Benj Edwards of Vintage Computing has posted a brilliant historical recap of the events that led to the development of Baer and Harrison's television game projects, ultimately leading to the "Brown Box" and Magnavox's Odyssey videogame system.

While other early videogame prototypes (such as Space War) pre-date this historic accomplishment, as Edwards points out, Baer's project was the first device built with home television use in mind. There are some great stories within. Don't miss it as well as Edwards' recent interview with Bill Harrison. Michael McWhertor

Videogames Turn 40 Years Old [1UP]

Game site Gamasutra has a fantastic interview up with Father of Video Games Ralph Baer. Besides developing Pong, he also created the first commercial console (the Magnavox: Odyssey) and was the brains behind the first light gun. What does he think of today's games? Says Baer:

I don't play. Recently, one of my grandsons brought an Xbox with him, and we played a race game. Well, I couldn't manage that damn thumb joystick. I was always hitting the walls. I couldn't steer the car worth a damn. After about fifteen minutes, I said "Forget it , I've had enough."

But, what about the PlayStation 2? Everybody just loves the PS2.

More recently, somebody played a PS2 game with me — some kind of a game where you sail some kind of a boat. And I was always hitting the docks and the obstacles — just couldn't really control the stuff. At this age, my reflexes are much too slow. My eyeballs don't work as well as they used to, so I can't play those games.

You'd think Nintendo would've sent the 85 year-old Baer a free Wii by now. He's their new demographic. Brian Ashcraft

Baer Interview [Gamasutra via Insert Credit]

Nolan Bushnell hits Game Head to talk UWink, Atari and the current state of the industry. My favorite part: When he smack talks Ralph H. Baer, saying the man behind the first Pong, light gun and Simon wasn't very good at invention and that "nobody uses his stuff."

Wow, get a couple of Rasberry Mojitos in Bushnell and he starts talking the shit. Brian Crecente