Featuring GoCollect here
Marketplaces (e.g. Heritage)
Talking about all the marketplaces here
Video Game Timeline
Video Game Timeline copy – v3
Take a stroll down memory lane and browse nostalgic moments on our video game timeline! We put this here to honor and pay tribute to what has come before.
| Year | Timeline Description
(fits on timeline) |
Expanded Event Description
(hover text) |
Photo or graphic
and photo credit |
| Jan 1947 | 1st video game – CRT Amusement Device | Cathode-Ray Tube Amusement Device was the first patented electronic game displayed on a monitor. Physicists Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann created the game, inspired by World War II radar displays.
https://www.lifewire.com/cathode-ray-tube-amusement-device-729579 http://www.popularmechanics.com/culture/gaming/a20129/the-very-first-video-game/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathode-ray_tube_amusement_device#History
|
 |
| Oct 1958 | Tennis for Two, often credited as 1st video game | Early video game built for entertainment purposes, Tennis for Two, designed by William Higinbotham. Created for display at the Brookhaven National Laboratory’s annual visitors’ days.
https://www.bnl.gov/about/history/firstvideo.php https://www.bnl.gov/newsroom/news.php?a=2964 |
 |
| 1962 | 1st widely available computer video game – Spacewar! | First widely available and influential computer video game, Spacewar! created at MIT by Steve Russell, in collaboration with Martin Graetz and Wayne Wiitanen. First known video game to be played at multiple computer installations.
https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-spacewar-1992412 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_history_of_video_games https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacewar!
|
 |
| 1971 | 1st commercially available arcade video game – Computer Space | First commercially available arcade video game, Computer Space, released by Nutting Associates. Designed by Atari founders Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney.
https://web.archive.org/web/20050121050306/http://www.marvin3m.com/arcade/cspace.htm |
 |
| Sept 1972 | 1st consumer based home video game console – Magnavox Odyssey | First consumer-based home video game console, the Magnavox Odyssey created by Ralph Baer. The console, two controllers, and a switch box connected with wires to a television set. Odyssey displayed white squares against a black field, with color static cling transparencies adhered to TV screen providing canvas to play games.
http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1302004 https://www.wired.com/2015/01/ralph-baer-al-alcorn-pioneer-award-dice/ https://www.lifewire.com/magnavox-odyssey-the-first-gaming-console-729587 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_history_of_video_games https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnavox_Odyssey
|
 |
| Nov 1972 | 1st successful arcade video game – Pong | One of the earliest arcade video games, Pong, was the first commercially successful video game. Created by engineer Allan Alcorn, the table tennis sports game featured simple, two-dimensional graphics and was manufactured by Atari.
https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2011/03/pong-excerpt-201103 https://www.wired.com/2015/01/ralph-baer-al-alcorn-pioneer-award-dice/ |
 |
| Sept 1977 | Atari VCS or 2600 released | Atari released its wildly successful home console, the Video Computer System (VCS) or 2600. Over 30 million units were sold. Pac-Man was the most popular game for the Atari 2600.
https://www.atari.com/history/1972-1984-0 http://www.atarimuseum.com/videogames/consoles/2600/atari2600.html |
 |
| 1983 | Video game market crashed in US | Following heavy saturation of low quality games, the US home video game market crashed.
Many considered the games a fad whose popularity was dying out. http://www.gamedesignireland.ie/?p=574 http://www.ign.com/articles/2011/09/21/ten-facts-about-the-great-video-game-crash-of-83 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_crash_of_1983
|
 |
| Oct 1985 | Nintendo released NES and Super Mario Bros. | Following the immensely successful 1983 launch of Family Computer (Famicom) in Japan (bottom console photo), Nintendo revitalized the US video game market with their runaway hit, Nintendo Entertainment System (NES, top). NES sold over 60 million units, along with industry-defining game, Super Mario Bros., which sold over 40 million copies.
https://www.wired.com/2010/10/1018nintendo-nes-launches/ |
  |
| July 1986 | 1st movie based on a video game –
Super Mario Bros.: The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach! |
Super Mario Bros.: The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach! was an anime film released in Japan based on the Super Mario Bros. video game. The Super Mario Bros. live-action film debuted in the US in May 1993.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Mario_Bros.:_Peach-Hime_Kyushutsu_Dai_Sakusen! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Mario_Bros._(film)
|
 |
| Dec 1988 | 1st CD-ROM disc-based system released – PC Engine CD | NEC released the first CD-ROM disc-based system for their PC Engine in Japan. Released as TurboGrafx-16 CD in August 1990 in the US.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/gamesblog/2013/apr/02/turbografx-16-machine-that-time-forgot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TurboGrafx-16 https://i.ytimg.com/vi/zNSJ-Eh8uME/hqdefault.jpg
|
 |
| Late 1980s-Early 1990s | 1st online BBS for collecting classic video games | First online Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) for collecting classic video games appeared. | I can find BBS photos, but not a BBS for collecting classic video games.
