Obituary: The Father Of Video Games, Ralph Baer

The Father Of Video Games, Ralph Baer
March 8, 1922 – Dec 6, 2014 
A true pioneer never to be forgotten 

When Ralph Baer made a tiny piece of light fly across the screen in a controlled manner he didn’t just create the idea of a video game, he created the something we often forget…the wonderment of video games. 

The fun they evoke, the surprise and the sheer joy that this entertainment medium has given us all.

As much an electronics wizard as a visionary, Ralph Baer had a vision in 1966 to create the very first games console – this is known as ‘the brown box’ which actually sits in the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History in Washington. The prototype was completed in 1968 way before Atari even conceived itself as a company, let alone created Pong. 

Mr Baer didn’t have ‘video games’ inventor as part of his job description, during his career as an employee of BAE working on televisions he sought to investigate the ‘idea’ of playing a game on a screen. It had no previous concept, no customer-base – he simply loved the ‘idea’ of it and sought out to make it work. Finally after many years of developing this prototype he managed to find an interested party – Magnavox, in releasing it to the World.

So in essence one man created the Video Game commercially – this 1st generation console released in August 1972 was to be known as the Magnavox Odyssey. With no sound behind the gameplay this was a simple experience – but back in the early 70s ‘an experience’ none the less for those 1st generation gamers. Those gamers that could be your moms or dads – or even grandparents! 

So from the original Magnavox came other incarnations many of which Ralph Baer was involved in – his invention of the first light gun is an amazing achievement. Forget your Playstation Move, Wii Controller or even Kinect – his idea of use a separate device to interact with a TV screen was a true revolution.

In his lifetime he not only had over 150 electronics patents to his name he created much loved games such as Simon, Electronic Perfection and Laser Command amongst many others.

And that was Ralph Baer – a revolutionary inventor. Someone to respect, admire and aspire to. Someone who created the one thing we love.

We thank you Mr Ralph Baer – not for only inventing the first video game console. But for creating the one huge, massive thing we love in life…video games.

Evolution of an Arcade Junkie - Part one of two

By David Campbell

I was born in Scotland, in 1975. Some people may think that makes me old, but 1975 was a great year to be born. Let me explain why.

Portobello Beach Arcade - Edinburgh

Video gaming was in its infancy. There were a few primitive games out there, but the explosion of fast paced, vibrant games that made you forget where you were was still to come. Most younger people probably cannot comprehend what a magical time this was.

If you ask a teenager today what the first console game they ever played was, I would bet that the vast majority of them wouldn’t be able to tell you. 

Now, that may be because home video games are commonplace now, and part of everyday life. Back when I was a kid, however, home video games consisted of variants of Pong, generously labelled as “Sports” games. Sure, Atari and a few other companies would change all that, but arcades.. nothing could rival an arcade experience.

The sights, the sounds, the colourful images, the transition as your eyes adjusted from normal outside life to the darkened digital sanctuary, revealing the delights within. That moment where you scan the arcade, looking for your favourite game, or maybe a new game.. deciding which coin slot would earn the right to your hard earned pocket money.

I remember the first arcade game I ever played. It was at Haggerston Castle holiday park in Northumberland. On our first explorative walk around the camp site, my mum, dad and I discovered a large white building, with what appeared to be a TV sitting outside on a large box. As we approached, we noticed a steering wheel

I ran forward, curious and excited by this neon coloured delight. I deliriously pushed the pedal, rocked the wheel, moved the  gear lever up and down. My mum examined this strange beast, and did something that changed my life forever. She gave me 10p to put in the machine. It was Atari’s “Night Driver”. It was the stand up version, with a black and white screen. Rudimentary would be a generous description of the graphics, but to my four year old overloaded brain, I was there - I was in a car, racing along at breakneck speed, in the dead of night. I crashed lots. I got another 10p.. and my addiction was born.

