The Odyssey originally included twelve games, with eleven more games and a shooting gun attachment marketed shortly thereafter. The Odyssey and its later versions did not have sound capability. In that way the Odyssey was very similar to traditional board games. In reality, games were mostly played with the accessories instead of the simple graphics on the screen. Depending on the game, the light, which showed through the overlay, could be a race car, a baseball, a hockey puck, etc.ĭifferent games could be played on the same circuit card by simply changing the acetate television screen overlay, which simulated background color graphics, and by using a different set of accompanying accessories: game boards and pieces, scorecards, chips, maps, etc. Rather, it altered the signal path in the machine to change the light output coming through the television screen. The card did not contain the actual game program, though. To play a game, one inserted a circuit card (similar to a game cartridge) into the console. The game console looks similar to today's games, but its functions were not. ![]() Magnavox released it in the fall of 1972, but Baer had already created a functional prototype a few years earlier. Ralph Baer, often considered the "father of video games" designed the Odyssey. It demonstrated that the home console system would work and that there was a viable market. The Odyssey brought the arcade experience into the home and helped pave the way for the next generation of home video games such as the 1970s icon Pong. For that reason, most later "Pong" games had an explanation on their box saying "Works on any television set, black and white or color". Sales of the console were hurt by poor marketing by Magnavox retail stores, in addition to many consumers being led to believe that the Odyssey would work only on Magnavox televisions. While inferior graphically and with a smaller library than it’s competitors, the Odyssey2 managed to last until the crash of 1983. When the Fairchild Channel F and the Atari 2600 released in 19 respectively, which both featured programmable ROM cartridges, Magnavox responded with the Odyssey2 (also known as the Philips Videopac G7000 or the Philips Odyssey). However, the games were all included on the circuitry the cartridges were nothing more than a series of jumpers to select the game. Baer has earned the title of "The Father of Television Games.Magnavox released the first video game console, the Odyssey, in September 1972, predating the Pong machines by three years. For his contribution to the industry, Ralph H. Within a decade of the launch of the Odyssey video game consoles had become a ubiquitous part of the cultural landscape. Although not a commercial success, Baer played a key role in the creation of this new form of electronic entertainment. Odyssey 2 was a full-color programmable home video game system released in 1978. Magnavox discontinued production in 1975. First year sales topped only 100,000 units, much to the disappointment of Magnavox executives and Baer alike. In an effort to revive their marketing campaign, Magnavox ran a series of commercials featuring the iconic singer Frank Sinatra. This marketing miscue, combined with a steep $100 price tag, led to rather sluggish sales. Odyssey consoles were available only through Magnavox dealers, and their ad campaign led to the misconception that the system only worked when paired with a Magnavox television. Magnavox began promoting the Odyssey Home Entertainment System in 1972, widely distributing flyers introducing consumers to their "exciting electronic game center." The marketing challenge was the fact that the general public could not relate to an electronic game the term had yet to enter our cultural lexicon. The project won support from Magnavox executive Gerry Martin in 1971, and they transformed the prototype into the Magnavox Odyssey (Model 1TL200), the world's first commercial home video game console. ![]() Baer and a team from Sanders pitched the idea to a number of major North American television manufacturers. By 1968, Baer's team produced a working sample known as the "Brown Box," an odd looking assortment of wires, diodes and batteries. Baer, along with several colleagues from the electronics firm Sanders Associates, began work on a prototype television game system in the fall of 1966. ![]() During the mid-1960s, he set out to develop a device that would allow American consumers-40 million of whom owned televisions-to use their screens for something other than watching network programming. Baer is the technological pioneer responsible for the development of the first home video game system.
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