Engineer, inventor and 'father of video games' Ralph Baer passed away recently at the age of 92. Baer realized many accomplishments in his long life, including the development of the world's first commercial video game console. Originally known as the "Brown Box", it went on to be sold in 1972 as the Magnavox Odyssey. At GDC 2008, Baer and his fellow industry trailblazer Allan Alcorn (the creator of Pong) spoke at length about how they went about creating the video game software and hardware that launched our industry. Baer walks the audience through his life, the pieces of thought that brought him to play with televisions, and the design work that brought him to thinking of doing a 'pong' game on them. If you've not seen this seminal talk before, now's your chance: the free video (linked above) of 'How to Create an Industry: The Making of the Brown Box and Pong' is now available to watch here on the GDC Vault.

About the GDC Vault

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers. Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC, GDC Europe, and GDC Next already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support. Gamasutra and GDC are sibling organizations under parent UBM Tech