Onto the 80s

My arcade addiction grew almost in parallel with the exponential explosion of the arcade industry after my experience with Night Driver in 1979.

We used to visit Portobello beach in Edinburgh for a treat day. I would make a beeline for the arcades, which were now plentiful. New games seemed to turn up every time I visited.

By 1983, we were in what has now become known as the “Golden Age” of the arcade.  Classics such as Asteroids and Space Invaders which people had swarmed around had grown into full colour, polyphonic coin swallowers. Pac-Man, Joust, Defender, Robotron, Galaxian, Donkey Kong, Gorf, Pole Position and Spy Hunter were the regulars in most arcades. Vast rooms filled with the sonic and visual cacophony of coins rattling, buttons being thumped, teaser sounds, laser blasts, explosions, jingles; “noise” to our parents, but a delightful symphony to my young ears. 

1983 would also be the year that created a fusion of two things that have defined me - video games and Star Wars. Atari released the seminal game of the film and allowed youngsters to fulfill their fantasies across the globe. Stepping into the large cockpit for the first time; settling on the gloss black wooden bench, hands gently cradling the flight yoke of the X-Wing... the anticipation was incredible. Putting the coin in the slot, almost in slow motion; it was sensory overload. To hear the Star Wars them pumped into the speakers, the crawling text, then BOOM! you are part of the Rebel Alliance, and you are flying an X-Wing in space. Obi Wan provides encouragement as your ship swoops and swerves, shields dropping with each TIE Fighter hit, then you nosedive straight into the Death Star trench. Get those Photon torpedoes on target, and you are rewarded with shards of the destroyed space station flying across the screen.

You emerge slowly from that cockpit, and it takes you a few seconds to realise you aren’t in space, but in an arcade. You look back at what you've just experienced. The game may only have lasted a few moments, but the smile on your face and the memories you’ve just created will last an awful lot longer.

David Campbell's story continues soon....

Exclusive Andrew Hewson Kickstarter Interview

Andrew Hewson - 1980s illustration

GamesYouLoved spoke to Andrew Hewson, from
legendary games publisher Hewson Consultants about his memories of the 80s and 90s and his new live Kickstarter

The Book and Kickstarter 

GamesYouLoved. With this Kickstarter why now is the time to launch a book apart from just Rob persuading you!?

Hints and tips for Videogame Pioneers

Andrew Hewson
Rob is a games designer in his own right and he has been bending my ear about writing a book for at least two years. I spent a long time thinking that nobody would be interested but he gradually introduced me to enough of his friends and contacts and in the end I changed my mind. It was a rollercoaster ride in the games business in the 1980s and early 90s for me and for many other people. I've been out of the business for fifteen years or so and so I've had time to let it all settle in my mind. I think there are definitely lessons for the present day developers and also for anyone who is creating a technology business. Hence the name of the book - Hints and Tips for Videogame Pioneers.

GamesYouLoved. Do you think people have forgotten about the way games were developed during the 1980s? 

Andrew Hewson I'm not sure "forgotten" is the right word. Today there are sophisticated tools and equipment to help with the process. Back in the 1980s everything was built from scratch. People wrote their own assemblers. Steve Turner was a dab hand at writing code in Z80 machine code. Chris Hinsley built an art package from scratch and eventually it had evolved to the point that it went on the market. We wrote and released a Z80 assembler for the Amstrad. 

GamesYouLoved. Tell us about the book and and what things you have planned for its content 

Andrew Hewson The book is partly a memoire of course, explaining how things came about, how certain relationships and certain products were developed. It is about some of the personalities such as Steve Turner, Mike Male and Ref Cecco with contributions from some of them. But it is also about what it's like to be part of an industry which explodes into being out of nowhere - about the highs and the lows, the hard work and the heartache. And there are lessons for anyone who is looking to set up in business on their own account. 

GamesYouLoved. How does the community play its part in your plans for the Kickstarter and book going forward? 

