Spacewar! (was Re: Laser display...)

From: Eric Smith <eric_at_brouhaha.com>
Date: Thu Feb 17 10:41:31 2005

Someone wrote:
> Spacewar, yes. One could argue it was the very first video game.

I wrote:
> You don't have to argue. A court ruled that it was.

der Mouse wrote:
> Then it probably actually wasn't.</cynic> Do you happen to know more?
> I'd be curious what case might be such that a court would have occasion
> to rule on that question.

Patent litigation between two video game companies. Spacewar was
used as prior art.

"Tennis for Two" by Willy Higinbotham and Robert Dvorak of Brookhaven
National Laboratory in 1958 is often cited as an early video game, but
there is apparently some controversy as some people don't consider it to
be a true video game. I don't know enough about it to offer an opinion.

Eric
Received on Thu Feb 17 2005 - 10:41:31 GMT