Man Gives Birth to Video Game - Honored in Queens

This weekend the Museum of the Moving Image honors Ralph Baer, home video game pioneer. Back in the late 1960s he invented the prototype -- Brown Box -- that became the Magnavox Odyssey TV Game, the first video game system. Later he had a hit with the electronic game Simon. Yes, that dang memory game.

The Museum is also opening a new exhibit Interacting with the Screen that lets you play on vintage arcade and video games including Pong and Space Invaders. And following the Baer tribute there's a panel discussion with leading game designers Eugene Jarvis, Greg Costikyan, and Eric Zimmerman. Rockstar Games, publishers of the Grand Theft Auto series, will foot the bill for the closing reception. As a child of the 70s and 80s, the event and exhibit ares sweet music to my ears.

• Video Games 1.0
• April 22, 2006, starting at 2 p.m., full schedule; free with regular Museum admission
• Museum of the Moving Image - 35th Ave at 36th St, Astoria
• More - On Sunday come back to meet video bloggers from Rocketboom, Drivetime, and Vimeo in the flesh (April 23, 4 p.m.).
• Related - History of Video Games [About.com]

Image courtesy of the Museum of the Moving Image