Pong

Pong (or Tele-Pong) was a first generation video game published by Atari., created by Nolan Bushnell and released on November 29, 1972. Pong is based on the sport of table tennis (or ping pong). The word Pong is a trademark of Atari Interactive, while the generic word "pong" is used to describe the "bat and ball" genre of video games. The popularity of Pong led to a successful patent infringement lawsuit by the makers of Magnavox Odyssey, who owned a similar game that Atari's Pong had clearly been inspired by after a visit from Bushnell to the Magnavox offices where he saw a demonstration of it.

Pong was the first commercially successful video game, and helped establish the video game industry along with Magnavox Odyssey. Shortly after its release, several companies began producing games that imitated it. Eventually, Atari's competitors released new types of video games which deviated from the original Pong format to various degrees, and this, in turn, led Atari to encourage its staff to go further. of 'Pong' and produce more innovative games themselves.

Atari released several sequels to Pong that build on the original game by adding new features. During the 1975 Christmas season, Atari released a home version of Pong exclusively through Sears stores. The home version was also a commercial success, spawning numerous clones. The game was remade on numerous handheld and home platforms after its release.

Game

Pong is a two-dimensional sports game that simulates table tennis. The player controls a paddle in the game by moving it vertically on the left side of the screen, and can compete against either a computer-controlled opponent or another human player who controls a second paddle on the opposite side. Players can use the paddles to hit the ball one way or the other. The objective is for one of the players to score more points than the opponent at the end of the game. These points are obtained when the opposing player fails to return the ball.

Development and history

Although other video games from the previous two decades existed before it, such as OXO (running on a unique computer in the world) and after this Spacewar! under DEC's PDP-1, they were, in mostly experimental projects: Pong is considered by many to be the most important of the first generation of modern video games, due to the fact that it was the first to be commercialized on a mass level and not run on single machines.

Original Recreational Pong at the Public Museum of Neville, Wisconsin.

Pong was the first game developed by Atari Inc, founded in June 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. After producing the game Computer Space, Bushnell he decided to form a company to produce more games by licensing other companies to use his ideas. His first contract was with Bally Technologies for a driving game.Shortly after the founding, Bushnell hired Allan Alcorn for his background in electrical engineering and computer science; Nolan had also previously worked with him at Ampex. Prior to working at Atari, Alcorn had no experience with video games.

Unlike OXO, which operated in the EDSAC with valves and took up the entire floor of a building, the Pong board is electronically similar to the PDP-1 through the use of transistors, capacitors, resistors, etc. It belongs to the second generation of computers and occupies a space of a few square meters.

Although the first microprocessor already existed, made by Intel in 1970, it was not yet used due to its recent market launch, high cost, lack of documentation and little capacity; however, its predecessor, the Atari 2600 console, was in development, with its MOS Technology 6507 CPU that brought the video game Pong into the category of third-generation computers until 1975.

Pong was the first game developed by Atari. After producing Computer Space, Bushnell decided to form a company to produce more games by licensing ideas to other companies. The first contract was with Bally Manufacturing Corporation for a driving game.Shortly after the founding, Bushnell hired Allan Alcorn because of his expertise in electrical and computer engineering; Bushnell and Dabney had also previously worked with him at Ampex. Prior to working at Atari, Alcorn had no experience with video games. To acclimatize Alcorn to creating games, Bushnell gave him a project that was secretly intended to be a training exercise. Bushnell told Alcorn that he had a contract with General Electric for a product, and asked Alcorn to create a simple game with a moving point, two paddles, and digits for keeping score. In 2011, Bushnell claimed that the game was inspired by earlier versions of electronic tennis he had played before.; Bushnell played a version of a PDP-1 computer in 1964 while attending college. However, Alcorn has claimed that it was in direct response to Bushnell's viewing of the Magnavox Odyssey tennis game. In May 1972, Bushnell had visited the Magnavox Profit Caravan in Burlingame, California where he played a demo of the Magnavox Odyssey, specifically the table tennis game. Although he thought the game lacked quality, seeing him prompted Bushnell to assign the project to Alcorn.

