Below is an image from the Killer List of Video Games website, which maintains a comprehensive database of arcade games. I was surprised to learn that this particular game, "Computer Space," was the first, preceding Pong by a year (CS was 1971, Pong was '72). The biomorphic Fiberglas body got me thinking about sculptures from the late '60s/early '70s that had a similar look or feel, which led me to put together a one-page picture story on connections between video games and contemporary sculpture. I've paired "Computer Space" with an untitled work from 1969 by Canadian sculptor Walter Redinger, and then contrasted another game from the KLOV website, the sublimely-named Xevious (xenophobic and devious?), with an image of Rita McBride's recent sculptures based on arcade game designs. The discussion of the games is interwoven with a critique of the artworks.
When was Galaxia (sp?)??
i can remember playing it in fifth grade which for me was 1979.
More info on Computer Space and game history in general can be found at yet another mind-bogglingly thorough website, The Dot Eaters (geeks really love their own history!). It says Computer Space appeared in the movies Soylent Green (figures) and Jaws.
Did you see the (print) Winter 2001 Bookforum? It has a review by Erik Davis of a book titled Supercade: A Visual History of the Videogame Age, 1971-1984, by Van Burnham (MIT Press.) Sounds like something up your alley. Here's the first paragraph from the Bookforum review: Leafting through Van Burnham's Supercade, a coffee-table book that fetishistically catalogues the games, arcade machines, home consoles, and early computers that distracted young hearts and minds from 1971 to 1984, you can be forgiven for feeling like you've struck a mother lode of geek porn. Between the glossy screen shots and retro gear, though, Supercade makes a crucial point: Not only did the "golden age" of video games kick-start an entertainment industry that now rivals Hollywood, it got millions hooked on the interactive screen, opening the domicile to digital circuitry and helping transform the computer from a number cruncher into an image machine of major cultural import.
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Below is an image from the Killer List of Video Games website, which maintains a comprehensive database of arcade games. I was surprised to learn that this particular game, "Computer Space," was the first, preceding Pong by a year (CS was 1971, Pong was '72). The biomorphic Fiberglas body got me thinking about sculptures from the late '60s/early '70s that had a similar look or feel, which led me to put together a one-page picture story on connections between video games and contemporary sculpture. I've paired "Computer Space" with an untitled work from 1969 by Canadian sculptor Walter Redinger, and then contrasted another game from the KLOV website, the sublimely-named Xevious (xenophobic and devious?), with an image of Rita McBride's recent sculptures based on arcade game designs. The discussion of the games is interwoven with a critique of the artworks.
- tom moody 11-14-2001 7:31 pm
When was Galaxia (sp?)??
- Skinny 11-14-2001 8:50 pm
i can remember playing it in fifth grade which for me was 1979.
- dave 11-15-2001 12:27 am
More info on Computer Space and game history in general can be found at yet another mind-bogglingly thorough website, The Dot Eaters (geeks really love their own history!). It says Computer Space appeared in the movies Soylent Green (figures) and Jaws.
- tom moody 11-15-2001 12:55 am
Did you see the (print) Winter 2001 Bookforum? It has a review by Erik Davis of a book titled Supercade: A Visual History of the Videogame Age, 1971-1984, by Van Burnham (MIT Press.) Sounds like something up your alley. Here's the first paragraph from the Bookforum review:
- jim 12-02-2001 8:44 pm