Andrew Hewson I've been surprised and pleased by the reaction both before and during the kickstarter campaign. It may seem strange to say so but I hadn't realised how much of what did had a big effect on other people. At the time of course we were just going about doing what we were doing, creating books and games and selling them.  

GamesYouLoved. What are your top 5 games of all time and why - they can be Hewson ones!? 

Andrew Hewson. I really don't have a top five of my own. I'm interested in originality and so I

look back on Gribbleys Day Out with particular fondness, but in truth there are so many great games out there that I don't like to try and pick and choose. 

GamesYouLoved. How do you think the UK games market became so popular during the 80s? 

Andrew Hewson. Oh, that's easy. It's the effect of "I've never seen anything like that before." We are all gripped by novelty. Mass market computing was new and games were many people's path into the market. 





GamesYouLoved.
What kind of great memories of playing games growing up do you have? 

Andrew Hewson. Ooherr. I can remember playing Avalon from beginning to end on the off-chance a couple of years after it was released and thinking it was an even better game than thought at the time.

Thanks to Andrew for taking the time out to speak to GamesYouLoved.

Back the Kickstarter here


Watch the Kickstarter video below:

RETRO: A New RETRO Gaming Magazine - Interview

With 7 days to go GamesYouLoved spoke to Mike Kennedy about the new RETRO Magazine and Kickstarter

The Magazine and Kickstarter

GamesYouLoved. So Mike, You have been in the games business for some time. Why now is the time to launch a Retro magazine?

Mike Kennedy. With the demise of Nintendo Power there really are no great gaming magazines here in the USA.  And, certainly none dedicated to RETRO gaming.  I think there is always room for a quality print magazine and our older demographic is kind of used to print so I think it will sit well with them.  The trick is to fill it with material that isn’t so readily available online and that is our plan; to include in depth features, historical retrospectives, roundtable discussions with an all-star writing team and more.  We will talk about the past, present and future of RETRO.

GamesYouLoved. Do you think people love the idea of a printed magazine as well as the digital version you guys have?  

Mike Kennedy. Definitely, and since all print subs will also receive the digital for free I think it will sit very well with our subscribers.  In the first three weeks of our campaign the print options are the clear winner.  There is something about holding a magazine and flipping through the pages as you check out the vibrant images and creative layouts.  Nothing beats it!

GamesYouLoved. Tell us about the magazine and what exciting things you have planned.

Mike Kennedy. I am just as excited to read is as I am to publish it.  I think the combination of journalists that go back three decades will really add to the collage of material and perspectives that will fill the pages.  Also exciting to me is no one is out of reach to our team.  Between all of us we will be able to nab exclusive interviews with anyone from Cliff Bleszinski to Nolan Bushnell and everyone in between.  And to have all new original columns from some of the best writers in the history of gaming all in the pages of one magazine should be very compelling to our subscribers.  Finally, we have had tons of outreach from other writers from around the world since launching our campaign, and a few from Europe and Japan.  We want RETRO to really encompass the entire world of RETRO gaming and I think we will have a writing team to pull it off. 

How does the community play its part in your plans for the Kickstarter and magazine going forward?  

Mike Kennedy. Community will play a huge roll in this post Kickstarter campaign.  Once it ends successfully, we will finish out the ReadRetro.com website with ways for others to purchase the print OR digital subscriptions.  Then we tare going to ramp up the online content offerings and then integrate it all with GameGavel so gamers will have a convenient means for buying and selling the games, consoles and memorabilia they are reading about across our various media plays.  It all ties together nicely and will create a unique all-inclusive gaming destination that promotes commerce+content+community.


About you?

GamesYouLoved. What are your top 5 games of all time and why?

Mike Kennedy. Tough question for sure!

