1958 William Higinbothams Tennis for Two experiment shown at Brookhaven Laboratory. The experiment demonstrates interactive control of on-screen game play, though many today do not consider this to have been a real video game.

1962 The finished version of the mainframe computer game Spacewar! Is written at MIT. It will later inspire Nolan Bushnell to create Computer Space (1971).

1966 Ralph Baer writes a four-page paper describing his ideas for playing interactive games on ordinary television sets.

1971 The first coin-operated arcade video game, Nolan Bushnells Computer Space, appears.

1972 Ralph Baers Magnavox Odyssey, the first home video game system, is released. Nolan Bushnells PONG appears in the arcade becoming the first hit game.

1973 The arcade video game industry takes off, as many companies begin producing video games, including Chicago Coin, Midway, Ramtek,Taito, Allied Leisure, and Kee Games, which was secretly owned by Atari.

1974 Kee Gamess Tank is the first game to store graphics data on a ROM chip. Midways TV Basketball is the first arcade game to use human figures as avatars, instead of blocks or vehicles.

1975 Midways Gun Fight is the first game to use a microprocessor. Ataris Steeplechase is the first six-player arcade video game, and Kee Gamess Indy 800 is the first eight-player game, complete with a steering wheel and foot pedals for each of eight players (it also used a colorCRT).

1976 General Instrumentss AY-3-8500 chip is released, which had all the circuitry necessary for a video game on a single chip. The Fairchild/Zircon Channel F, the first cartridge-based home game system, is released. Ataris Night Driver is the first game to simulate a first-personperspective, though it did not have true 3-D graphics. Ataris Breakout is released.

1977 The home video game industry suffers its first crash, and many companies quit the industry. Ataris VCS home console system (later renamed the 2600) is released. In Japan, Nintendo releases its first home video game, Color TV Game 6. Kee Gamess arcade game Super Bug introduces 4-directional scrolling.

1978 Taitos Space Invaders appears and becomes the inspiration for many vertical shooting games to follow. Ataris arcade game Football introduces 2-directional scrolling.

1979 Vectorbeam releases Warrior, the first one-on-one fighting game. Ataris Asteroids and Lunar Lander, both vector graphics games, are released. Namcos Galaxian is the first game to have 100 percent of its graphics in RGB color (a standard used for color video using red, green, and blue signals). Namcos Puck-Man (later renamed Pac-Man) is released in Japan.

1980 Pac-Man is released in North America, and other influential games Battlezone, Defender also appear. Ataris Battlezone is the first arcade game to feature a true 3-D environment. Ultima becomes the first home computer game with 4-directional scrolling. Star Fire is the firstcockpit game, and the first arcade game to feature a high-score table using players initials.

1981 Nintendos Donkey Kong and Ataris Tempest are released. The United States arcade game industry reaches $5 billion.

1982 Gottliebs Q*bert is released. Segas arcade game Zaxxon becomes the first arcade game to be advertised on television. Late in the year, arcade game income drops, and it appears that another video game industry crash is coming, one that is larger than the 1977 crash.

1983 The video game industry crash affects the home video game industry. Nintendos Famicon system is released in Japan. Ataris I, Robot is the first raster video game with filled-polygon three-dimensional graphics. Ataris vector game Star Wars is released.

1984 The video game industry crash continues. Nintendo releases the Famicom system in Japan. RDI releases the Halcyon, a laserdisc-based home video game system.

1985 Nintendo releases a new version of its Famicon, renamed the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), in America. Its popularity helps to bring an end to the industry crash. Nintendo also releases Super Mario Bros., which becomes one of the best-selling games of all time. Alex Pajitnov designs Tetris.

1986 The Legend of Zelda appears (for the Nintendo Famicom), the first in a long series of Zelda games. Taitos Arkanoid and Bubble Bobble appear in arcades. Sega releases the Sega Master System (SMS).

1987 Cyans The Manhole becomes the first computer game to be released on CD-ROM. Yokai Douchuuki, the first 16-bit arcade game, is released in Japan. LucasArtss Maniac Mansion is the first adventure game with a point-and-click interface. Incentive Software releases Driller, a home computer game with breakthrough 3-D graphics.Taitos arcade game Double Dragon is released.

