Game On: Pong and Cartridges, A blast from the past

Pong, one of the earliest games, turned 50 on November 30 which was created by Nolan Bushnell

By Aditya Deshbandhu

This week’s column is a little different, it highlights the need to look back and reflect especially in an industry that is often hurtling at lightning speed. This is a challenging task especially, for a column that tries to capture an ephemeral and fickle industry, how does it look back and still stay up to date at the same time.

This week I try just that by telling you a bit about Nolan Bushnell and Gerald Lawson, the latter has been recently celebrated thanks to Google’s incredibly interactive doodle and the former for creating Pong, one of the earliest games. Pong turned 50 on November 30.

I begin with Lawson and his development of the Fairchild Channel F, a video game console that used swappable game cartridges, an ingenious system that has laid the foundation for consoles everywhere. Prior to the Fairchild, machines were dedicated to playing just one game and the desire to play another game meant the purchase of an entire new computer/device.

Lawson’s idea is something we use while gaming everyday as our console games are still sold on swappable media. The cartridge made way for optical disks and subsequently other storage media, but the core idea has remained unchanged and gaming as an activity has become more accessible and personal because of it.

Google’s homage to Lawson was extremely well done and not only did it trigger the necessary nostalgia but it also offered players the opportunity to design their own versions of playable sequences. I especially loved the way the doodle recreated the option to play other game sequences and inherently highlighted Lawson’s contribution.

Initiatives like this allow young players to think through how games can be conceptualized and who knows maybe rethink game making from its very core? I am rooting for that, could Lawson’s history offer us many more Lawson-like game makers?

Secondly, Bushnell and Pong the story has been told several times, but his desire to not give up despite initial obstacles is something we as players embody every time we decide to not give up in our games. One might find several similarities in Bushnell’s successes and failures with Atari and our own in-game lives. Pong though will still remain timeless for its recreation of a tennis like game that showed us not just how data packets are relayed and received by information systems but also how much fun everyday things could be if skill and chance are to enter the mix.

Thus, a trip down memory lane this week as we acknowledge the contributions of two pioneers in the gaming industry. I have had a blast with the doodle and time has simply flown by. You must give it a try and make sure to try building your own playable scenario.

To Lawson and Bushnell! Two people who redefined how the world experienced leisure.