Ralph H. Baer Passes Away at 92

[Moon Jump]

http://www.examiner.com/article/ralph-h-baer-father-of-video-games-passes-away-at-92

End of an era today. Ralph Baer passed away today in his home up in New Hampshire at 92. I'm glad I got to meet the man himself and have a chance to talk with him as well as getting his book that has a ton of blueprints and diagrams of the early Brown Box prototype which would later become the Magnavox Odyssey.

 

[Fygee]

Such a sad loss. His contributions to the world of electronic entertainment cannot be overstated.

 

[Beelzebub]

Rest in peace to Ralph Baer, the grandfather of gaming.

The Odyssey 2 was the first video game system I ever played, and it impacted me greatly. Might have to hook it up and play some today in memory of RHB.

 

[smokehouse]

RIP to a legend that any gamer should know....Godspeed and thanks for all you did...

 

[100proof]

Nothing but the utmost respect for a classy gentleman like Mr. Baer. May he rest in peace.

 

[GutsDozer]

Awesome guy. It's sad Video games have lost one of its great inventors and pioneers.

 

[GregN]

Very sad to hear this. The gaming world owes much debt to him. At least he lived a long time.

 

[Arcademan]

Lived a good long life and contributed so much to the gaming world indeed. R.I.P. Mr. Baer

 

[fenikso]

R.I.P. The true Grandfather of video games.

 

[Danthor]

This is as historically important as it is saddening. RIP, Ralph Baer. I don’t think it’s possible to measure how many lives you’ve changed with your inventions. Kind of weird to know that basically the start of the industry died. Kinda puts the age of the industry into a different perspective.

 

[SNKorSWM]

My condolences. RIP

 

[lastcallhall]

A true loss to the industry, for sure. He will be missed. R.I.P, Mr. Baer.

 

[Zangrief]

Rest In Peace, sir, and know that your legacy shall live forever.

 

[Castor Troy]

RIP

 

[ki_atsushi]

Man, Simon was such a fun game. I got one when I was about 4 and my family played it until the buttons wore out.

Rest in peace.

 

[Mercuttio]

I hope that there's more discussion of his contributions in popular culture. I feel like games are talked about far more often than they were and a lot of "creator" figures are better known by the general public, but he's still not gotten the recognition he deserves.

 

[Moon Jump]

I hope that there's more discussion of his contributions in popular culture. I feel like games are talked about far more often than they were and a lot of "creator" figures are better known by the general public, but he's still not gotten the recognition he deserves.

I know that when Bushnell passes away he'll end up getting more publicity then Ralph will. His book is pretty amazing. Not only does it have tons of blueprints and diagrams of his designs but there's also a whole section in the book that's all about the lawsuit and all of the stuff that was submitted. Including Nolan Bushnell's signature in the guestbook showing that he indeed played the Magnavox Odyssey before he went with Al Alcorn and made Pong. I hated how even as a kid when I read books on the history of video games and no where do they mention Ralph Baer, even in that shitty new Video Games The Movie, he's only shown on screen for a few seconds and then it all focuses on Nolan Bushnell. Even in another interview he came off like a complete dick. "Yeah...I went to the trade show...yeah..I played it. I didn't think anything of it..." Make you kinda glad he sold Atari to Warner and then they drove it into the ground.

 

[Earthquake24]

A wonderful and kind man. His contributions and legacy to gaming and the game industry in general will be everlasting. If you haven't yet, pick up a copy of his book, Videogames: In The Beginning. It details all of his original memos when dealing with Sanders Associates in regards to the Magnavox Odyssey, as well as alot of photos, schematics, patents, original design ideas with the BrownBox, etc.

 

[Xian Xi]

RIP Ralph, fuck you Nolan.

 

[famicommander]

To be fair to Bushnell, Baer aped his "Touch Me" game and turned it into Simon.

Basically, Alcorn and Bushnell saw the Odyssey, improved it, added sound effects, and we got Pong.
Baer saw Atari's Touch Me, improved it, added sound effects, and we got Simon.

Both deserve status as pioneers and founding fathers of electronic/video games. Baer basically started the home game industry, while Bushnell basically started the arcade industry.

Ralph certainly seemed like less of a dick about the whole thing, though.

 

[Moon Jump]

The guys from ACAM up in FunSpot just posted a few photos of them with Ralph. This one above was taken just a few months ago in September. The guy on the left Mike is holding a prototype game that Ralph made and almost totally forgot about it. It's called "Video Toss". Basically he rigged this to a Nintendo and you connect sensors to the TV like the Power Glove. With this you can play Duck Hunt with NERF balls. You throw small colored balls at the screen and they'll register a shot from the lightgun. It's kind of like what this Korean gaming company did with a game called "Pang! Pang! Paradise!" but in the 1980's. The guys at ACAM got it and had it out for an event. Really cool stuff.

 

[skateonwalls]

RIP.

 

[irvsmoot]

I was fortunate enough to see Ralph Baer give a talk a couple years ago about his early research and building the Brown Box. It was a fascinating experience. RIP Ralph, thanks for the games.