#16 12 years after the first commercial video game was released, 1983 marked a landmark for gaming race relations when the EA published basketball title Dr J and Larry Bird Go One on One gave gamers their first chance to play as a main character that was black. In case you're wondering, Dr J (aka Julius Erving) was the black one.
#17 How much did the world's first gaming console cost? In 1972, first generation gamers could pick up the Magnavox Odyssey for $100.
#18 Atari's 1983 arcade game, I, Robot, was the first to feature true 3D, flat-shaded polygon graphics. It was also the first game that allowed the player to select different viewpoints, offering 12 different positions. And it was the first to use Atari's patented 'hall-effect' joystick (a supposedly super-fangled analog stick). It was created by Tempest coder, Dave Theurer. Oh, and it absolutely bombed.
#19 The first analog game controllers were 'paddle' controllers - the ones with the big turnable knobs. The first game to use these input devices was Pong in 1972.
#20 In 1988 Electronic Arts became the first major publisher to release an 'online' multiplayer game. Dan Bunten's Modem Wars allowed two players to sit at their own computers and play over a telephone line. Fascinating stuff? You can read more from Dan Buntenright here.
#21 Wii is the first Nintendo console to be sold outside of Japan that doesn't feature the company's name as part of the trademark.
#22 To describe many of today's games we are bombarded with a deluge of press release waffle, but in 1971 it took just 16 words to explain the premise behind Computer Space. How did the first explanation of the first commercially sold video game read? Like so:"A simulated space battle that pits computer-guided saucers against a rocket ship that you control."
#23 There have been many Breakout clones over the years, but the first sex-based one was Swedish Erotica: Bachelor Party, which was released for the Atari 2600 in 1983. The game involved batting an aroused man at a wall of women. As far as we know, this was also the last sex-based Breakout clone.
