Ralph Baer ralphbaer.com

Long before the Xbox came the Brown Box, a creation that defense contractor engineer Ralph Baer and colleagues built in the late 1960s that would become known as the first real video game system. The video game industry this week mourns Baer, a German-born American who has passed away at the age of 92.

Baer worked on what would become the first multi-player video game console while employed at defense contractor Sanders Associates, which licensed it to TV maker Magnovox. That company brought the system to market in 1972 as the Odyssey, and spawned what is now an industry worth tens of billions of dollars.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here