Videogames: In The Beginning is the story of home video games told by the man who created them. Ralph H. Baer was an electronics whiz and inventive pioneer. He asserts that he is the sole inventor of video games used in our homes. What started as a small side project eventually turned into the mega billion dollar industry we see today.
But please know what to expect if you decide to read this book. It is the story of the man during his time spent with his inventions. It is by no means an anthology of games of that era. Baer only talks about his personal experiences, tinkering, and triumphs. If he wasn't there, he won't talk about it. This leads to an extremely informative piece about the man and his personal work, but nothing else. There's a lot about the Magnavox Odyssey, but virtually nothing about other 1970s or 1980s consoles, of which
there are many. The only time he discusses Atari is to bash Nolan Bushnell. Nintendo is mentioned in passing maybe once. Arcade games are addressed, but aren't really important unless it was one he was personally working on. Baer wasn't at other companies or development teams, so they are of no concern to this book. He can be quite dismissive at points, often pointing to the fact that he holds the patents, so there can be no further argument. Again, do not expect a history of early video games in general. Expect a history of what Baer did and thought. The book title is slightly misleading.
He is a very organized man, to put it lightly. He kept documentation, meticulously filed, of practically every semi-significant event that happened during his career. Countless times throughout the book, he will present scans, schematics, documents, letters, memos, pictures, and the like of every topic he discusses. This is a huge feat in itself, since many of these events occurred 50+ years ago. It's a great supplement to the story of his working life. There's also a lot of technical talk interspersed throughout the book. Baer is really writing this book for himself. If you want to read it, feel free, but know that it's really not geared for "how many copies can it sell?" Baer wants his story told his way. He wants all the information out there, direct from the source. And there is
so much detail.
The man was extremely successful throughout his career. He held many patents that basically gave him and the company he worked for total control over any home video game that hit the market. He came up with the ideas before anyone else (according to him), and has all the documentation to prove his claim. This helped immensely in court cases fighting for ownership of ideas, licenses, and royalties. Even if some ideas weren't used at the time, he still held the patents and would often collect later. He was innovative alone, but also knew who to talk to if he was having trouble getting his ideas to work the way he wanted. If someone else helped him develop something, he won't throw them under the bus. He was definitely a pioneer for the video game industry.
However, Baer definitely has an ego. A huge ego. At times he'll try to downplay his contributions, but a short time later will express annoyance that people are not giving him credit where he feels it's due. He invented a lot of stuff, and is proud of his ideas. I completely understand that. Why shouldn't he take pride in his accomplishments? However, for nearly every invention he talks about, there are at least one of the following things that apply (according to him):
1. It was ten years ahead of its time
2. It worked remarkably well
3. Every single person who saw it was incredibly impressed
4. The reason it didn't take off was because of some corporate moron(s)
This song and dance is fine for the first couple of inventions he talks about, but when I'm still reading the same things fifty inventions later, it's exhausting. And it's not like he wasn't successfully financially or in being recognized for his achievements. He wasn't a minimum-wage drifter struggling to make ends meet. He was Chief Engineer for Equipment Design at a large electronics defense contractor. Video games started as a tiny side project. Many times he talks about how his early success and "internal credit" gave him complete freedom to do whatever he wanted with corporate resources, while at the same time collecting two/three substantial paychecks. The "woe is me" speech doesn't really work when in the next paragraph you state your first royalty check for video games was $500,000 and the company you work for pulled in over $100 million from lawsuits based on your work. He received the National Medal of Technology, was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, and has a permanent display at the Smithsonian among other museums around the world. I think he made out pretty well.
Since this is a book written by Baer about Baer, I don't doubt that there are exaggerations. I also don't doubt that some events are retold with a spin in his favor. He does not hold back for anyone or anything. It really gets spiteful at some points. He wants the world to know what he thinks about how his ideas turned out. He's not too worried about sparing feelings or making friends. If he thinks someone was a total asshole twenty years ago, he'll tell you about it. And unfortunately, the very beginning the book is not a good set-up for the rest. Baer expresses his irritation of not being recognized enough, even throwing personal insults at people he doesn't even know. I almost didn't continue, because it was nothing less than a tirade against the internet. In a place where it has never been easier to spread misinformation without any repercussions, he is yelling at the internet to change its tune.
The book itself is a large paperback with blocks of text broken up by pages of schematics or pictures. The layout isn't the greatest, but it gets the job done. The chronology is a little off too. Baer will often jump back fifteen years to talk about something he forgot to mention earlier. There's also a lot of tangential thoughts that just kind of enter whenever they feel like it. It works at the end of the day, but with a little more editing the book could have been much more professional.
Bottom line? It's a great book if you're interested in what Baer accomplished in those early years. If you want to see actual diagrams and have detailed explanations of exactly what he was inventing, then pick it up. You'll never find anything better. If you're looking for a full, unbiased history of early home video games, the absolutely skip this one.
