Spacewar!
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Spacewar! is a space combat video game developed in 1962 by Steve Russell in collaboration with Martin Graetz, Wayne Wiitanen, Bob Saunders, Steve Piner, and others. It was written for the newly insta
Spacewar! on a DEC Type 30 display connected to a PDP-1
Steve Russell, designer and main programmer of the initial version of Spacewar!, with a PDP-1 in 2007
Picture of gameplay of Spacewar! on a PDP-1. The moving spaceships and missiles leave trails behind them because the phosphors in the CRT monitor slowly fade after being lit.
Spacewar controllers built in 1972 by Robert Saunders, similar to the original ones from MIT
Computer Space
Videos
Computer Space is a 1971 space combat arcade video game. Created by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney in partnership as Syzygy Engineering, it was the first arcade video game as well as the first commerci
Spacewar!
…programming languages for PDP-1 emulators. It directly inspired many other video games, such as the first commercial arcade video games, Galaxy Game and Computer Space (both from 1971), and later games such as Asteroids (1979). In 2007, Spacewar! was named to a list of the ten most important video games in history…
Single-player cabinet
Single-player Computer Space gameplay; the player's rocket is near the top-center, with two flying saucers marked by groups of closely clustered dots. On the right side is the player score, computer score, and time remaining.
"Memory board" of Computer Space. Made of discrete logic chips. Diodes at the bottom-right define the graphics of the flying saucer and 4 angles of the player's ship. Two other circuit boards behind the memory board comprise the game logic. The chip markings are obscured, which was not true of all units.
Computer Space control panel