KABOOM on the Atari 2600 is my favourite game of all time because it was the first game cartridge that I my parents bought for me.  And it’s just such a phenomenal twitch game.  Next I would have to go with Pac Man because it was the first arcade I mastered on my own.  I can still routinely get to the 9^th key.  Moving back to consoles I have an affinity with the Sega Master System and the Wonderboy Series, my favorite being Wonderboy In Monster Land.  I probably logged more hours on that game than any else from that era in gaming.  Tetris on the Gameboy would have to be in this list for sure.  It was a new addiction on a new handheld format and me and “girlfriend” at the time, now my wife, played it for hours when we were dating and still play it at least every month to this very day.  Finally, I have to go with Donkey Kong Country on SNES.  Those pre-rendered 3D graphics took my breath away and I still am amazed every time I play that game on original hardware. 

GamesYouLoved. Do you still own many retro games - name a few for us?

Mike Kennedy.Yes, I have consoles in every room in the house and countless games to with them.  In our living room I have a PS3, Dreamcast, Gamecube and OUYA hooked up.  In my office on another big screen I have an Atari 2600, Intellivision, Colecovision, Sega Genesis/Master System, SNES, N64 and Jaguar set up.  I have made it a point though to only collect games that I will actually play on some regular basis so that has trimmed my collection down quite a bit and I have enjoyed the hobby much more since doing that.  I also have an Apple IIc, a Commodore 64 with tons of games each also hooked up in my office along with some arcade games including a cocktail Missile Command, Super Moon Cresta, a Mame Cabinet and Midway Touchmaster.

GamesYouLoved. Whats the RETRO scene like in the USA for our International followers to understand?

Mike Kennedy. RETRO is huge right now and I think will continue to be huge as the industry forces us more and more to the darkside, downloadable game and non-ownership.  There is simply nothing like owning a game cartridge or disk and playing it the original hardware.  That will never change.  Add to that all the new games being rebooted on Steam, the XBOX and PSN online stores, Nintendo’s eShop and it’s just a great time to be a retro gamer!  You guys have a great magazine dedicated to retro collecting with Retro Gamer.  We need something like that here in the USA and we hope RETRO can fill that need for retro gamers over here. 

GamesYouLoved. What kind of great memories to playing games in the 70s, 80s and 90s do you have?

Mike Kennedy. There are so many but a few rise to the top.  Playing Kaboom and Asteroids for the first time on a friends Atari back in the day; a friend who since past away not too long after.  Sitting in my “wife’s” dorm room back in the late 80’s and playing Alex Kid In Miracle World on the Genesis on a big screen TV in their commons area was tons of fun and of course being scarred out of our pants when a friend and I were romping through the first Resident Evil when the devil dogs busted into the hallway.  Those are some memories I will always cherish.  So many more I could write a book.

and finally....

GamesYouLoved. These are great memories and it's fantastic that RETRO magazine offers a new opportunity to celebrate the massive back catalogue of games and memories that they unlock. Thanks again for taking time out with your Kickstarter to talk to GamesYouLoved!

Mike Kennedy. 

No problem. Great to catch up and talk retrogaming of course!

Support the Kickstarter here  and watch Kickstarter video below:

Silicon Dreams - A Retrospective

Where would we be without electronics?  Using Electrical circuitry to solve problems for a variety of requirements by means of semiconductor components to control electrons, it’s such common thing that it’s mostly taken for granted, and rarely is it celebrated.

In July, GamesYouLoved were lucky enough to be invited along to the Silicon Dreams in the heart of Leicestershire, to celebrate, remember and learn about the age of electronics and hopefully understand its future. A month after the event, after all the computers, components and gadgets have been packed away or taken back to the museums from whence they came, and the dust once again settles on the diodes, we take a retrospective look at the event and what made it tick.


