In 1958, William A. Higinbotham invented
the first interactive video game in the
United States, at the Brookhaven National
Laboratory in New York. It was called Tennis for Two
In 1962 Russell invented a game called Spacewar!
on a giant PDP-1 computer. The game allowed two
players to battle by firing missiles at one another.
The very first home video game console was invented in
1972 by German engineer, Ralph Baer. It was called the
Odyssey. It sold for $100, and it could play 12 different
games.
In 1994, the Nintendo 64 arrived in stores. It was the first game
player to have 64-bit color graphics, and it came with several 3-D
games, such as Mario 64. Graphics in video games continued to be
come better and more realistic in the years that followed. In
November 2001, Microsoft entered the video game market with its
highly anticipated Xbox system. Sony’s PlayStation 2 arrived in 2002,
followed by the Nintendo Wii in 2006. By 2007 video games were
selling faster than music CDs for the first time in history.
Jobs
Designer
Writer
Audio Engineer
Composser
Artist
Programmer
Lead Programmer
Engine Programmer
Tools Programmer
Graphics Programmer
Audio Programmer
Artificial Intelligence (AIP) Programmer
Multiplayer Programmer
Producer
Tester
Managers/Administrators
don’t need college degrees. Many
high school or college students work
part time as testers to break into the
industry or earn extra money.
$60,000 - $85,000
need to have a solid foundation in math,
physics, design, and a variety of computer
programming languages (especially C++).
Most have d grees in computer science, al
though they may also study engineering.
$55,000 - $85,000
need to under stand the fundamentals of
art and design. They may study painting,
drawing, sculpture, graphic design, or an
imation. They also need to have some
understanding of math and computer
software.
$60,000 - $70,000
need to under stand the basics of music and
scoring. They also need enough of a technology
background to know how to use synthesizers,
compressors, and other tools. They will likely have
a bach e lor’s degree in music, with a focus in
scoring and composition, or electronic music.
$45,000 - $65,000
need to know something about every
aspect of video game production,
which means having at least some
foundation in computer
programming and software. Their
degree may be in art, computer
science, or the liberal arts.