Google is celebrating the life and work of Jerry Lawson with several browser games.
Today, on December 1, anyone opening a new tab in Google Chrome will be greeted with the image of the video thumbnail below. The new project is to commemorate the birthday of Jerry Lawson, often cited as the father of modern video games, who would've been 82 today.
Clicking on the pixelated image of Lawson in a new tab will bring the user to any one of three games, as well as letting users even create their own minigames right there in their browser. The three existing pixel browser games were designed by three guests: Davionne Gooden, Lauren Brown, and Momo Pixel.
The video above is a dive into how Google Doodle developed this new project with the three guests. Additionally, it's also a look into the life of Lawson, who died in 2011, and how he helped pioneer the modern video game console.
For the unaware, Lawson is often referred to as the father of video game consoles, chiefly because he lead a team that created the first home video gaming system with interchangeable game cartridges. This paved the way for consoles like the Atari 2600, which used interchangeable cartridges letting developers pre-load games.
It's hard to overstate Lawson's impact on the video game landscape. As the video above attests to, with comments from Gooden, Brown, and Pixel, the consoles we have in our houses today from companies like Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo owe huge gratitude to Lawson.
Check out our new games 2022 guide for a full list of all the imminent titles we've got to look forward to.
