In 1966, Ralph Baer created the concept of the video game, I was obviously wasn’t born, but my father was thirteen in junior high in a small farm town in New York and the USA Medicare Act was passed to provide financial support to elderly citizens. I found this significantly interesting because this year my dad had not even heard of a video game and when I was a teenager I had already conquered several of them!
1972 was the production of the first video game (Magnovox Odyssey). I was still not born, my dad was a freshman at Jamestown Community College in New York and a hit song that year was “Maggie Mae” (which my dad did have to sing to me on the phone as he remembered it). This was a significant time in history as he recalls because President “I am not a Crook” Nixon resigned from office. My dad was in college and still had never played a video game; he only remembers the game of pin ball, which he compared to what my generation knows as the video game.
In 1985 Nintendo was created! The thought of me was created! My dad had been married for five years with two children and was working in a nightclub called Christies and it was also the end of the disco era in society. The video games my dad remembers were Pacman and Asteroids. 1985 was significant to me because when I think about my childhood, the image of hours and hours of Nintendo playing is clear in my mind. Video games had a significant impact on my me and my family.
Skip to the year 2001 when Microsoft created Xbox. I got my license this year and enjoyed playing tennis in high school. My parents moved into a bigger house and their oldest daughter had moved out. This year will always be remembered as the tragic 9/11 terrorist attacks on America. In high school, I stopped playing video games and to this day, I am only the best at all the Super Nintendo games from my younger years (but very good I might add!) I also like Wii which was played for the fist time in 2006.I had many interesting findings as I compared technology innovations, my life, my father’s life and significant dates in history from 1966 and the concept of the video game to 2006 and its active gaming innovation. It showed just how far not just video games have come but all technology innovations over the past 30+ years. I am interested to see where they go from here!
Other Dates:
1989 – Game Boy was invented
I was 3 years old, still playing with dolls
Opened Academy Restaurant in Hamilton, OH
George Bush sworn in as 41st President
1995 – Nintendo made Nintendo Virtual Boy
I was 9 and loved Nintendo games
My father bought Extra Innings, sports bar
Michael Jackson released the album Past, Present and Future
2000 – Sony created Playstation 2
I was 14, surviving high school
Enjoying fatherhood, sold Academy
Millennium scare
2003 – Second Life Created
I was a junior in high school, MVP of tennis team
My parents moved into a bigger house
Mad Cow Disease scare