Alcorn first examined Bushnell's schematics for Computer Space, but found them unreadable. He went on to create his own designs based on his knowledge of transistor-to-transistor logic and Bushnell's game. Feeling that the basic game was too boring, Alcorn added features to make the game more appealing. He divided the paddle into eight segments to change the ball's return angle. For example, the center segments return the ball at a 90° angle relative to the paddle, while the outer segments return the ball at smaller angles. It also made the pilota speed up when more time was on the line; losing the ball resets speed. Another feature was that the game's paddles could not reach the top of the screen. This was caused by a simple circuit that had an inherent flaw. Rather than spend time fixing the bug, Alcorn decided it made the game more difficult and helped limit the amount of time it could be played; he imagined that two skilled players could play forever and ever otherwise.

After three months of development, Bushnell told Alcorn that he wanted the game to feature realistic sound effects and a roaring crowd. Dabney wanted the game to "blow" and "whistle" when a player lost a round. Alcorn had little space available for the necessary electronics and was unaware of how to create these sounds with digital circuitry. After inspecting the sync generator, he discovered that it could generate different tones and used them for the game's sound effects. To build the prototype, Alcorn purchased a black and white Hitachi television set for $75 from a local store, installed it in a 1.2m wooden arcade machine, and soldered the wires on boards to create the necessary circuits. The prototype so impressed Bushnell and Dabney that they thought it could be a profitable product and decided to try commercialization.

The prototype Pong used in the tavern.

In August 1972, Bushnell and Alcorn installed the prototype Pong at a local bar, Andy Capp's Tavern. They selected the bar because of its good working relationship with the The bar's owner and manager, Bill Gaddis; Atari supplied Gaddis with pinball machines. Bushnell and Alcorn placed the prototype on one of the tables near the other entertainment machines: a record box, pinball machines, and the Computer Space. The game was well received on the first night and its popularity continued to grow over the next several weeks. Bushnell then went on a business trip to Chicago to demonstrate Pong to executives at Bally and Midway Manufacturing; he intended to use Pong to fulfill his contract with Bally, instead of the driving game. A few days later, the prototype began to have technical problems and Gaddis contacted Alcorn to solve it. Upon inspecting the machine, Alcorn discovered that the problem was that the coin mechanism was overrunning.

After learning of the game's success, Bushnell decided that Atari would make more profit from manufacturing the game rather than licensing it, but Bally and Midway's interest had already been piqued. Bushnell decided to inform each of the two groups that the other was not interested in—Bushnell told Bally executives that Midway executives did not want him and vice versa—to preserve future relationships. Upon hearing Bushnell's comment, the two groups rejected his offer. Bushnell had difficulty finding financial support for Pong; the banks saw it as a variant of pinball, which the general public then associated with the mafia. Atari eventually obtained a line of credit from Wells Fargo to use to expand its facilities to house an assembly line. The company announced Pong on November 29, 1972. Management sought workers from assembly at the local unemployment office, but could not keep up with the demand. The first arcade machines to be produced were assembled very slowly, approximately ten machines a day, many of which failed quality tests. Eventually, Atari streamlined the process and began mass-producing the game. In 1973 they began shipping Pong to other countries with the help of foreign partners.

In some countries, clones of it were marketed under the name Telematch, there were even television models that included it in their own circuitry. The basic operation is very simple: there are two white rectangles facing each other on a black board that move up and down and a small square or ball that bounces on these rectangles and the top and bottom edges of the screen making a repetitive sound. In short, it tries to be a simulation of table tennis, although in the end it ends up being something very similar to aerial shuffleboard. Each time one of the two opponents, who control one of the opposing rectangles, lets the ball pass, their opponent wins a point. Later many variants were created: Pong in 3D, new versions that contained some innovations, although the basic game remains the same.

The impact it had on the development of the video game industry was very high. Not only did it spark one of the first patent fights between entertainment brands, where Atari had to pay Magnavox licensing damages for $700,000, it was the guilty of the growth that the nascent industry had in arcades, the first home entertainment systems and the appearance of new companies dedicated to its development.

