Ralph H. Baer, Inventor of First System for Home Video Games, Is Dead at 92

[Omaha Steve]

Source: NY Times

By DOUGLAS MARTIN

Ralph H. Baer, who turned television sets into electronic fantasy lands by inventing and patenting the first home video game system, died on Saturday at his home in Manchester, N.H. He was 92.

His death was confirmed by his family.

Video games have become more than just a ubiquitous pastime and a gigantic market (by some estimates, total worldwide sales of console hardware and software and online, mobile and computer games exceeded $90 billion in 2013). They are also an engine that has driven scientists and engineers to multiply computer speed, memory and visualization to today’s staggering capabilities.

Flash back to the sultry late summer of 1966: Mr. Baer is sitting on a step outside the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan waiting for a colleague. By profession, he is an engineer overseeing 500 employees at a military contractor. Today, a vision has gripped him, and he begins scribbling furiously on a yellow legal pad with a No. 2 pencil.

FULL story at link.



Ralph H. Baer in Manchester, N.H., in 2005 with the game system he invented called the "brown box," later named Odyssey. He was also a co-inventor of the electronic game Simon, pictured in the foreground. Credit Ken Williams/Concord Monitor, via Associated Press

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/08/business/ralph-h-baer-dies-inventor-of-odyssey-first-system-for-home-video-games.html

---

Marta and I still have our "second hand" Odyssey she got from a cousin before we got married.

[Terra Alta]

1. so I have him to thank

For my Nintendo addiction in the 90s and for my current Sims addiction. He was truly a pioneer in his field. May he rest in peace.

[Archae]

2. I think the graphics are a LITTLE better nowadays...

[Reter]

3. They were better when they were simpler though

Maybe not as simple as 1972, but I think the 80's and 90's were the best times for video gaming.

[eggplant]

5. "Better" is a subjective term.

High resolution, higher color depth, more advanced rendering techniques. These we can all agree on.

But I have a hard time believing that pong would be "better" with such graphics. These days, it is all too frequent that "better" graphics are gained at a cost to game quality.

[Reter]

4. I read this earlier, and it is all over classic video game sites

Saw it here, everyone is mourning:

https://www.facebook.com/zapclassicvideogaming

[geomon666]

6. Rest in peace

He lived a full and interesting life.

[Posteritatis]

11. And was active in the field up until just a couple of years ago, I think

Seeing all the changes in an industry he launched had to have been something else.

[shenmue]

7. Rest in peace

[Dustlawyer]

8. Try reading, "Ready Player One" if you are into classic video games, the 80's, and science fiction.

[Javaman]

9. That book was a tour de force of game lore.

I was impressed with the awesome amount of research that went into that book.

[whistler162]

10. Game Over.....

RIP