1988 Namcos Assault is released. Williamss NARC is the first game to use a 32-bit processor. Nintendo releases Super Mario Bros. 2.

1989 Atari releases the arcade games Hard Drivin and S.T.U.N. Runner. Gottliebs Exterminator is the first game to use all digitized imagery for its backgrounds. Two handheld video game consoles are released: Nintendos Game Boy and Ataris Lynx. The Sega Genesis home console system appears.

1990 Maxis releases Will Wrights SimCity, the first in a long line of Sim games. Nintendo releases Super Mario Bros. 3. Sega Game Gear is released in Japan. Squaresofts Final Fantasy series is introduced to North America.

1991 Nintendo releases the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) in North America. Capcom releases Street Fighter II. Sega releases the home video game Sonic the Hedgehog, the main character of which would go on to become Segas mascot. Philips Electronics releasesthe CD-i (compact disc interactive) system which uses compact discs.

1992 Midway releases the arcade game Mortal Kombat. Virgin Gamess The 7th Guest is released and becomes the best-selling home computer game. Sega releases Virtua Racing, a 3-D racing game. id Software releases Wolfenstein 3D, a 3-D home computer game. Virtualityreleases Dactyl Nightmare, an arcade game with a VR (virtual reality) headset and gun interface.1993 Cyans Myst is released and becomes the best-selling home computer game of all time, a title it will hold until 2002. id Software releases Doom. The World Wide Web goes worldwide. Sega releases Virtua Fighter, a 3-D fighting game. New home systems include the PioneerLaserActive CLD-A100 and the Atari Jaguar.

1994 Nintendo releases the home game Donkey Kong Country. The Sega Saturn and the Sony PlayStation are released in Japan. Ernest Adams forms the Computer Game Developers Association. Blizzard releases the real-time strategy game Warcraft. Sega releases the arcade game Daytona USA, a racing game with texture-mapping. SNKs NeoGeo home console system appears.

1995 The Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn make their North American debut. Nintendo releases Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddys Kong Quest. Blizzard releases Warcraft II.

1996 The Nintendo 64 appears in Japan and North America. Nintendo also releases the Virtual Boy, a portable game system with a separate screen for each eye which when combined creates a three-dimensional image. Digipen Institute of Technology becomes the first school to offer college degrees in video game development.

1997 The Nintendo 64 is released in Europe and Australia. DreamWorks, Sega, and Universal open the first GameWorks arcade in Seattle. Bandais Tamagotchi appears. Cyans Riven, the sequel to Myst, appears. Sega releases Top Skater, an arcade game with a skateboard interface. Nintendo releases Mario Kart 64. The MMORPG Ultima Online begins.

1998 Konami releases Dance Dance Revolution and the first games in its Beatmania series and GuitarFreaks series. The Nintendo Game Boy Color appears. Sierra Studios releases Half-Life. SNK releases the NeoGeo Pocket handheld video game system. Rockstar Games releases Grand Theft Auto.

1999 The Sega Dreamcast is released. The MMORPG EverQuest begins. Nintendo releases Donkey Kong 64. The Game Developers Conference holds the first Independent Games Festival. Tony Hawks Pro Skater is released. The MMORPG Asherons Call begins.

2000 Sonys PlayStation 2 appears. Nintendo sells its 100 millionth Game Boy console. Maxiss The Sims is released. The United States Post Office issues a stamp depicting video games.2001 Microsofts Xbox and the Nintendo GameCube appear. MidwayGames leaves the arcade video game industry. Bungie Studioss Halo: Combat Evolved appears. Sega announces that it will no longer develop home video game consoles

2002 The Sims overtakes Myst, and becomes the best-selling home computer game of all time. The MMORPG Sims Online begins. Sega releases Rez for the PlayStation 2. Microsofts Xbox Live online gaming service begins.

2003 The MMORPG Star Wars Galaxies begins. Nintendo stops production of the NES and SNES. Ataris Enter the Matrix is released. Cell phone company Nokia releases the N-Gage handheld video game system.

2004 Sony releases the PlayStation Portable in Japan, and the PlayStation 2 in China. Nintendo releases the Nintendo DS (dual screen) handheld video game system. Bungie releases Halo 2.