The event was held at Snibston Discovery Museum in Ashby, in the heart of Leicestershire.  The purpose of the event, as the name suggests; to celebrate the ‘age of the silicon chip’, and the evolution of electronic entertainment. It featured an extensive list of exhibitors; from from collectors and completionists to originators and tech-geeks, all keen to share their knowledge and let punters ask questions and interact with their exhibits. The weekend was packed with a variety of activities and talks from key speakers of the computing world. The exhibitor list read like a who’s who in British computing, featuring not one but two of UK’s computing museums; the Centre for Computing History, and Retro Computer Museum, featured talks and input from some of the scene’s most respected minds and even included entertainment from 80’s electro popsters Heaven 17. This was right up GamesYouLoved’s street.

The location couldn’t be more apt, with the event spread nicely throughout the technology museum, which itself hosts a range of science and industry exhibits. GamesYouLoved attended the event on an unusually scorching Saturday, but despite the Barbeque weather the place was a hive of activity with people of all ages enthusiastically exploring and interacting. Exhibits provided an extensive history of computing, showcasing pretty much every computer and console one could remember and many you probably wouldn’t. From the education based Commodore PET 201 (Personal Electronic Transactor) and BBC micros to countless consoles and game systems. Bits of nostalgia were dotted everywhere whisking you back to a day when electronic entertainment was still fresh and exciting, from classic synths, the first games systems (Binatone TV Master) to Betamax top-loading video players.

GamesYouLoved asked Simon Hewitt (Event Organiser) where it all started:

“The clientele that came to vintage computer festival 2 years ago, wanted a similar or follow-up event that celebrated old computers and the legacy of the silicon chip rather than just gaming. We wanted to achieve all of that and make it appeal to a family audience also.”

The next event did just that, by bringing together various factions of the computing community and guest speakers, to demonstrate what their remit was all about and share their passion to potential new audiences. "It doesn't stop there - we'll also have film-related entertainment, arts activities and - of course - electronic music.”, the website promotes.

Simon had worked hard to bring it all together, and the smooth running of the event was down to Simon and his crew’s hard work and determination.

“It’s all really exciting..” Simon enthuses, “..We’ve got a talk from Martin Ware of Heaven 17, one of the godfathers of British electronic music. We’re following this up with a live performance by a band called Northern Kind- a newer synth duo along the same lines, and rounding things off with a performance by Heaven 17. It’s a way to wind down and relax after overseeing things throughout the day as well as adding a bit of a ‘rock and roll’ element. It’s also in keeping with the retro theme of the event.”

And the Simon’s favourite game?
“We’ve had a comp running on Chuckie Egg and that was always a favourite of mine. I had an Acorn Electron and a Spectrum and I preferred the Spectrum version. I’ve even got it on my android phone!

Whilst there, GamesYouLoved GamesYouLoved spent several hours getting involved in the extensive collection of computing systems. Limited run or unsuccessful systems are a part of the evolution of the home entertainment system and GamesYouLoved always find these more interesting because they often still had a part to play in the scene as a whole. We all may remember the likes of Atari’s Jaguar or Panasonic’s 3DO - but perhaps less the French cassette based systems: Matra Alice 90 (a Tandy TRS-80 clone) or an Exelvision Exl 100, or Micronique Hector 2HR, or Philips VG5000.

Moving around the event GamesYouLoved asked the owner of these (and many more gems), Steve Perry, about his collection:

“I've brought a variety of systems along. I just think it’s important that people see them and get chance to use them. A lot of collectors keep their stuff hidden away, stored in boxes, never sharing them and I don’t really agree with that. It’s important for the scene as a whole, and I know you’ve got emulators but it can never replace the look and feel of interacting with the real thing. I’ll always prefer to play on the real thing. I suppose it’s like watching something important on television. It’s always gonna be better to watch it live than a recording.

I’ve probably got about 130 systems at the moment give or take a few non-working ones. Ive got 3 full size arcade cabinets in the living room…”

GamesYouLoved then asked Steve Perry where it all started for him?

