1974 in video games
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1974 had new titles such as Speed Race, Dungeon, Gran Trak 10, Tank and TV Basketball. The year's best-selling arcade game was Tank by Kee Games.
Best-selling arcade video games in the United States[]
The following titles were the best-selling arcade video games of 1974 in the United States, according to annual arcade cabinet sales estimates provided by Ralph H. Baer.[1]
Rank | Title | Arcade cabinet sales | Developer | Manufacturer | Genre |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Tank | 10,000 | Kee Games | Kee Games | Maze |
2 | Formula K (Gran Trak 10) | 5,000 | Atari, Inc. | Kee Games | Racing |
3 | Clean Sweep | 3,500 | Ramtek | Ramtek | Block breaker |
4 | Flim-Flam | 1,500 | Meadows Games | Meadows Games | Pong |
5 | Leader | 1,000 | Midway Manufacturing | Midway Manufacturing | |
TV Flipper | 1,000 | Midway Manufacturing | Midway Manufacturing | Pinball | |
7 | Gran Trak 20 | 500 | Atari, Inc. | Atari, Inc. | Racing |
Robot | 500 | Allied Leisure | Allied Leisure | Pong | |
TV Basketball | 500 | Taito | Midway Manufacturing | Sports | |
TV Pinball | 500 | Chicago Coin | Chicago Coin | Pinball |
Events[]
- The number of copies of Pong and its commercial clones exceed 100,000 units. Approximately 10,000 of these units were manufactured by Atari, the original developer of Pong.[2]
- H.R. "Pete" Kaufman leaves Ramtek to found Exidy, Inc.[2]
- Namco acquires the Japanese division of Atari, Inc. and formally enters the video arcade game market.[2]
- Atari acquires Kee Games as a "marketing ploy." Atari will continue to use the "Kee Games" title as a brand name until 1978.[2]
- Royal Philips Electronics N.V. acquires Magnavox, which becomes "Philips Consumer Electronics."[3]
Notable releases[]
Magazines[]
- Play Meter, the first magazine devoted to coin-operated amusements (including arcade games), publishes its first issue.[2]
Arcade games[]
- February – Taito releases Basketball,[4] an early example of sprite graphics, used to represent baskets and player characters,[5] making it the first video game with human figures.[4] The same month, Midway licenses the game for a North American release under the title TV Basketball, making it the first Japanese game licensed for North American release.[4]
- July 24 – Atari releases Gran Trak 10, the first car-racing video game, to video arcades.[6]
- November – Taito releases Tomohiro Nishikado's Speed Race,[7] the second car-racing video game. It introduces scrolling sprite graphics with collision detection,[8] and uses a racing wheel controller.[9] Midway releases it as Wheels and Racer in the United States.[8]
- November 5[10] – Prior to their acquisition by Atari, Kee Games releases Tank to video arcades.[2]
Computer games[]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f4/Maze_war.jpg/160px-Maze_war.jpg)
Maze War, an ancestor of the first-person shooter genre, was ported to a number of computer systems. The above image was created from a version of the game written for the Xerox Star 8010 in 1985.
- Steve Colley, Howard Palmer, and Greg Johnson develop Maze War on the Imlac PDS-1 at the NASA Ames Research Center in California.[11] It is recognized as an ancestor of the first-person shooter genre.
- Jim Bowery develops Spasim for the PLATO system. Two versions are released, the first in March and the second in July.[12] It is also recognized as an ancestor of the first-person shooter genre.
- Gary Whisenhunt and Ray Wood develop dnd, the first game with a boss, and arguably the first role-playing video game, for the PLATO system.[13] Development continued into 1975; it is unclear at what point the game became playable.
Video game consoles[]
- Magnavox reissues the Odyssey and releases it in Australia, Belgium, the United Kingdom, France, West Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Switzerland, and Venezuela.[14]
References[]
- ^ Baer, Ralph H. (2005). Videogames: In the Beginning. Rolenta Press. pp. 10–3. ISBN 978-0-9643848-1-1.
- ^ a b c d e f Thomas, Donald A. Jr. (2005). "–1974–". ICWhen.com. Archived from the original on March 17, 2006. Retrieved February 16, 2006.
- ^ Kaiser, Robert D. (1999). "The Ultimate Odyssey2 and Odyssey3 FAQ". Archived from the original (text) on March 8, 2008. Retrieved February 16, 2006.
- ^ a b c "The Golden Age Arcade Historian: Video Game Firsts??". November 22, 2013.
- ^ Basketball at the Killer List of Videogames
- ^ Cassidy, William (2003). "Hall of Fame / Gran Trak 10 and Sprint 2". GameSpy. Archived from the original on February 1, 2010. Retrieved February 16, 2006.
- ^ "Speed Race, Arcade Video game by Taito (1974)".
- ^ a b Bill Loguidice & Matt Barton (2009), Vintage games: an insider look at the history of Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario, and the most influential games of all time, p. 197, Focal Press, ISBN 0-240-81146-1
- ^ Speed Race at the Killer List of Videogames
- ^ "Tank , Arcade Video game by Kee Games(1974)".
- ^ "The Maze War 30 Year Retrospective". DigiBarn Games. 2004. Retrieved February 25, 2012.
- ^ Bowery, Jim (2010). "Spasim (1978) The First First-Person-Shooter 3D Multiplayer Networked Game". Archived from the original on October 21, 2009. Retrieved February 16, 2006.
- ^ Koster, Raph (February 17, 2002). "Online World Timeline". Raph Koster's Website. Archived from the original on January 16, 2009. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
- ^ Gegan, Shaun and David Winter (2003). "Magnavox Odyssey FAQ version 2.9.1" (text). Archived from the original on February 13, 2006. Retrieved February 16, 2006.
Categories:
- 1974
- Video games by year