2005 Sony releases the PlayStation Portable in North America. Nintendo releases the Game Boy Micro. Microsoft releases the Xbox 360. Tiger Telematics releases the Gizmondo in England and North America. The Sims appears on postage stamps in France.

2006 The Nintendo Wii and Sonys PlayStation 3 are released. Microsoft releases the Xbox 360 in Australia.

2007 The MMORPG World of Warcraft is estimated to have more than 9 million players worldwide.

http://www.museumofplay.org/icheg-game-history/timeline/1940 - For the Westinghouse display at the World's Fair, Edward U. Condon designs a computer that plays the traditional game Nim in which players try to avoid picking up the last matchstick. Tens of thousands of people play it, and the computer wins at least 90% of the games.1947 Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann file a patent for a "cathode ray tube amusement device." Their game, which uses a cathode ray tube hooked to an oscilloscope display, challenges players to fire a gun at a target.1950 - Claude Shannon lays out the basic guidelines for programming a chess-playing computer in an article, "Programming a Computer for Playing Chess." That same year both he and Englishman Alan Turing create chess programs.1952 - A. S. Douglass creates OXO (a game known as noughts and crosses in the United Kingdom and tic-tac-toe in the United States) on Cambridge's EDSAC computer as part of his research on human-computer interactions.1954 - Programmers at New Mexico's Los Alamos laboratories, the birthplace of the atomic bomb, develop the first blackjack program on an IBM-701 computer.1955 - The long tradition of military wargaming enters the computer age when the U.S. military designs Hutspiel, in which Red and Blue players (representing NATO and Soviet commanders) wage war.1956 - Arthur Samuel demonstrates his computer checkers program, written on an IBM-701, on national television. Six years later the program defeats a checkers master.1957 - Alex Bernstein writes the first complete computer chess program on an IBM-704 computera program advanced enough to evaluate four half-moves ahead.1958 - Willy Higinbotham creates a tennis game on an oscilloscope and analog computer for public demonstration at Brookhaven National Laboratory in 1958. Although dismantled two years later and largely forgotten, it anticipated later video games such as Pong.1959 - Students at MIT create Mouse in the Maze on MIT's TX-0 computer. Users first draw a maze with a light pen, then a mouse navigates the labyrinth searching for cheese. In a revised version, a bibulous mouse seeks out martinis yet still somehow remembers the path it took.1960 - Computer programmer John Burgeson stays home sick from work at IBM and begins developing a computer baseball simulation. A month later (in January 1961), aided by his brother Paul, John runs this first-known baseball computer program on an IBM 1620 computer.1961 - he Raytheon Company develops a computer simulation of global Cold War conflict for the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. Although it is sophisticated and even models the benefits of arms control, the simulation proves too complex for users unfamiliar with computers, so Raytheon creates a more accessible analog version called "Grand Strategy."1962 - MIT student Steve Russell invents Spacewar!, the first computer-based video game. Over the following decade, the game spreads to computers across the country.1963 - Months after the Cuban Missile Crisis, the U.S. Defense Department completes a computer war game known as STAGE (Simulation of Total Atomic Global Exchange) which "shows" that the United States would defeat the Soviet Union in a thermonuclear war.1964 - Everyone is a programmer. That's the creed of Dartmouth's John Kemeny who creates the computer time-share system and BASIC programming language at Dartmouth. Both make it easy for students to write computer games. Soon, countless games are being created.1965 - A day after Dartmouth defeats Princeton 2814 in football to win the Ivy League championship, a Dartmouth student programs the first computer football game. Earlier that year, John Kemeny and Keith Bellairs had created the first computer game in BASIC.1966 - While waiting for a colleague at a New York City bus station, Ralph Baer conceives the idea of playing a video game on television. On September 1, he writes down his ideas that become the basis of his development of television video games.1967 - Ralph Baer develops his "Brown Box", the video game prototype that lets users play tennis and other games.1968 - Ralph Baer patents his interactive television game. Four years later Magnavox releases Odyssey, the first home video game system, based on his designs.1970 - Scientific American publishes the rules for LIFE in Martin Gardner's "Mathematical Games" column. In this simulation, isolated or overcrowded cells die, while others live and reproduce. Hackers rush to implement it on their computers, watching beautiful patterns emerge and change.1971 - Minnesota college students Don Rawitsch, Bill Heinemann, and Paul Dillenberger create Oregon Trail, a simulation of pioneers' westward trek. Originally played on a single teletype machine, Rawitsch later brought the game to the Minnesota Educational Computer Consortium (MECC) which distributed it nationally.1972 - Nolan Bushnell and Al Alcorn of Atari develop an arcade table tennis game. When they test it in Andy Capps Tavern in Sunnyvale, California, it stops working. Why? Because people played it so much it jammed with quarters. Pong, an arcade legend, is born.1973 - A year after launching the first general computer magazine, Creative Computing, David Ahl publishes 101 BASIC Computer Games, allowing gamers to become an ancient Sumerian king in HMRABI, find the creatures hiding in a grid in MUGWMP, and command the North versus the South in CIVILW.1974 - Two decades before Doom, Maze Wars introduces the first-person shooter by taking players into a labyrinth of passages made from wire-frame graphics.