Per Ken, wait for January advisor update to help with this.
|
| 1990 | Mario more popular than Mickey | American children were more familiar with Mario, title character of Super Mario Bros. franchise, than with Mickey Mouse.
|
 |
| Sept/ Oct 1991 | 1st issue of Digital Press published | Digital Press was released. It was the first mainstream online magazine for classic video game collectors, and was founded by Joe Santulli and Kevin Oleniacz. |  |
| Sept 1995 | AuctionWeb launched; renamed eBay in Sept 1997 | After spending Labor Day weekend at home writing code on his personal computer, Pierre Omidyar launched AuctionWeb, a site “dedicated to bringing together buyers and sellers in an honest and open marketplace.” The site was officially renamed eBay in September 1997. Over ##% of video game sales are transacted on eBay. ßTerrie: We need some connection to why eBay appears on the video game timeline; need this or some other fact to connect. |  |
| Nov 1995 | GameFAQs launched | GameFAQs, first popular video game forum, was launched by Jeff Veasey.
https://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/11-team-gamefaqs/36893099 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GameFAQs
|
 |
| Aug 1999 | Classic Gaming Expo (CGE) founded | First classic video gaming convention, Classic Gaming Expo (CGE) was founded by John Hardie, Sean Kelly and Keita Iida. |  |
| July 2002 | Digital Press online classic video game collecting community formed | First widely used online collecting community, Digital Press, was formed by Joe Santulli.
https://forum.digitpress.com/forum/member.php?4-digitalpress https://forum.digitpress.com/forum/forum.php http://dpvideogames.com/about-us
|
 |
| Dec 2004 | Atari Flashback released | Atari released the Flashback, a plug and play multi-game miniature re-release 2600 system for playing classic games on modern TVs. Sega followed suit with their Genesis Firecore in 2009, and Nintendo followed with their NES Classic in 2016.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2004/12/15/atari-flashback https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Flashback |
 |
| Dec 2004 | Video game industry bigger than Hollywood | Video games industry generated more revenue than movie industry, breaking $10 billion in annual sales.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/THEY-GOT-GAME-Stacks-of-new-releases-for-hungry-2663371.php
|
 |
| Feb 2008 | Guinness World Records: Gamer’s Edition released | Guinness World Records created a separate book for gaming records called Guinness World Records: Gamer’s Edition
https://www.wired.com/2008/01/guinness-world/ http://www.ohgizmo.com/2008/01/07/coming-soon-guinness-book-of-world-records-gamers-edition/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinness_World_Records#Gamer’s_edition
|
 |
| Feb 2008 | 1st online video game pricing guide launched, VideoGame PriceCharts | First online pricing guide VideoGamePriceCharts.com (now pricecharting.com) launched. |  |
| April 2008 | 1st video game grading company opens | First video game grading company, VGA, opened.
https://www.engadget.com/2008/04/10/first-vga-graded-games-up-for-auction/ |
 |
| Feb 2010 | Stadium Events game sold for $13,000 on eBay | Yahoo News ran story about $13,000 Stadium Events eBay sale with link to Nintendoage.com collector site. Nintendoage.com site traffic crashed servers and user base increased rapidly.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/03/20/mf.rich.off.video.games/index.html https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/tech/Vintage-Nintendo-Sells-for-Over-13000-on-eBay-84255392.html |
 |
| Aug 2012 | NES Legend of Zelda prototype sold for record $55,000 | Howard Phillips’ original prototype copy of NES Legend of Zelda was sold by a collector on eBay for $55,000, a record high for a single video game in 2012.
https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2408068,00.asp
|
 |
| July 2015 | China allowed manufacturing and sales of video game consoles | China lifted 15-year ban against manufacturing and selling video game consoles, opening gaming market to more than 1 billion new customers.
http://money.cnn.com/2015/07/27/technology/china-video-game-ban-lifted/ http://fortune.com/2015/07/27/china-game-consoles/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_gaming_in_China
|
 |
| Dec 2015 | Video game industry bigger than movie and music industry | The video game industry generated more revenue than the movie and music industry. Total 2015 US industry revenue topped $23.5 billion, up 5% from 2014.
MARK: Kenneth and Terrie can’t document the video game industry being larger than movies, new music sales and new book sales combined. Can you send a link to an article or report? Or stick with what we inserted here? |
 |
| April 2016 | National Videogame Museum opened | Classic Gaming Expo (CGE) founders John Hardie and Sean Kelly and CGE organizer Joe Santulli opened National Videogame Museum in Frisco, TX.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2011/07/25/classic-gaming-expo-founders-launch-videogame-history-museum
|
 |
| Feb 2017 | eSports grew to nearly $500 million | eSports (video game competitions) grew rapidly to nearly $500 million in annual sales with an audience of over 220 million viewers.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/490522/global-esports-market-revenue/ http://www.businessinsider.com/esports-market-growth-ready-for-mainstream-2017-3 http://www.goldmansachs.com/our-thinking/pages/the-rise-of-digital-gaming.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESports
|
 |
| Feb?
March? 2018 |
Wata Games launched | Wata Games established fair, objective industry standards for grading and certifying classic video games.
|
[Insert screenshot of Wata home page when site is live] |
