The Magnavox Odyssey is the world's first video game console. It was first demonstrated in May 1972 and released that fall, predating the Atari Pong home consoles by several years. The Odyssey was designed by Ralph Baer, who had a working prototype finished by 1968. This prototype known as the
"Brown Box" is now at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC.
The system did use interchangeable "cartridges" which had to be swapped to play different games, but they did not contain game code like later systems- they simply made connections inside the machine that changed the game type. Still, this concept still exists today in home video game consoles and the concept was there right from the beginning.
The Odyssey was discontinued in 1974.
Games released:Analogic, Baseball, Basketball, Brain Wave, Cat & Mouse, Dogfight, Football, Fun Zoo, Handball, Haunted House, Hockey, Invasion, Interplanetary Voyage, Percepts, Prehistoric Safari, Roulette, Shooting Gallery, Shootout, Simon Says, Ski, Soccer, States, Submarine, Table Tennis,
Tennis, Volleyball, Win, Wipeout
