‘The Father of Video Games’ Ralph Baer has died at age 92

By Rick Marshall Published December 8, 2014

Video-game industry pioneer Ralph Baer, the creator of the first video game console and the man known as “the father of video games,” has died at age 92.

Gamasutra reported the death of the inventor over the weekend.

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Baer was the creator of the “Brown Box,” an early video game system that was later sold as the Magnavox Odyssey and is widely regarded as the first video game console. The console’s debut in 1972 marked the beginning of the home-based (as opposed to arcade) video-game industry, and provided the initial spark that ignited the massive gaming industry that exists today.

Along with developing the Magnavox Odyssey, Baer is credited with inventing the first peripheral device for video game consoles (the light gun), as well as the electronic, pattern-matching game Simon that was popular throughout the ’80s. Baer held over 150 patents for electronics- and gaming-related inventions.

In 2006, he was awarded the National Medal of Technology by former U.S. President George W. Bush, and he received the Game Developers Choice Pioneer Award in 2008. In 2010, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

You can watch his GDC acceptance speech in the video below:

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