Ralph Bear - the father of video games

Ralph Baer, ​​84, this year is the world known as the father of video games. With his initiatives the video game industry earns billions of dollars. Currently, although he is old, he is still looking for something new.

Inventor Ralph Baer.(Photo: g4tv.com)

In 1938, Mr. Baer and his family had to leave Nazi Germany to escape to foreign countries and it is not until today that they can return to visit their fatherland in Pirmasens. For him there is nothing more important than his inventions and inventions and he is very proud of those inventions. Baer had to make the most persistent, persistent struggle to be recognized as the " father of video games ". Although earlier at MIT in Massachusetts, in 1962, invented the game called ' Spacewar !' - but to make this game need a large computer.

In the 60s, Baer worked at weapons maker Sanders Associates, his task was to research the construction of defense radar systems and electronics in submarines. As a researcher interested in research, Baer is not really interested in the task of managing the research department developed at the firm. He said: ' Here people do things that can be used for three or four years, but no one talks to anyone about their work, when they get the product and when they do not have it, it is done as a termination. I'm not interested in that kind of work . '

As an expert on television technology, he was always frustrated with the idea of ​​doing something to serve millions of television users in the US and he secretly studied video games on television screens. In late 1969, he launched the ' Brown Box ' - the world's first video game system . One of the most famous first games is called ' ping pong ' - consisting of two rackets, a ball and a knob to ' cut ', with this knob one can change the flight path. The owner of the weapons manufacturer has licensed this patent and sold the rights to Magnavox Television Manufacturer. The company named the new game ' Odyssey '.

' Brown Box ' - The world's first video game. (Photo: flickr.com)

Magnavox and Sanders regularly participated in copyright lawsuits with Baer until the 80s of the last century and earned millions of dollars in royalty and outside court payments. Mr. Baer himself and his archives often went to court to prove that he was the initiator without any money from his inventions. Today, when people ask Baer if he has been cheated by his firm, he smiles and talks a lot about the freedom it has earned him so he can make the first inventions. He said: 'Back then I had the right to freely do what I liked. Such freedom in a business is really priceless. That is a reward for me . '

Baer later established his own business and operated independently. He constantly researches and develops ideas that are both funny and crazy. For example, he let a teddy bear talk to an animated character on the screen, or he created the first talking doormat. His game ' Simon ' was born in the 80s and still exists.

' Simon ' game was born in 1974 (Photo: jeuxvideo)

Today, when talking about the violence in video games, Mr. Baer is very sad. According to him, video games have long been an art but abused. While talking he suddenly took out the keys in his pocket. In this key chain, there is a tiny USB hard drive that copies the jobs he is currently doing, reproducing the instructions for using all video games before the ' Brown Box '.

Because of these inventions, US President George W. Bush awarded him the Medal for the cause of science and technology for two years.

Viet Phuong