S2 E1: Spacewar! Or Pong Wasn’t the First Video Game?

Computers were built for war. Specifically, calculating artillery bombardments. It wasn’t until a group of students at MIT, uninterested by the traditional, often painfully practical, applications of computers, challenged themselves to create a game, that the true potential of interactive entertainment became clear. But of course, it was about war. 1969’s Spacewar! is often considered the first real computer, and thus video game though there were cruder examples before it. This week on Gameography we begin our season long exploration of the history of gaming on the PC.