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1974 in video games

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List of years in video games
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1974 saw the expansion of technology and public awareness of video games in all sectors. A proliferation of companies creating commercial video games in the coin-operated sector attracted attention from mainstream press and prompted the diversification of games beyond strict Pong derivatives. The first three-dimensional games were developed for linked graphical terminals which would not be widely commercialized. Some of the first efforts to create video game consoles after the release of Magnavox's Odyssey became available in the United States and Europe.

Events

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Financial performance

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United States

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Arcade

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Total Cabinet Unit Sales: 40,000 units.[14]

Total Revenue (machine sales): $40.5 million.[15][Note 1]

Title Arcade cabinet units (Estimates) Manufacturer Developer Genre
Tank 16,000[16][Note 2] Kee Games Kee Games Multi-directional shooter
Flim Flam ~12,000[17]

5,700[16]

Meadows Games Meadows Games Sports
Gran Trak 10 10,000[18] Atari Inc. Atari Inc. Racing
Gran Trak 20 4,500[16] Atari Inc. Atari Inc. Racing
Clean Sweep 3,500[16] Ramtek Corporation Ramtek Corporation Sports
Baseball 2,000[19] Ramtek Corporation Ramtek Corporation Sports
Formula K[Note 3] 2,000[16] Kee Games Atari Inc. Racing
TV Basketball 1,400[20]

500[16]

Midway Manufacturing Taito Corp Sports
Leader 1,000[16] Midway Manufacturing Midway Manufacturing Sports
TV Flipper 1,000[16] Midway Manufacturing Ramtek Corporation Sports
Robot 500[16] Allied Leisure Industries Allied Leisure Industries Sports
TV Pin Game 500[16][21] Chicago Coin Chicago Coin Sports
Qwak! 250[16] Atari Inc. Atari Inc. Light-gun shooter
Pin Pong 250[16] Atari Inc. Atari Inc. Sports
TV Goalee 121[21] Chicago Coin Leisure & Allied Industries Sports

Home consoles

Total unit sales: 145,000–150,000 consoles.[22][23]

Total Revenue (retail): $9–11.3 million.[22][23]

Title Game console units (Estimates) Manufacturer Developer
Odyssey 129,000[24] Magnavox Sanders Associates/Magnavox

Publications

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  • Ted Nelson’s Computer Lib/Dream Machines discusses numerous games, including variants of Spacewar! and those on the PLATO network.
  • August – Masumi Akagi founds the Japanese coin-operated amusement publication Game Machine. The magazine runs for 28 years.
  • December – The American publication Play Meter, devoted to coin-operated amusements, publishes its first issue. Founding editor is Ralph Lally II.

Notable releases

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Arcade games

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  • February – Taito’s Basketball by pioneering game designer Tomohiro Nishikado features the first human-shaped characters in a coin-operated video game. Midway licenses the game for release in North America as TV Basketball, making it the first Japanese video arcade game to appear in the U.S.[25]
  • March – Atari releases Gran Trak 10, a video driving game featuring advanced technology such as using a ROM to store graphics and course data.[26] After initial manufacturing foibles, the game becomes a massive success.[6]
  • May – Clean Sweep is released by Ramtek, a ball-and-paddle game featuring screen-clearing gameplay. It serves as one of the inspirations for Breakout.[6]
  • August – Sega ships Balloon Gun, the first coin-operated video game utilizing a light gun. The method used is different from the Odyssey light gun, able to identify individual parts of the screen being shot.
  • October – Baseball by Ramtek is released.[28] In addition to being the first coin-operated sports video game to authentically depict aspects of its play, it is the first video game to represent several characters with animation frames on screen at once.[6]
  • November – Kee Games releases Tank. The game is a reinterpretation of Computer Space featuring custom controls and competitive gameplay.[11] It becomes the best selling arcade video game of 1974 in all and is seen as a defining moment for video arcade games.[6] The game is later adapted on the Atari Video Computer System as Combat.
    • Taito releases Speed Race, a racing game featuring an early form of scrolling graphics. It helps pioneer 100 yen as a standard play price in Japan.[6]
  • December – TV Pinball by Exidy introduces eliminating targets to ball-and-paddle games, preceding Breakout.[6]

Computer games

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Console

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  • Magnavox releases the Odyssey in markets outside of North America.
  • July - Control Sales (a sales arm of Universal Research Laboratories) offers the game console Video Action. It is a repurposing of Tennis Tourney by Allied Leisure, including a television and four potentiometer controls for $499.[33] It is the second unique video game console available to consumers.
  • August – Schraeder Electronics offers Dixi Ping Pong in the Netherlands, utilizing a custom transistor-to-transistor logic console design.
  • October – Home appliance company Zanussi advertises the Ping-O-Tronic console. It features one-handed controllers.[34]
  • December – Videomaster Ltd. of the UK offers Home T.V. Game, the first in a line of systems from the company.[35]

