First generation of video game consoles
This was also the first involvement of Nintendo in video games. According to Martin Picard in the "International Journal of Computer Game Research": "in 1971, Nintendo had -- even before the marketing of the first home console in the United States -- an alliance with the American pioneer Magnavox to develop and produce optoelectronic guns for the Odyssey (released in 1972), since it was similar to what Nintendo was able to offer in the Japanese toy market in 1970s".
History of Nintendo
In 1949, Hiroshi Yamauchi was attending Waseda University in Tokyo, however, after his grandfather died he left to take office as the president of Nintendo. In 1951, he renamed "Marufuku Co. Ltd." to "Nintendo Playing Card Co., Ltd." In 1953, Nintendo became the first company in Japan to produce playing cards from plastic.