1975 - Atari introduces its home version of Pong. Atari's founder, Nolan Bushnell, cannot find any partners in the toy business, so he sells the first units through the Sears Roebuck sporting goods department.1976 - Don Woods's version of the pioneering text-based game, Adventure (first created by William Crowther in 1975), plunges players into an imaginary world of caves with treasures. Inspired by Dungeons and Dragons, it paves the way for Zork and thousands of other computer role-playing games.1977 - Atari releases the Video Computer System, more commonly known as Atari 2600. Featuring a joystick, interchangeable cartridges, games in color, and switches for selecting games and setting difficulty levels, it makes millions of Americans home video game players.1978 - Taito's Space Invaders descends on Japan, causing a shortage of 100-yen coins. Within a year, 60,000 Space Invaders machines in the United States tempt Americans to spend millions of quarters driving back the seemingly unstoppable ranks of attacking aliens.1979 - Toy-maker Mattel supplements its handheld electronic games with a new console, the Intellivision. Intellivision has better graphics and more sophisticated controls than Atari 2600, and players love its sports games. Mattel sells three million Intellivision units.1980 - A missing slice of pizza inspires Namcos Toru Iwatani to create Pac-Man, which goes on sale in July 1980. That year a version of Pac-Man for Atari 2600 becomes the first arcade hit to appear on a home console. Two years later, Ms. Pac-Man strikes a blow for gender equality by becoming the best-selling arcade game of all time.1981 - Video game fans go ape over Nintendos Donkey Kong, featuring a character that would become world-famous: Jumpman. Never heard of him? Thats because hes better known as Mariothe name he took when his creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, makes him the star of a later game by Nintendo.1982 - Disney taps into the video game craze by releasing the movie Tron. An arcade game featuring many of the contests from the movie also becomes a hit.1983 - Multiplayer play takes a huge step forward with Dan Bunten's M.U.L.E. In the game, players compete to gather the most resources while saving their colony on the planet of Irata.1984 -Russian mathematician Alexey Pajitnov creates Tetris, a simple but addictive puzzle game. The game leaks out from behind the Iron Curtain, and four years later, Nintendo bundles it with every new Game Boy.1985 - The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) revives an ailing United States video game industry two years after the Nintendo Corporation released it in Japan as Famicom.1986 - The emerging educational software market leaps ahead with the introduction of The Learning Company's Reader Rabbit program. The educational computer business mushrooms with the introduction of CD-ROMs in the 1990s, but crashes with the rise of the Internet.

