and informative. Included in this book are: • The actual four-page treatise that Baer presented to his employers • Original schematics and photos of the first videogame prototypes • Original top secret internal notes and memos • Original United States patents

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #895513 in Books
• Published on: 2005-04-26
• Released on: 2005-04-26
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 280 pages

Review
Videogames: In The Beginning is a remarkable document. Anyone who gives a damn about videogame history must own a copy. --Zach Meston, PSE2 Magazine, January 2005

About the Author
Mr. Ralph H. Baer is an electronic engineer and engineering consultant with nearly 60 years of hands-on engineering management and product licensing experience. Mr. Baer has over 150 US and foreign patents. He is probably best known as the "Father of Videogames" and holds the pioneer patent covering video games. His work in the sixties resulted in the Magnavox Odyssey game system which was the first commercial home videogame. His early videogame hardware already resides in such places as the Smithsonian and the Japanese National Science Museum. For over fifty years Mr. Baer has been active in both the commercial and defense electronics development and production business; and in electronic toy and game invention, design and licensing. Many well-known handheld electronic toys such as Milton-Bradley's Simon came from his lab.

Customer Reviews

"In the beginning" from the man who said"Let there be light"
Ralph Baer is the genius who ushered in the age of videogames with his "brown box" and the Magnavox Odyssey. If you were unfamiliar with his name, or just want to read about the incredibly influential, varied and imaginative work of a true artisan - get this book!

I've spent over a decade chronicling the history of videogames through the museum exhibit VIDEOTOPIA and I'd suggest you don't miss out on this book. To get such a detailed and intimate look at a true pioneer of the digital age is a rare, rare treat. Ralph Baer is a gentleman, a scholar and an inventor of incredible skill. You'll be amazed at the extent of his creations (and just how many of them that you are familiar with - you just didn't know HE created them!)

Videogames are the sole reason for the information revolution that we are living through today. There might have been an internet without them - but without them, there'd be no one ON that internet except for academics. There is simply no reason for computers to have all the vast capabilities that they have today in speed and visualization if their sole purposes were for word processing and spreadsheets. Videogames are the engine that have driven the industry, and Ralph Baer was the first one to turn the key and fire that engine up.

Owning this book is like being able to page through Edison's notebooks or thumb through Columbus's diaries as he charted a course for a new world... Just like Columbus, Ralph Baer did chart a course to a new world (and just like Columbus - he couldn't conceive of exactly what that world we be like, or where the discoveries would take us)... and you are looking for books within it right now!

Review -- "Videogames: In the Beginning"
All I knew about Baer was that he's the controversial inventor of videogame console systems. I was skeptical of the stories I'd heard, but decided to give his side a read.

I am now convinced: even if the concept of videogames had never been a part of his life, he is still a man to be revered by us computer nerds, and his life story would still be worth reading, still one the rest of us can learn from - I sure did.

(To read the full review, please visit http://news.computercollector.com)