Duck Hunt (1976)
Before Duck Hunt hit the NES as part of the most famous (and arguably most successful) gaming bundle of all time, Nintendo released a version of the game as a standalone toy. A revamp of their IR-based Laser Clay Shooting System! (1973), Duck Hunt used a battery powered lightgun and projector to fly ducks randomly around your wall. Tastefully, there was no little dog there to laugh at you when you inevitably ran out of batteries. [See Duck Hunt in action here]

The Atari 2600 (1977)
Parents may hate consoles now, but the Atari 2600 was greeted with open arms by parents who were happy to keep their kids safe at home rather than exploring seedy arcades. It wasn't the first modern (cartridge-based) console—that award goes to the 1976 Fairchild Channel F. But Fairchild gave up on games before the phenomenon had passed while Atari became the best selling Christmas gift of 1979. Powered by a 1.19MHZ process and bundled with two joysticks, two paddles (for Pong) and a game, the launch price was $199. That doesn't sound like much, but in when adjusted for inflation since 1977, that was about $700.

Simon (1978)
In 1974, Atari released an arcade cabinet called Touch Me. It was a critical flop. But four years later, a pair of inventors tweaked the game, shrinking it down to portable sizes and adding color to the formerly black buttons. The result? Simon, the addictive memory-music game that holds up to this day. Sold by Milton Bradley, a slew of clones would pop up over the years. But c'mon, Simon they were not.

Really Bad Sports Games
Sports are hard enough to stomach on their own, but Atari's early versions of baseball, basketball and football, while necessary to the evolution of video game sports, were simply horrible. With the exception of Activision's 1981 Ice Hockey, none of these games have aged well because even in their simplified versions with limited rule sets and minuscule rosters, the very premises of these sports are far wider in scope than any early era video game. Then again, Pong, made in the early '70s, may be the best "tennis" game of all time.

Space Invaders (1978)
Space Invaders is, quite simply, the biggest arcade game of all time. Taito's simple game incorporated sci-fi elements like lasers and aliens to a humble 5x11 grid of monochromatic descending sprites. (In fact, Space Invaders was never technically in color—colored cellophane was merely laid over the monitor.) It's been attributed to coin shortages in Japan and the rise of mainstream arcade prominence in the US. And while Pac-Man would also be a mega force of its own, he wouldn't be around until 1980.

Coleco Telstar Arcade (1977/78)
No, the Coleco Telstar Arcade did not revolutionize gaming forever, it's just a personal favorite. Before the rise of cartridge-based consoles, single-title home arcade units were extremely popular. There was a huge market of PONG clones that were essentially a base unit with knobs that plugged into your TV. Anyway, Coleco made a lot of these dedicated machines, but their most advanced/ridiculous was the Telstar Arcade. The triangle base unit contained Pong, gun and racing controls, plus it actually accepted additional (triangle-shaped) cartridges to expand gameplay. I sort of wish that the Xbox 360 were designed so ludicrously.

Adventure (1979)
It might not look like much now, but Adventure was, aptly, the first action/adventure video game. A modest 4KB, Adventure followed a dragon-slaying hero through a labyrinth of mirrored environments (the Atari simply wasn't capable of more complex levels) in his quest to transport a chalice to a yellow castle. Grand! And beyond its invention of an entire genre, the game introduced the concept of inventory (to hold contemporary gaming mainstays like swords and keys). What Adventure was missing was the motivation of a damsel in distress. [Try it here]

Asteroids (1979)
One ship stuck in an asteroid field—duplicate that idea in arcade cabinet form over 56,000 times and you have Asteroids, Atari's best selling arcade game of all time (though admittedly only about a third as successful as Taito's Space Invaders). As players blew the heck out of space rocks, they also had to control inertia in what's considered the first real physics based game. The effect is akin to a dogfight on ice. [Try it here]

Pinball Wizardry
It's tough to think of the year 1979 without Pete Townshend popping into your head. So what was going on in terms of Pinball in that era? Circuitboards. In 1977, Bally's Lost World became the first pinball machine to replace chimes with electronic sounds. And by 1979, Williams' Gorgar introduced the first pinball game with a continuous soundtrack. But since this was the '70s we're talking about, we'll remind you that Kiss pinball came out, too, and people weren't playing it with any aura of self-deprecation.

