Early history of video games
Throughout the rest of the 1960s, digital computer games were created by increasingly numerous programmers and sometimes sold commercially in catalogs. As the audience for video games expanded to more than a few dozen research institutions with the falling cost of computers, and programming languages that would run on multiple types of computers were created, a wider variety of games began to be developed. Video games transitioned into a new era in the early 1970s with the launch of the commercial video game industry in 1971 with the display of the coin-operated arcade game "Galaxy Game" and the release of the first arcade video game "Computer Space", and then in 1972 with the release of the immensely successful arcade game "Pong" and the first home video game console, the Magnavox Odyssey, which launched the first generation of video game consoles.
Technological and industrial history of 20th-century Canada
Video games have become a wildly popular form of entertainment especially for youth, since the 1980s. The earliest video game dated from 1947 and a number of devices were produced in the 1950s and 1960s. However, it was the development of the computer chip that led to their popularization. The coin-operated arcade game "Pong" introduced by Atari in 1972 was the first to become widely available. The next phase of development included the introduction in the mid-1970s of the home console, first with a hardwired game, but then complemented in 1977 by “plug and play”, which allowed the use of game cartridges for variety. Beginning in 1985 PC gaming became popular, exploiting the flexibility and increasing popularity of the personal computer. In 1989 Nintendo released its Game Boy, the first of the hand-held electronic games. Game imagery became more elaborate with the introduction of the 32-bit chip that was featured in the Sony PlayStation released in 1994. The 128-bit, sixth generation of video games was born with the introduction of the Sega Dreamcast in 1998. These technologies found a place in the Canadian consumer market from the moment of their introduction and Canadian companies have played a role in their development, with hardware makers like ATI Technologies developing high-powered video chips for game imagery and software companies developing a number of games.