“I guess it all started at a RetroVision event, one of the first retro gaming events. It was all quite Llamasoft based with Jeff Minter, and as a homage to his games a group of people from the YakYak forum, started this event called RetroVision and over the years it got more and more generic incorporating different games, different consoles and systems. I went to one in Oxford, took along a Playstation 2, just the one system. The next event I took a few more systems along, and then more after that and it’s just grown, and kind of got out of control.”

Back to the event...
The event was also a great way of promoting the hard work of 2 museums, who are currently playing a big part in Britain’s growing retro games scene. Centre for Computing History, and Retro Computer Museum both have extensive collections of computing and gaming systems from years gone by. Centre for Computing History is a registered charity and has only recently found a home in Haverhill near Cambridge. Their aim is to not only celebrate the impact computing has made on the way we communicate and absorb information, but to generate interest in computing and programming in the younger generations. This made them a perfect exhibitor for the event, as not only did they bring along an array of classic hardware, but they could inform and engage visitors with relevant knowledge and information.

Retro Computer Museum or RCM were also integral to the event supplying an extensive selection of home computing and gaming systems, all set-up and ‘ready to go’ allowing visitors to lose themselves completely in retro gaming if they so wished. Andy Spencer was good enough to give us a walk around and background on all the machines they’d brought from their base in Leicester. His passion and enthusiasm was infectious reminding GamesYouLoved of what gaming of old is really about. Similar to the Centre for Computing History  RCM are also a charity relying on donations and the hard work of volunteers to sustain itself.

GamesYouLoved  also spoke to  Dylan Smith, who had devised an Ethernet networking system for the Sinclair Spectrum, allowing for LAN multiplayer gaming. The theme of the event was becoming more prevalent the more involved GamesYouLoved  got. Old meets new. Sure, it’s important not to forget where computing’s come from also applying a fresh approach, simple and exciting things can occur.

GamesYouLoved also spoke to Chris Smith, writer of the book ‘The ZX Spectrum ULA: How to design a microcomputer’

He went on to say

“There’s still a barrier, especially with the younger generation, using this equipment. So what I decided to do, by way of investigating the ULA- the custom chip in the spectrum, I managed to build my own spectrum, using basic principles using common parts you can find in places like Maplin.
This celebrates how the spectrum chip works, because there’s not really any documentation for that. I then documented this into a book, documenting the whole design. This examines not just the ULA, but looks at how an 8bit computer was designed in the 80’s using the spectrum as the case-study.”

I asked whether he thought gaming had a part to play in all this. Surely gaming helped get the most out of the hardware and push things?

“In gaming, especially when you’ve got such limited resources, whether the ZX spectrum or any 8-bit machine from that era, producing games which had playability and were better than the last was key. It was all about improving and producing things that were better so things didn’t stagnate, you had to innovate.”

Chris himself used to work for the developer MicroGen and would keep an eye on the gaming scene because of its importance to the Spectrum scene;
“I used to subscribe to Crash magazine. Bearing in mind that at the time there was no internet and no ‘in your face reporting’,  I would buy the magazines to keep up with what people were doing in advancements in games. .”

And when GamesYouLoved asked about his favourite gaming memories:

“I used to play some games on the spectrum but it was more to gauge what programmers were doing. I s’pose I was more of a watcher than a player. If I was pushed though, my favourite game would be either Sabre Wulf or Nightlore. I played Sabre Wulf and awful lot. Scuba Dive (Durrell)? I loved that game. And Stop The Express.”

Since the event, The Centre for Computing History has opened its doors and Simon has confirmed there will be another Silicon Dreams event. Simon is currently looking for sponsors for the 2014 event and is providing up to date news about the progress of things via the website: 

http://www.silicondreams.org.uk/ and their Twitter page: twitter.com/SiliconDreamsGB

Thank you to everyone who help organise and contributed to the Silicon Dreams event from the GamesYouLoved Team

Find The Centre for Computing History and Retro Computer Museum on our friends page:
http://www.gamesyouloved.com/friends/