1987 - It's a good year for fantasy Role Playing Games, as Shigeru Miyamoto creates Legend of Zelda, SSI wins the video game license for Dungeons and Dragons, and Sierra's Leisure Suit Larry gives players a different kind of adult role playing game.1988 - John Madden Football introduces gridiron realism to computer games, making this gameand its many console sequelsperennial best-sellers.1989 - Nintendo's Game Boy popularizes handheld gaming. Game Boy is not the first handheld system with interchangeable cartridgesMilton Bradley introduced Microvision 10 years earlierbut it charms users with its good game play, ease of use, and long battery life.1990 - Microsoft bundles a video game version of the classic card game solitaire with Windows 3.0. Millions of users who would not normally pick up a game console find they enjoy playing computer games. Solitaire becomes one of the most popular electronic games ever and provides a gaming model for quick, easy-to-play, casual games like Bejeweled1991 - Sega needs an iconic hero for its Genesis (known as Mega Drive in Japan) system and finds it in Sonic the Hedgehog. Gamers, especially in the United States, snap up Sega systems and love the little blue guy's blazing speed and edgy attitude.1992 - Westwood Studios' Dune II establishes the popularity of real-time strategy games that require players to act as military leaders deploying their resources and forces on the fly in order to defeat opponents.1993 - Concern about bloodshed in games such as Mortal Kombat prompts United States Senate hearings on video game violence. The controversy riles the industry and prompts the creation of a video game rating system. Ironically, that same year the game Doom popularizes "first person shooters."1994 - Blizzard releases Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, a real-time strategy game that introduces millions of players to the legendary world of Azeroth.1995 - Sony releases PlayStation in the United States, selling for $100 less than Sega Saturn. The lower price point, along with the arrival of Nintendo 64 in 1996, weakens Sega's home console business. When Sony PlayStation 2 debuts in 2000, it becomes the dominant home console and Sega exits the home console business.1996 - Lara Croft debuts as the star of Eidos's adventure game Tomb Raider. Players love her, but critics charge that she's an example of sexism in video games.1997 - Machine triumphs over man as IBM's supercomputer chess program Deep Blue defeats world champion Gary Kasparov in a match.1998 - Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time transports players to the richly imagined world of Hyrule, full of engaging characters, thought-provoking puzzles, and the most memorable musical instrument to ever appear in a video game.

1999 - Sony Online Entertainment's Everquest leads hundreds of thousands of users to join guilds, fight monsters, and level up in the multiplayer online world of Norrath.2000 - Will Wright's The Sims models real life. It is not the first simulation gameUtopia on Intellivision (1982), Peter Molyneaux's Populous (1989), Sid Meieris Civilization (1991), and Wrightis own SimCity (1989) preceded itbut it becomes the best-selling computer game ever and the most popular game with female players.2001 - Microsoft enters the video game market with Xbox and hit games like Halo: Combat Evolved. Four years later, Xbox 360 gains millions of fans with its advanced graphics and seamless online play.2002- The U.S. Army releases America's Army video game to help recruit and communicate with a new generation of electronic gamers, and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars launches the Serious Games Initiative to encourage the development of games that address policy and management issues.2003 - Valve energizes PC gaming with its release of Steam. The digital distribution platform allows players to download, play, and update games.2004 - Nintendo maintains its dominance of the handheld market with the Nintendo DS, an easy-to-use, portable gaming system packed with two processors, two screens, multiplayer capabilities, and a stylus for the touchscreen. Great games like Super Mario Kart DS helped too.2005 - Microsoft's Xbox 360 brings high-definition realism to the game market, as well as even better multiplayer competitions on Xbox Live and popular titles such as Alan Wake.2006 - Nintendo Wii gets gamers off the couch and moving with innovative, motion-sensitive remotes. Not only does Nintendo make gaming more active, it also appeals to millions of people who never before liked video games.2007 - Grab your guitar, microphone, bass, or drums, and start playing Rock Band. That's what millions of would-be musicians did with Harmonix's hit title.2008 - More than 10 million worldwide subscribers make World of Warcraft the most popular massively multiplayer online (MMO) game. MMOs create entire virtual universes for players and redefine how we play, learn, and relate to each other.2009 - Social games like Farmville and mobile games like Angry Birds shake up the games industry. Millions of people who never would have considered themselves gamers now while away hours playing games on new platforms like Facebook and the iPhone.2010 - The indie game movement comes of age with the tremendous popularity of Minecraft, the addictive brick-building game from Swedish developer Markus Persson.