Sources: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 and a healthy dose of Wikipedia/wasted youth].

Gizmodo '79 is a week-long celebration of gadgets and geekdom 30 years ago, as the analog age gave way to the digital, and most of our favorite toys were just being born.

Oh, who are we kidding? You have a crappy office job (whether you make a lot of money or not) that doesn't allow you to sit around and play video games in your underwear all day. And nothing about these $25 polyester gaming ties can change that.

But you know what works? Sneak a DS into your desk drawer and take really long bathroom breaks. [Amazon via OhGizmo!]

Built by Dutch designer Ivo Vos in 2006, this is one of the coolest robots I've ever seen. It's amazing in its simplicity, and its ability to stare at a screen and respond with its little fingers just like we do.

Once a robot can out-solenoid me at Street Fighter, though, then we might have a problem. [Ivo Vos via BBG via Gizmowatch]

The DIY project is powered by five microcontrollers and features 120 RGB LEDs, five per cup. The lights pulse and change color depending on the arrangement of (presumably) classic red plastic cups see-through plastic cups, and is equipped with a wireless module to let it communicate with a scoreboard to be constructed later. The LEDs are under a sheet of glass to protect them from the cheap beer of choice. [Thanks, Dan!]

Designing the circuit board and its components took Higinbotham a few days, and building the machine took about three weeks. On October 18th, 1958, hundreds lined up to play the newly christened Tennis for Two. It used a whopping five-inch oscilloscope screen, and featured play mechanics pretty similar to 1972's Pong, though the game was viewed from the side of the net rather than an overhead vantage point.

Why didn't he patent the technology? Well, Tennis for Two used designs extremely similar to what Higinbotham had created in his federal-owned lab, so any patent would have had to belong to the government. Owning the right to every video game ever sounds pretty sweet right now, given our monstrous debt, but that's really neither here nor there. [NYTimes, thanks Ronald!. Image: Maxine Hicks/NYTimes]

The Pong Table was a big hit at MOMA's recent Elastic Mind exhibit, but despite its popularity, there is no indication that it will ever go into production. It's probably just as well though. I can only imagine the sort of dinnertime disasters that would take place during a heated contest where flailing arms would send food and drink flying around the room. [MOMA via CubeMe via LikeCool]

When the headphones are on, the player hears a sound (the ball) that seems to be getting closer. In order to return "the ball" you tilt your head to one side or the other depending on which side the movement is heard. The challenge is to center the sound and return the volley. As the contest progresses, the speed increases until you miss the ball or you break your neck—whichever comes first. As you lie twitching on the ground, a buzzer and a light from the machine will mock your defeat. To discover just how stupid all of this makes you look, check out the video below.

[Mike McCracken via MAKE]

Yes. Those who succeed in the minigame will see a payout up to 7% higher—which is a huge amount in Vegas where the minimum payout is 75%. We're not big on the slots, but with PONG and the possibility of Breakout coming down the line, our mad gaming skills could pay off...literally. In all reality, we'll just be losing 7% less than all of our money. [forbes via therawfeed]

Project Page [Via Slashgear]

Is this the "I'm with Stupid" shirt of this century? Maybe, if legions of geeks can get over the epilepsy inducing animation and the feeling of a warm battery pack digging into the ribcage. I'll pass. When it comes to "technical clothing" I prefer the Star Trek like suction-fit of Underarmor thermals. They keep you comfortable in varying climate, and instead of Pong, they show nipples.–Brian Lam

Pong Shirt [ThinkGeek]

I succeeded in compressing all the electronics for this watch in to a 10mm-thick case. The 96x64 OLED display runs continuously - unlike older LED watches, there is no need to press a button to see the time. Battery life is 25 hours, so recharging is done every night.

– Travis Hudson

Information Page [Via MAKE]

Akai MPC1000 now really does play Pong [MusicThing]

Project Page [Diaplsy22 via TechEBlog]

– Travis Hudson

Homemade PONG watch! [MAKE]

pong.mythos Home Page [pong.mythos via Crunch Gear]

I don't happen to own one, but my complaint is that it costs $300 and is small as hell. – Travis Hudson

Clips: Pong Clock [Kotaku]