Domestic version

The console Home Pong Atari, launched through Sears in 1975

After the success of Pong, Bushnell pushed his employees to create new products. In 1974, Atari engineer Harold Lee proposed a home version of Pong that would be connected to a television: Home Pong. The system began development under the code name Darlene, named after an Atari employee. Alcorn worked with Lee to develop the designs and prototype, based on the same digital technology used in his arcade games. The two worked in shifts to save time and money; Lee worked on the design logic during the day, while Alcorn debugged the designs at night. After the designs were approved, fellow Atari engineer Bob Brown helped Alcorn and Lee build a prototype. The prototype consisted of a device attached to a wooden pedestal containing over a hundred wires, which was eventually replaced by an integrated circuit designed by Alcorn and Lee; the chip still had to be tested and built before the prototype was built. The chip was finished in the second half of 1974 and, at the time, was the highest performing chip used in a consumer product.

Bushnell and Gene Lipkin, Atari's vice president of sales, approached toy and electronics retailers to sell Home Pong, but were rebuffed. Retailers considered the product too expensive and would not appeal to consumers. Atari contacted Sears Sporting Goods after discovering an ad for the Magnavox Odyssey in the sporting goods section of their catalog. Atari staff discussed the game with a representative, Tom Quinn, who expressed enthusiasm and offered the company an exclusive deal. Thinking they could find more favorable terms elsewhere, Atari executives declined and continued to go after toy retailers. In January 1975, Atari staff set up a Home Pong booth at the American Toy Fair in New York, but were unsuccessful in placing orders due to the high price of the unit..

While at the fair, they met Quinn again and, a few days later, set up a meeting with him to get a sales order. To get approval from the sporting goods department, Quinn suggested that Atari show the game to executives in Chicago. Alcorn and Lipkin traveled to the Sears Tower, and despite a technical complication involving an antenna on top of the building broadcasting to the same channel as the game, it was approved. Bushnell told Quinn that he could produce 75,000 units in time for the Christmas season; however, Quinn requested double the amount. Although Bushnell knew that Atari did not have the capacity to make 150,000 units, he agreed.Atari acquired a new factory thanks to financing obtained by the investor from Don Valentine risk. Overseen by Jimm Tubb, the factory fulfilled Sears' order. The first units manufactured were branded with the Sears "Tele-Games" name. Subsequently, Atari released a version with its own label in 1976. It would be in 1977 that the bar machine versions of PONG began to be popular.

Magnavox Lawsuit

The Magnavox Odyssey, invented by Ralph H. Baer, inspired the creation of Pong.

The success of Pong attracted the attention of Ralph Baer, the inventor of the Magnavox Odyssey, and his company, Sanders Associates. Sanders had an agreement with Magnavox to manage the sublicense of the Odyssey, which included dealing with infringement of its exclusive rights. However, Magnavox had not taken legal action against Atari and many other companies that released Pong clones. Midway and Chicago Dynamics. Magnavox argued that Atari had infringed Baer's patents and his electronic ping-pong concept based on detailed records Sanders kept of the Odyssey design process going back to 1966. Other documents include witness depositions and a signed guest book showing that Bushnell had played the Odyssey's table tennis game prior to the release of Pong. In response to the claims Odyssey saw, Bushnell later claimed that, "The fact is that I certainly saw the Odyssey game and it didn't seem very smart to me."

After considering his options, Bushnell decided to meet outside of court with Magnavox. Bushnell's lawyer felt they could win; however, he estimated legal costs at $1.5 million, which would have exceeded Atari's funding. Magnavox offered Atari an agreement to become a licensee for $700,000. Other companies producing Pong clones as well as Atari's competitors had to pay royalties. In addition, Magnavox obtained the rights to Atari products developed during the following year. Magnavox continued to pursue legal action against the other companies, and the lawsuits began shortly after the Atari settlement in June 1976. The first case occurred in the district court in Chicago, with Judge John Grady presiding. To prevent Magnavox from gaining rights to its products, Atari decided to delay publication of its products for a year and withheld information from Magnavox's attorneys during visits to the Atari facilities.

Impact and legacy

The dedicated consoles of Pong They arrived in several countries, such as this Russian console called Трнир (read "Turnir", which means "Torneo".