2011 - Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure becomes the first augmented-reality hit by letting players place plastic figures on a Portal of Power to zap characters into the game. Two years later Disney Infinity joins the ranks of toy-video game hybrids. (Infinity)2012 - Crowdfunding site Kickstarter enables game creators to raise millions of dollars to produce new and experimental play platforms such as the OUYA console and the Oculus Rift.2013 - Gone Home, The Last of Us, and Papers, Please usher in a new wave of mature video game stories that confront players with tough emotional choices in ethically-complex worlds. (Literature Game : https://incenseinthecobwebs.wordpress.com/2015/01/30/gaming-as-literature-gone-home/)2014 - "Free-to-play" becomes a dominant business model as blockbusters like CrossFire, League of Legends, World of Tanks, and even Kim Kardashian: Hollywood achieve sales in the hundreds of millions of dollars through microtransaction payments for in-game items and premium content.

Read more: Timeline: Video Games | Part II: 1975-1985 http://www.infoplease.com/spot/gamestimeline2.html#ixzz3UrNwyp1q1958 Physicist Willy Higinbotham invents the first "video game" at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York. His game, a table tennis-like game, was played on an oscilloscope.1961 Steve Russell, a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), creates Spacewar, the first interactive computer game. It runs on a Digital PDP-1 mainframe computer, and the graphics are made up of ASCII text characters.1966 Ralph Baer, an engineer at Sanders Associates, receives support from his company (a military electronics consulting firm in NH) to explore his idea of creating interactive games using a television.1967 Baer and team are successful in creating two interactive TV gamesa chase game and a tennis game. They are also able to manipulate a toy gun so that it detects spots of light on the TV screen.1970 Magnavox licenses Baer's TV game from Sanders Associates. | Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney (future founders of Atari) begin their attempt to create an arcade version of Spacewar, calling it Computer Space.1971 Computer Space becomes first video arcade game ever released. 1500 games are distributed. Public consensus is that it is too difficult to play.1972 April 25. A U.S. patent is issued to Ralph Baer for "A Television Gaming Apparatus and Method" | May 24. Magnavox's Odyssey, the first home video game system, is showcased at a convention in Burlingame, CA, and is released to the public later that year. | Bushnell and Dabney found Atari. They name the company after a term from the Japanese game "Go". "Atari" is equivalent to "check" in a chess game. | Al Alcorn is hired by Atari to program video games. The first game created by Atari is Pong. Ping-Pong, the original name, is already copyrighted, so the makers name it Pong after the sound of a ball hitting the paddle.1975 Atari's Pong is released with help from Sears Roebuck, which finances the production of 150,000 units. It becomes the hottest selling Christmas present. Sears sells the product exclusively, with the Sears Tele-Games logo. Gunfight, the first "computer" game is released. It is the first game to use a microprocessor instead of hardwired solid-state circuits.1976 Coleco releases its first home video-game console called Telstar. Fairfield Camera & Instrument debuts its Video Entertainment System which is known later as Channel F. The first programmable (cartridge-based) home game console, it allowed users to change games by switching cartridges that resembled 8-track audio tapes.1977 Atari introduces its first cartridge-based home video system called the Video Computer System which later becomes known as the Atari 2600. It retails for $249.95.1978 The trackball makes its entrance into the video-game industry as the controller in Atari's new arcade game Football. Midway introduces Space Invaders into arcades. It is the first arcade game that tracks and displays high scores. Atari attempts to enter the computer industry to compete with Apple. The product is not taken seriously, and the Atari 400 and 800 are taken from the market.1979 Atari develops a handheld console that displays holograms. Named "Cosmos," this product was never released. Asteroids is the first game to allow high scorers to enter three character initials to be stored in the machine.1980 Mattel's Intelivision debuts and is the first real competitor of the Atari 2600. It has better graphics than Atari's 2600, but a higher retail price ($299). | Activision becomes the first third-party video game vendor. The company is created by Atari programmers who want to receive individual credit for creating Atari's video games. | Battlezone is first 3-D game ever created. It is set in a virtual battlefield and was later enhanced by the U.S. government for training exercises. | 300,000 units of Pac-Man are released worldwide by Namco. | Defender, the first game incorporating a "virtual world" is introduced. The game uses a "radar" scope at the top of the screen to inform users of the surroundings since the screen is too small to display all of the action.1981 Arnie Katz and Bill Kunkel found the first video-game magazine, Electronic Games.1982 Atari releases the Atari 5200 to compete with Coleco's Colecovision.1983 Cinematronics debuts Rick Dyer's Dragon Lair, the first video game to feature laser-disc technology. | The Commodore 64 is introduced. It is the most powerful video-game console to date and the least expensive. | Nintendo introduces the Famicom in Japanlater known as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in the U.S. Since Atari controls such a large percentage of the market, they do not plan to market the product in the U.S. Instead the company offers Atari the rights to distribute the product in the U.S. These plans fall through and Americans do not see Nintendo until 1985.1985 The popular game Tetris is developed by Russian programmer Alex Pajitnov. It is played on a PC.1986 Nintendo's NES is released in the U.S. after being test-marketed in NY one year earlier. | To compete with the NES, Sega introduces the Sega Master System (SMS). | Atari releases the Atari 7800 to stay competitive in the market.1989 Nintendo releases the handheld Game Boy for $109. | NEC releases the first 16-bit console in the U.S. It is called the TurboGrafx-16 and sold for $189. It is the first system to run video games stored on compact discs. | The true arcade experience comes into American homes when Sega debuts the Genesis, its first 16-bit home game console, for $249.95. | Atari tries to enter the handheld market with the Lynx, a color handheld console retailing for $149.1991 Super NES is released in the U.S. by Nintendo for $249.95.1993 Atari releases the Jaguar, attempting to be the first 64-bit console on the market. The product actually runs two 32-bit processors. | Senators Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and Herbert Kohl of Wisconsin launch a Senate investigation into violence in video games, hoping to initiate a ban on violent games.1994 Resulting from the Senate investigation, the Entertainment Software Rating Board is created. Rating are now given to video games and are marked on the games' packaging to indicate the suggested age of players and violent content. | In Japan, the Sega Saturn and the Sony PlayStation make their debut.1995 Sony brings the PlayStation to the U.S. and sells the console for $299. | Nintendo releases the Nintendo 64 in Japan (it's released in the U.S. in 1996).1996 Arcades focus on bringing in more "ride-and-video" games like skiing, snowboarding, and Jet Skiing, as their popularity has surpassed the popularity of shooting and fighting games. | Atari's founder, Nolan Bushnell, reenters the industry making Internet stations for arcades and bars. | The Tamagotchi virtual pet becomes an instant sensation in Japan. It is released in the U.S. in May of that year selling all of its 30,000-unit supply in 3 days.1997 PlayStation is considered by many in the industry as most popular game console as the 20 millionth unit is sold. | Tiger introduces a multipurpose handheld console to compete with the Game Boy. Called game.com, it features games, an address book, calculator, and stylus for touchscreen capability. It also connects to a PC modem for access to email. | Arizona attempts to restrict the distribution of violent video games by making it illegal to display or distribute violent material to minors. The proposed bill is not approved.1998 Sega introduces the Dreamcast in Japan. This console operates on Microsoft Windows CE which will allow for easier conversions between Dreamcast and PC games. | The Wal-Mart retail chain decides to ban over 50 video games that it deems inappropriate for minors.1999 Billy Mitchell attains a score of 3,333,360 in the game Pac-Man. This is the highest possible score a player can get. | As a result of the shootings that occurred at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, Sega announces that it will not release a light gun with the Dreamcast in the U.S. In addition, it prevents use of imported guns with American consoles, which forces the Americans to use standard controllers to play the popular House of the Dead 2.2000 Sony's PlayStation 2 launches in the U.S. for $299.99 and is sold out by early morning. Since the demand is so high and only 500,000 units are available, it is very difficult to buy a unit during this first shipment. | The Sims is released, and quickly becomes a hit. It eventually (in 2002) surpasses Myst as the best-selling PC game ever.2001 Microsoft and Nintendo introduce their next-generation systems within days of each other. Microsoft claims its Xbox offers "the most powerful game experiences ever." The product (estimated retail price of $299.99) comes with a built-in hard drive and Ethernet port. Nintendo's GameCube (suggested retail price of $199.95) delivers new forms of interactive gaming for players and an easier development environment for game creators. | Sega announces that it will no longer manufacture hardware. | Nintendo releases the GameBoy Advance, a portable gaming system.2004 Nintendo releases the Nintendo DS, a portable system with two screens, one of which can be used as a touch screen.2005 Sony releases the PSP, a portable system with a large, high-resolution display. | Microsoft unveils the XBox 360, a console system to be released in November 2005. Sony and Nintendo's competing console systems are planned for release in 2006.2006 Nintendo releases the Wii, a gaming system that lets gamers use the controller in revolutionary ways, such as swinging it like a tennis racket, holding and tilting it like a steering wheel, and more. | Sony also debuts the Playstation 3, a very sophisticated and expensive game system.2007 Nintendo releases Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii. It continues the adventures of Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach as they face their old foe Bowser.2008 Grand Theft Auto 4 breaks sales records its first week after gamers bought more than 6 million copies. | The Wii Fit is launched, adding even more incentive for gamers of all ages to get up and move! | Social gaming takes shape with Farmville and Angry Birds, enthralling millions of new players. Facebook and cellphones allow easy access to these addictive games. | With over 40 million units sold, Nintendo's Wii Sports becomes the best-selling video game of all time. The previous record holder was another Nintendo game: Super Mario Bros.2010 New motion control systems--Sony's PlayStation Move and Microsoft Kinect--let players interact in a more immersive way, doing away with controllers and letting players use their bodies instead.2011 Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim showcases the beauty, majesty, and massiveness of video games as players explore a seemingly endless, beautifully rendered fantasy world.2013 Both Sony (PlayStation 4) and Microsoft (XBox One) release new gaming platforms this year. Offering social connection through "next generation cooperative and competitive multiplayer play," these systems offer amazing graphics and speed.2014 Microsoft acquires Mojang and its immensely popular indie brick-building game, Minecraft, which Swedish creator Markus Persson debuted in 2009. Purchase price is $2.5 billion.

