Space War! The Dawn of a Gaming Era

Back in 1962 we saw the birth of “Spacewar!”, the game that not only stands as one of the first digital video games, but also the first to be played across multiple locations, not confined to a single institution. A group of visionary MIT students led by Steve Russell crafted this groundbreaking game. Spacewar! was a simplistic yet captivating two-player game where each controlled a spaceship (called “the needle” and “the wedge”). Players duelled around a gravity-well-producing star. Created on the PDP-1, an early mini-computerand one of the first to use a video display for output, this game was a testament to the untapped potential of digital gaming.

What made Spacewar particularly remarkable was its dissemination beyond MIT. It quickly became a mainstay in computer labs across the U.S., marking the first time a video game was played in multiple locations. This spread was facilitated by the sharing of the game’s code in the early computing community, a precursor to the modern concept of open-source software.

Spacewar was more than an entertaining diversion; it was a pioneering effort in interactive software and a blueprint for future video games. Its existence signaled the dawn of the commercial video game industry and influenced generations of games and gamers. Spacewar!’s legacy lives on, not just in the games it inspired but in the very ethos of gaming culture. It demonstrated the possibilities of digital entertainment and collaborative programming, setting the stage for the rich, diverse gaming landscape we enjoy today.

So, let’s celebrate Spacewar!, the game that started it all. Its impact is a reminder of how innovation, collaboration, and a bit of competitive spirit can create something special. Have you ever played Spacewar!? I was lucky enough to have got to play the game on the original hardware at the National Computer Museum in California (i took the picture you can see in this article!).