Hobbies And Interests
Definition
Most gaming historians and journalists agree that the first generation began in 1972 with the release of the Magnavox Odyssey, and lasted until 1976, when the Coleco Telstar hit markets. The primary descriptor for first generation consoles, and what sets them apart from second generation machines, is the lack of true microprocessing, as in a CPU, graphics chip, sound chip and so on. Another divide is storage--first gen consoles initially came pre-loaded with games, while second gen models moved on to portable media, namely cartridges, and had entire catalogs of different genres to choose from.
Pre-first generation
The two most acknowledged early video games are Space War, developed by Steve Russell, Martin Graetz and Wayne Wiitanen at MIT in 1961, and before that Tennis for Two (1958) by William Higinbotham. The latter barely qualified as a video game because it didn't use any dedicated electronics and simply manipulated the existing display of an industrial control unit. However, both left an impression and through word of mouth pioneered the notion of computing as a pastime.
Pong
Nolan Bushnell's famous Pong arcade game was a huge hit in 1971, paving the way for greater acceptance of gaming in the general public. Its release predates the founding of Atari, and at the time Bushnell wasn't sure home video gaming could even succeed, hence his late entrance to the market. Despite this, Atari became the leader in the second generation only a few years later--and Pong is still remembered as gaming's first classic contribution to popular culture.
Magnavox Odyssey
This was the first console to hit the streets, picked up by electronics manufacturer Magnavox in 1971, when they wisely recognized gaming as about to take off. It came out 1972, costing $100 and lacking a computer in the current sense of the word. All it had were 40 solid state transistors to generate rudimentary moving shapes on a screen. There was no audio, and color came in the form of stickers gamers places on screens. The console could originally only play 12 pre-loaded games.
The Odyssey was the closest of the first gen bunch to what would later be a typical console--it was the only one with detached controllers, and later even allowed additional games, coded onto tiny circuit boards.
The original design came from famed German-American engineer Ralph Baer, who dubbed it "the brown box" due to its wood grain paneling and plastic casing.
Atari Pong
By 1975, Nolan Bushnell and his partners started to believe home gaming was a viable venture, and so Atari's first proper product was the console version of the hit arcade game. Actually it was Pong on a console, being the only title the machine could play. There were no controllers, players used knobs on the console itself. Sears had exclusive distribution in the United States for most of this machine's tenure.
Coleco Telstar
Not much of an addition to the lineup, this one was essentially a Pong clone and even had a similar physical layout to that used by Atari's console. It is notable for deploying a relatively advanced chip, the General Instruments AY-3-8500, the most capable and modern component of all those making up the first generation.
Legacy
None of these consoles sold especially well. Atari Pong was likely the most successful thanks to mainstream distribution, but the original Odyssey only sold 300,000 units, possibly because Magnavox refused to let other merchants distribute it. The Coleco Telstar sold poorly, as well.
What these early consoles did succeed in doing is setting an example and getting noticed. Despite weak financial returns and a lackluster public response, they made gaming into a known hobby and helped legitimize it. Within less than a year of the Telstar's launch and quick demise, Atari was impressed enough to release the Atari VCS 2600, the first big seller in home gaming, and the one console most responsible for shaping video games as a hobby to this day.