The arcade Pong machines made by Atari were a great success. The prototype was very well received by the patrons of Andy Capp's Tasca; people came to the bar solely to play the game. After its launch, Pong consistently earned four times the revenue of other coin-operated machines. Bushnell estimated that the game earned between 35 and US$40 a day, which he described as nothing he had ever seen before in the coin-operated entertainment industry at the time. Profits from the game resulted in an increased number of orders received by Atari. This provided Atari with a steady source of income; the company sold the machines at three times the cost of production. By 1973, the company had already received 2,500 orders and, by the end of 1974, sold more than 8 000 units. Arcade machines have become collector's items with the tabletop version being the rarest. Shortly after the game's successful testing at Andy Capp's tavern, other companies they began to visit the bar to inspect it. Similar games appeared on the market three months later, produced by companies such as Ramtek and Nutting Associates. Atari was unable to do much against competitors, since they had not initially applied for patents on the solid-state technology used in the game. When the company applied for patents, complications delayed the process. As a result, the market consisted mainly of "Pong clones"; writer Steven Kent estimated that Atari had produced less than a third of the machines.Bushnell referred to competitors as "Jackals" because he felt they had an unfair advantage. His solution to competing against them was to produce more innovative concepts and games.In total during its lifetime the original pong arcade sold some 35,000 units.

Home Pong was immediately successful after its limited release in 1975 through Sears; about 150,000 units were sold that holiday season. The game became Sears' most successful product of the time, earning it Atari a Sears Quality Excellence Award. Atari's own version sold an additional 50,000 units. Similar to the arcade version, several companies released clones for build on the success of the home console, many of whom went on to produce new consoles and video games. Magnavox re-released its Odyssey system with simplified hardware and new features, and later released updated versions. Coleco entered the video game market with its Telstar console; it featured three variants of Pong and was also followed by newer models. Nintendo released the Color TV Game 6 in 1977, featuring six variants of electronic tennis. The following year, it was followed by an updated version, Color TV Game 15, featuring fifteen variations. These systems were Nintendo's entry into the home video game market and the first to produce them themselves; they had previously licensed the Magnavox Odyssey. Dedicated Pong consoles and numerous clones have since become varying levels of technological oddities; Atari's Pong consoles are common, while APF Electronics' TV Fun consoles are moderately rare. However, prices among collectors vary by rarity; the Sears Tele-Games versions are usually cheaper than the Atari-branded versions.

Various sources claim that the game Pong propelled the video game industry into a lucrative enterprise. Video game journalist David Ellis sees the game as the cornerstone of success of the video game industry, noting that the arcade game is "one of the most historically significant titles". Kent attributes the "arcade phenomenon" to Pong and the Atari games that followed it, and considers the release of the initial version to be the successful beginning of home game consoles. Gamasutra's Bill Loguidice and Matt Barton referred to the game's release as the start of a new entertainment medium, commenting that its simple and intuitive gameplay made it a hit. In 1996 Next Generation magazine named it one of the "100 Greatest Games of All Time", recounting that the Next Generation team ignored hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of 32-bit software to play Pong for h oras when the Genesis version was released". that, "Despite, or perhaps because of its simplicity, Pong is the ultimate two-player challenge - a test of reaction times and very simple strategy stripped down to the bare essentials." In 2013, Entertainment Weekly cited Pong as one of the top ten Atari 2600 games. Many of the companies that produced their own versions of Pong i> eventually became well known within the industry. Nintendo entered the video game market with clones of Home Pong. The revenue that was generated (each system sold over a million units) helped the company survive in difficult economic times and encouraged them to continue gaming. After seeing the success of Pong, Konami decided to enter the arcade game market and released its first title, Maze. Its moderate success prompted the company to develop more titles.

Bushnell felt that Pong was especially significant in its role as a social lubricant, since it was multiplayer only and did not require each player to use more than one hand: "It was very normal for a girl with a quarter in hand to pull a guy off a bar stool and say, "I'd like to play Pong and there's no one else to play." It was a way to play, to sit together, to talk, to laugh, to challenge each other... As you gained confidence, you could put down the beer and hug her. You could put your arm around her shoulder. You can play left-handed if you want. In fact, there are many people who have come to me over the years and have said, "I met my wife playing Pong", and this is a nice thing to say. it has been achieved."

