a tennis simulator they Goldsmith and Mann’s “Cathode called “Tennis for Two” during Ray Tube amusement device,” Oct. 18th the Brookhaven National Lab’s patented on [Jan 25] 1947. annual visitor’s day (actually The first computer game was spread over 3 days) in Upton, probably the Nimatron [Sept 24] New York. First at the New York’s World’s Fair Radio Hundreds of visitors lined up to in April 1940. play, and Higinbotham Oct. 18, 1954 remembered later that “the high schoolers liked it best, you Texas Instruments (TI) and couldn’t pull them away from it.” First (Detected) Industrial Development Engineering Associates (I.D.E.A.) The game ran on a Donner Computer Crime announced the Regency TR-1, Model 30 analog computer, that Oct. 18, 1966 the world’s first commercial he and technician Dvorak had transistor radio. After it went on spent three weeks hard wiring. Milo Arthur Bennett was the sale in Nov. for $49.95 ($480 in first person brought to justice 2020), about 150,000 units were for a computer related crime. On sold despite the radio's less than this day, he was convicted on stellar sound quality. The two counts of altering bank problem was that TI’s design records. had required six but I.D.E.A’s Dick Koch had reduced Bennett worked for an insurance this to just four, which meant company which was reconciling that the company made a small checks for the National City profit on each radio. Another Bank of Minneapolis. Bennett issue was that the radio's 22 ½ had installed the computer volt battery only provided 20 to system and occasionally helped 30 hours of useful life. to operate it. He also arranged for it to automatically clear all The TR-1's space-age exterior his cheques and ignore his was designed by the company, overdraft. Painter, Teague and Petertil; it won an Industrial Design Society The crime was discovered when award and the radio was Tennis For Two on an hardware failure forced bank exhibited at the Museum of Oscilloscope. Photo by BNL. officials to check accounts by Modern Art in 1955. The design hand. They discovered an overdraft of $1,357.33 in influenced many later devices, The game used an oscilloscope Bennett’s account which was not including the Apple iPod [Oct to depict a tennis court viewed being reported by the machine. 23]. from the side as a green line. The players adjusted the angle of The first TR-1 off the production their shots via knobs on boxy line was presented to Patrick controllers, with the aim of Eugene Haggerty, TI's vice Micropad hitting a ball over the net (a president, along with a short vertical line). The game Oct. 18, 1979 certificate acknowledging him implemented simple physics for for his “vision, judgment and the ball, and generated a sound UK company Quest Automation untiring efforts.” when it was hit. released the first commercially successful character recognition Although the TR-1 was the first The game was mostly forgotten device, the Micropad. It was commercial transistor radio, it until Higinbotham was called in derived from the Datapad, which wasn’t the first to be during the 1970's to testify in in turn was based on work transistorized, which was the patent disputes between probably a prototype carried out at the National Magnavox and Ralph Baer Physical Lab [Oct 1]. demonstrated at the 1953 [March 8]. Düsseldorf Radio Fair, built The main advantages of the around the ‘transistron’ [Aug Higinbotham had served as the Micropad over the older 18]. head of the electronics division Datapad was its (comparatively) of the from low cost—£1725 compared to 1943 to 1945, and later became £21,000, and small size (akin to a leading member of the non- that of a desktop calculator). Anyone for Tennis proliferation movement. Internally it used the TMS9900 [June 00]. Oct. 18, 1958 “Tennis for Two” is often said to be the first electronic game to and Input was via a form preprinted use a graphical display, but that Robert V. Dvorak, Sr. showed off with blank boxes which was honor likely belongs to placed on a pressure-sensitive

1

pad. The device could recognize The marketing slogan used in over the ownership of the the English alphabet, numbers, North America was “Now You’re domain name. and a few special characters. Playing With Power!” Upstanding entrepreneur Gary The device employed the cheap Kremen registered the name 8-bit 6502 [Sept 16], but a good with Network Solutions [Sept MicroVAX five-channel sound chip. 14] on this day, but decided Another new feature was a VCR- against erecting a web site while Oct. 18, 1984 like front-loading cartridge he concentrated on enlarging his system, which proved to be Match.com membership. DEC announced its MicroVAX somewhat unreliable. The well- system, a low-cost desktop Coming later in 1995, Network known “blinkies” problem, an version of the VAX [Oct 25] with Solutions transferred the annoying, flashing screen, the same instruction set. It was domain to Stephen M. Cohen occurred when the NES had DEC’s first machine to use VLSI without Kremen permission. trouble reading a cartridge. technology, based around two Cohen had been watching custom chips for the ALU and Nevertheless, the system would Sex.com for some time, and soon FPU. It was developed at the turn Nintendo into the premier began milking the site DECWest lab in Bellevue, video gaming company of the vigorously, reportedly making Washington, by a team led by late 1980’s. Then in the early $50,000 to $500,000 per month Dave Cutler [March 13]. 1990’s, it conquered the 16-bit from click-throughs and other game market with the SNES advertising. The MicroVAX family proved [Nov 21]. popular throughout the 1980's, A five-year, stiffly fought, legal so much so that the 3500 and battle ensued, led by cyber- 3600, introduced in Sept. 1987, lawyer Charles Carreon. Kremen included a message inscribed on Security First ended up on top in Nov. 2000, the top layer of the silicon. It when Network Solutions was said in Russian “VAX, when you Network Bank ordered to return the domain. care enough to steal the very Exhausted, but happy, Kremen best.” Oct. 18, 1995 finally held Sex.com firmly in his Security First Network Bank own two hands. (SFNB) was the first bank Journalist Kieren McCarthy had NES authorized by the US kept abreast of the many in-and- government to provide banking outs of the fight, and wrote the Oct. 18, 1985 services only via the Internet. definitive expose, “Sex.com: One Although online banking had Domain, Two Men, Twelve Years Nintendo released the Nintendo been around since the 1980's and the Brutal Battle for the Entertainment System (NES) in [Oct 9], it had always been Jewel in the Internet’s Crown” New York, a redesigned associated with bricks-and- (2007). Its penetrating analysis Famicom (Family Computer) mortar institutions. SFNB had no got to the bottom of the case. dating from 1983 in Japan. physical branches at all.

It came with some great , SFNB was founded in Kentucky including Super Mario Bros by James (Chip) S. Mahan III, and Shadow of the [Sept 13], Metroid [Aug 15], and by the end of its first year had Legend of Zelda [Feb 21]. amassed $41 billion in assets Colossus Nintendo had also introduced a from Internet customers located rigorous quality control in all fifty states. It's IPO in May Oct. 18, 2005 procedure for third-party 1996 saw its stock price double “Shadow of the Colossus”, developers. on the first day of trading. released in Japan as “Wander Other Internet-only banks of the and the Colossus”, was an 1990's included NetBank action-adventure game (1996), Compubank (1998), and published by Sony for the the First Internet Bank of PlayStation 2 [March 4]. The Indiana (1999). creative director was Fumito Ueda. A young man named Wander Who owns must travel across a forbidden land on horseback and defeat sixteen massive beings, known NES with controller. Photo by Sex.com? as colossi, in order to bring the Evan-Amos. Oct. 18, 1995 girl Mono back to life. The "Sex.com" was the focus of a unique weakness of each much publicized legal action colossus must be identified before it can be defeated.

2

The game was unusual in that there were no towns or dungeons to explore, no characters to talk to, and no enemies to defeat other than the colossi. The game is often cited as an example of “ as art” due to its minimalist landscape designs, immersive gameplay, and emotional journey. The soundtrack is also quite distinctive.

3