Read more: Timeline: Video Games | Part IV: 1995-present http://www.infoplease.com/spot/gamestimeline4.html#ixzz3UrOHnJ00

http://www.adigitaldreamer.com/articles/history-of-video-games.htmThe History of Video GamesVideo game history reaches back to games using early computers, and progresses forward into who knows what. A brief video game timeline:1958 - Creation of "Ping pong" tennis on an oscilloscope screen by William Higinbotham at Brookhaven National Laboratory.1961 - Development of Spacewar on a PDP-1 at MIT for the Science Open House.1972 - The first commercially available home videogame for TV was launched, called Odyssey - complex, with many electronic components, and very expensive.1972 - Nolan Bushnell forms Atari to develop games, and produces Pong, a simple tennis game for arcades.1974 - Atari produce a home version of Pong.1974 - Nintendo, a Japanese toy manufacturer produce an electronic version of the Japanese game "Go".1978 - Space Invaders is released by Tatio, and two micro computers are released for commercial sale - the Commodore PET and the Atari.1980 - Pacman is released in Japan, to be played on a micro home computer.1983 - Nintendo release their first computer, and Mario is released at the same time. 1985 - Nintendo release the NES1989 - First hand held machine from Nintendo, called "Game Boy". Tetris is produced for the Game Boy in Russia.1989 - Sega releases the Sega Genesis1991 - Sonic is produced by Sega in response to Nintendo's Mario. 1994 - Sony releases the PlayStation in Japan1996 - Nintendo releases the Nintendo 641999 - Dreamcast - 128 bit processor - is released in the UK.2001 - PlayStation 2 is released.2001 - In September, Nintendo releases the Gamecube2001 - In November, Microsoft enters the console market with the Xbox. Halo is released at launch, boosting sales.

2005 - In November, Microsoft releases the Xbox 3602006 - In April, Nintendo releases the Wii2006 - In November, Sony releases the PlayStation 32009 - In April, Nintendo releases the Nintendo DSI2011 - In March, Nintendo releases the 3DS2012 - In February, Sony releases the PS Vita2012 - In November, Nintendo releases the Wii U2013 - In November, Sony releases the PS42013 - In November, Microsoft releases the Xbox OneThe video game timeline begins to reveal how video gaming has become a part of our culture, and video game history will continue to be created over the next years