Pong's departure.

Not having copyright, because the circuitry was not reproducible, there were numerous machines that included various variations of tennis or fronton. There were machines that included Pong, or a variant of it, in their collection of games. The first console that featured this game in its collection was the Atari 2600 which had the original Pong game among its titles. At the time of Pong several titles arose, the most common genres were:

• Squash for one or two players.
• Football.
• Hockey.
• Basketball.
• Motorcycle games.
• Shoot the target. For this game a gun was used that came with the machine or offered separately.
• Tank games.
• Submarine games.
• Car racing.

The variations of games that could be found varied from machine to machine. Submarine, tank and car games were generally only available in versions that used cartridges.

Sequels and remakes

A PONG game

Bushnell felt that the best way to compete against imitators was to create better products, which prompted Atari to produce sequels in the years after the original's release: Pong Doubles, Super Pong , Ultra Pong, Quadrapong, and Pin-Pong. The sequels feature similar graphics, but include new gameplay elements; for example, Pong Doubles allows four players to compete in pairs, while Quadrapong—also published by Kee Games as Elimination—has them compete against each other. yes in a field of four. Bushnell also conceptualized a free-to-play version of Pong to entertain children in a doctor's office. He initially titled it Snoopy Pong and gave the arcade its shape after Snoopy's doghouse with the character on top, but renamed it Puppy Pong and modified Snoopy to a dog. generic to avoid legal action. Bushnell later used the game at his Chuck E. Cheese restaurant chain. In 1976, Atari released Breakout, a single-player variation of Pong where the object of the game is to knock bricks out of a wall by hitting them with a ball. Like Pong, Breakout was followed by numerous clones that copied the game, such as Arkanoid, Alleyway, and Break 'Em All.

Atari remade the game on numerous platforms. In 1977, Pong and several variants of the game appeared in Video Olympics, one of the original Atari 2600 launch titles. Pong has also been included in various Atari compilations on platforms including the Sega Genesis, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS, and PC. Through an agreement with Atari, Bally Gaming and Systems developed a slot machine version of the game. Atari published TD Overdrive which includes Pong as an additional game played during the loading screen. A 3D platformer with puzzle and shooter elements was announced which was in development by the Atari Corporation for the Atari Jaguar in September 1995 under the title Pong 2000, as part of their series of arcade game updates for the system and was set to have an original story, but it was never released. In 1999, the game was remade for home computers and PlayStation with 3D graphics and power-ups. In 2012, Atari celebrated the 40th anniversary of Pong by releasing the Pong World In 2020, they released Pong Quest for Steam, later releasing it for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. A remake of the game was announced for release exclusively for Intellivision Amico.

Currently there are several remastered versions of Pong, there are flash versions playable from the browser and others downloadable, most of these games have added functions and optimized their control[1]. In the Video Game Mortal Kombat 3 you can play Pong if you win the game. With the proliferation of mobile devices and the Android operating system, multiple versions have been developed.

In popular culture

A PONG machine.

The game appears in episodes of television series including That '70s Show, King of the Hill and Saturday Night Live. In 2006, an American Express advertisement featured Andy Roddick in a tennis match against the game's white paddle tennis player. Other video games have also referenced and parodied Pong; for example Neuromancer for Commodore 64 and Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts for Xbox 360. The Video Games Live concert used sounds from Pong as part of the retro special "Classic Arcade Medley". Frank Black's song Whatever Happened to Pong? from the album Teenager of the Year refers to game elements.

Dutch design studio Buro Vormkrijgers created a Pong style clock as a fun project in their offices. After the studio decided to make it for retail sale, Atari took legal action in February 2006. The two companies eventually reached an agreement whereby Buro Vormkrijgers could produce a limited number under license. In 1999, the artist Frenchman Pierre Huyghe created an exhibit titled "Atari Light," in which two people use handheld devices to play Pong on a lighted ceiling. The work was shown at the Venice Biennale in 2001 and at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León in 2007. The game was included in the 2002 Game On exhibition at the Barbican Arte Gallery in London aimed at showcasing the various aspects of the history, development and culture of video games.

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