Business

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Notes

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  1. ^ The estimate totals $33 million in games with traditional arcade cabinets and $7.5 million for those under the new cocktail table presentation.
  2. ^ Ralph Baer's numbers compiled in April 1976 are mostly estimates without direct access to sales figures.
  3. ^ Kee Games version of Gran Trak 10.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Fire-Hit Hialeah Factory Expects To Resume Output Within the Month". The Miami Herald. February 5, 1974. pp. 5-B.
  2. ^ "Complaint For Patent Infringement". Magnavox Company v. Chicago Dynamic Industries, et al. US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. April 15, 1974. Retrieved October 1, 2024.
  3. ^ "Kitchener-Waterloo Community Corner Calendar of Events". Waterloo Region Record. June 14, 1974. p. 13.
  4. ^ "Computer chess champion". Star-Phoenix. June 25, 1974. p. 2.
  5. ^ "College computer loses electronic chess match". Daily Sentinel. November 15, 1974. p. 3.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Smith, Alexander (2020). They create worlds: the story of the people and companies that shaped the video game industry. Boca Raton, [Florida] London New York, [New York]: CRC Press, Taylor & Francis group. ISBN 978-1-138-38990-8.
  7. ^ "Bob Prinsen". Middlesex Chronicle. August 2, 1974. p. 10.
  8. ^ "UW Chess Team Third". Waterloo Region Record. August 9, 1974. p. 3.
  9. ^ "Sega Hosts TV Game Tourney In Tokyo". Cash Box: 45. October 26, 1974.
  10. ^ "Atari Acquires Kee Games Factory; Keenan Prexy, Bushnell Chairman". Cash Box: 36. September 21, 1974.
  11. ^ a b Goldberg, Marty; Vendel, Curt (2012). Atari Inc.: Business is Fun. Syzygy Press. ISBN 978-0985597405.
  12. ^ Range, Peter Ross (September 15, 1974). "The space age pinball machine". The New York Times. p. 92.
  13. ^ "coin machine news". Cash Box: 40–41. November 16, 1974.
  14. ^ The Coin Operated and Home Electronic Games Market. Frost & Sullivan Inc. 1976.
  15. ^ The Coin Operated and Home Electronic Games Market. Frost & Sullivan Inc. 1976.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Baer, Ralph H. (2005). Videogames: In the Beginning. Rolenta Press. ISBN 978-0-9643848-1-1.
  17. ^ "Meadows Games: from California to the World". RePlay. 1 (38): 28–29. July 1976.
  18. ^ Wieder, Robert (September 1974). "A Fistful of Quarters". Oui: 59–61, 128–129.
  19. ^ McEwan, Charles E. (January 31, 1980). "Charles R. McEwan Deposition". Bally Manufacturing Corporation v. D. Gottlieb & Co., et al. US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. Retrieved September 29, 2024.
  20. ^ Cognevich, Valerie (March 15, 1986). "Video-game industry still evolving". Play Meter. 12 (4): 12, 14–16.
  21. ^ a b Neven, John F. (July 11, 1977). "Notice of Motion". Magnavox Company v. Chicago Dynamic Industries, et al. US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. Retrieved March 22, 2024.
  22. ^ a b The Electronic Games Market in the U.S. Frost & Sullivan Inc. 1983.
  23. ^ a b Electronic Games & Personal Computers. Predicasts Inc. February 1979.
  24. ^ Fritsche, Robert E. (December 28, 1976). "Trial Transcript". Magnavox Company v. Chicago Dynamic Industries, et al. US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. p. 495. Retrieved September 29, 2024.
  25. ^ Shaw, Mike (October 15, 1985). "East is East and West is East". Play Meter: 28, 30.
  26. ^ Fries, Ed (June 14, 2017). "Fixing Gran Trak 10". Retrieved October 1, 2024.
  27. ^ "California Clippings". Cash Box: 56. March 30, 1974.
  28. ^ "Ramtek Intro's Baseball Video Game at Expo". Cash Box: MOA28. November 2, 1974.
  29. ^ Moss, Richard (May 21, 2015). "The first first-person shooter". Polygon. Retrieved October 1, 2024.
  30. ^ "tapes". People's Computer Company: 13. January 1974.
  31. ^ Bowery, Jim (December 30, 2008). "Spasim (1974) The First First-Person-Shooter 3D Multiplayer Online Game". Retrieved September 30, 2024.
  32. ^ Ant (April 22, 2015). "Wander (1974) — a lost mainframe game is found!". Retroactive Fiction. Retrieved September 30, 2024.
  33. ^ Braun, David H. (June 14, 1974). "David Braun Deposition". Magnavox Company v. Chicago Dynamic Industries, et al. US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.
  34. ^ "Il Gioco-Sport di Moda". L'Europo: 1. October 10, 1974.
  35. ^ "Colour TV". Evening Post. October 24, 1974. p. 11.
  36. ^ "Philips Has 84.1% Of Magnavox". The Cincinnati Enquirer. October 30, 1974. p. 22.