Gerald Jerry Lawsonthe American electronic engineer who invented the commercial video game cartridgehe would be 82 years old on December 1, 2022, so Google decided to dedicate a doodle to him for his anniversary.
Lawson invented the first video game console in history and was a well-known video game pioneer who popularized contemporary video games that are used around the world today.
The electronic engineer was born in Brooklyn on December 1, 1940 and from a very young age began to dabble in electronics. He continued his education at Queens College and the City College of New York before beginning his professional career in Palo Alto.
In his garage, he developed Demolition Derby, one of the first coin-operated arcade games. He finished it in early 1975, using Fairchild’s new F8 microprocessors.
Demolition Derby was one of the first microprocessor-driven video games.
Its video game cartridge was widely used for many years all over the world.
Thanks to the Fairchild Channel F console created by Lawson and his colleagues, games could be stored as software on removable ROM cartridges.
These were also safe as there was no risk of electric shock when repeatedly inserted and removed from a console unit.
The Channel F system included several controls, including a new 8-way joystick created by Lawson and a “pause” buttona first for a home video game console.
The video game industry moves 150,000 million dollars a year, more than that of cinema and music combined
The video games that marked an era
The Atari 2600 software designed by VideoSoft made Lawson and his team’s cartridge even more popular.
Lawson passed away on April 9, 2011, affected by diabetes.
His achievements are on display at the World Video Game Hall of Fame in Rochester, New York.
In addition, the year of his death, the International Association of Game Developers recognized him as an industry pioneer. (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
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