GAMING HISTORY:
In 1958, the world's first video game was invented. William Higinbothan, who worked for a nuclear research lab in the U.S., was a self-professed pinball addict. His game, "Tennis for Two" was played on an oscilloscope. It was used to entertain visitors at the lab's open house and not commercially released.

The father of video gaming, Ralph Baer.

In 1961 MIT student Steve Russell created Spacewar! It ran on a massive computer and quickly became popular at universities and research facilities in the U.S. But there was no way it could be played at home.

Magnavox released the first home game console called Odyssey. It offered 12 games including the well-known, Ping Pong. Sales suffered because of a poor marketing campaign. Many customers thought the system would only work on Magnavox televisions. Ralph Baer, the inventor, is now known as the 'father of video games'.

THE BUSINESS BY THE NUMBERS:
The video game business is a 25 billion dollar a year industry.

800 million people worldwide are regular players.

The costs to develop a video game have increased from $40,000 to 10 million dollars in one decade.

Eighty percent of video games fail in the first year.

The Game Boy, released in 1989 by Nintendo, became the most successful portable game system ever. Over 100 million units were sold. It's no wonder that Nintendo means "leave luck to heaven."

The most popular game system - contrary to what most people think - is actually the home computer.  But if you count systems that were specifically designed for game play, the Playstation is the clear frontrunner. In March 2005 it became the first console to reach the 100 million mark.

NOTABLE VIDEO GAMES:
Pac-Man, released in 1979 became the most popular video arcade game of all time. Over 350,000 units were sold. The game went on to became a social phenomenon, inspiring a tv series and a top 40 pop single. The Killer List of Videogames lists Pac-Man as the #1 video game of all time.

A screen shot from the original arcade version of Pac Man.

Super Mario Brothers  is the official Guinness Book of World Records record holder for best-selling game, at over 40 million copies sold, although it was sold packaged with the Nintendo Entertainment System. Games featuring Mario have sold over 155 million units around the world.

The Sims, created by designer Will Wright, is the best selling PC game in history. It's an unusual game in that it doesn't have a purpose; Wright refers to it as a 'digital dollhouse'. It's thought that the idea for the game came when Wright's house burned down in 1991 Oakland firestorm and he had to move his family elsewhere and rebuild his life.

The U.S. military developed America's Army as a recruitment tool. It was released in July 2002. Since then it has been downloaded by 8 million players in 60 countries and updated 23 times. There have been 3 billion player rounds and nearly 200 million player hours have been logged. Approximately 150,000 new accounts are created each month. Only two years after the game launched, the U.S. met its recruitment goals.

The sale of the game Postal - considered by many to be too violent - is banned in 13 countries. In Australia and New Zealand it's illegal to even own a copy. In 1997, PC World named it "Runner-Up" for the "The 10 Worst Games of all Time".

Read more about the Doc Zone series, Gamer Revolution.