Wired has posted this incredible pictorial history of home video game systems you must check out.I have many fond memories of playing Pong every Thursday with my family, usually after eating fondue. It was the 70s. We did stuff like that. And, no, my parents didn't go to "key parties."
Pong of course is famous for accidentally inventing the video game "pause" feature. You simply evened out the paddles so that the "ball" would hit the dead center of the "paddles" and get stuck going back and forth until you moved the paddle enough to set it on an angle. This of course allowed for enough time to go get your dad another Coors from the fridge.
Honestly, the concept of additionally available titles like "Combat" or "Circus" that came with the Atari 2600 was completely lost on us. Nothing could possibly replace the Pong "dedicated console" and it would be years before my brother and I conned our parents into getting one just in time for the E.T. game to disappoint millions and meet its fate in landfills around the globe.
