The Magnavox Odyssey on What's My Line?

[GameShowFanMan]

Three down and NINE to go?!?! Pay attention Larry LOL! :)

[srbdirector]

Showing the absolute beginning of people so engrossed in a computer game (as primitive as it is) that they are unable to focus on the real people and situations around them.

[WanderLink]

Lol, so quaint! None of them have any idea what a video game is! I'm glad I wasn't alive then.

[cengeb]

Mr. MAGOO!!!!!!

[cengeb]

Magnavox was dumb to drop the line and not continue and advance it. Typical PHILIPS. PHILIPS owned em or was just buying em at the time.

[XxRedxRaidenxX]

The invention of a gaming system = The start of Addiction , A noob, and a Pro

[UnusualTastes]

It's strange seeing that distracted, "I'm playing a video game" look on the faces of people in 1972.

[Ryoga2K]

Damn girls at the time where real woman, "move the enormous TV set", he said and so it was made xD

[MrJBierce]

0:45

[mrfuzzer1]

The football game is really detailed. Isnt it just the same square ball and players as tennis? Or does he mean that the overlay is really detailed? I would have been so on that were i alive when it came dont get me wrong. Would rather wait for the Atari 2600 though that really had different games. I mean simon says and geography are quite silly. Just use the overlay on a table and point with your finger.

[Ryoga2K]

@mrfuzzer1 Well.. the carts changed stuff, maybe the way it worked was more detailed than the other games (more squares, more variations) still I think that the best games for it would be Tenis and Pong alikes, at least with a little bit of imagination they made sense, the haunted house and simon says and all the other stuff is painful as hell you don't use your imagination, you just create the whole game with your mind xD

[rbrbran277]

(Comment From The Future)

The Odyssey blows the PS14 out of the water! Orient your opposable digit upward to concur.

[a2r1v1i2s]

it's insane how fast technology is moving now. in 40 years from now the gap will be several times wider then the tech gap from '72 - '12.

[whicksta]

Lil did he kno, that he would start the multi billion dollar video game industry

[windmillheadbang420]

even Jesus knows the odyssey doesn't fuck around!

[kokman73]

does it do multiplayer online?

[FFVIIBertoldiBrasil]

Great video! ---Thank you Ralph Baer(FATHER OF THE GAMES!)!

[23zoid]

This thing was cheesy. We had one when they came out we tore it apart and messed with the controls. it made the ball four times as big. Then it was fun

[happydelicious]

Chalk Board...lol...wow...the old days!!

[bazfanv2]

Overlays are cool.

[Zxiyer]

This has the same graphics as a XBOX lol :P

[JinjOMania]

sometime in the BCS :Man invented the wheel People went apeshit over it.

Late 17 or 18 hundreds: Electricity Awesomesauce

And beginning of the 1900's The TV A Godsend.

1970'S Videogames Kids saving grace 2007-2011 Ps3 XBOX360 And Wii Eh nothing too special...

[HospitalWaste]

that tv is badass id like to have it for playing my 2600.... sorry but anything before the 2600 was like playing with rocks... wow life in 1970... imagine going back in time and showing off your PS3 with an HD flat screan lol everyone would think your jesus

[Ryoga2K]

@HospitalWaste I agree that TV was top of the line back then but to be honest even if I like classic shows I think that media really started to get exciting in the 80s with MTV later the first video rental services and more , I would have not enjoyed that TV as much with the programming at the time, maybe for sports, I love all the wood work in those console TVs

[douro20]

An analog computer originally invented by Ralph Baer at Nutting Associates, a defense contractor. It's amazing that they actually let him do it.

[FuyuAkiWorld]

I'm getting it when it comes out! :)

[goustune]

and the geek born.

[topoisomerace]

I guarantee Mr. Howell bought one of those after seeing it in action.

[MattTheSaiyan]

This is just amazing for the early 1970s. To think a prototype existed by the late-1960s is even more amazing! I hear it's quite a fun game (the Tennis one at least), too!

[SuperCommentDude2]

I own an odyssey and the rifle (light gun)

[MoonScar]

why didn't anyone just say "are you playing a game?"

[BSOD4]

@MoonScar back then games were not invented yet....magnavox odyssey was the first home entertainment system ever created.

[SolaceIX]

@MoonScar Because back then, that would have been a crazy idea. Completely unheard of as far as that form of gaming goes.

[Commentator9000]

It fascinates me, even today.

[MattGraeme]

lets imagine if gta4 was the first game ever made.

[lampini]

I love how the odessey is right in from of them. I'm like COME ON THERE PLAYING ODESSEY

[casinomannet]

Thanks for posting this video, awesome stuff!

[soisyourface1234]

really dont they know what video game is in the words of will smith in men in black 2 DIDNT YOU EVER HAVE A GAMEBOY!!!!

[Nfordmann]

this cost 100 today we have modern versions of these that u buy for 25 from no name companies

[ChrisJohnson2K]

We can't forget about the Atari Jaguar and Lynx, SG-1000 and Master System, and NES contributing to the revival of video gaming.

If you're interested in a great rivalry, Nintendo would drive against the Sega Genesis.

[ChrisJohnson2K]

They wouldn't stop there; Magnavox Odyssey Magnavox Odyssey 100 Magnavox Odyssey 200 Magnavox Odyssey 300 Magnavox Odyssey 400 Magnavox Odyssey 500 Magnavox Odyssey 2000 Magnavox Odyssey 3000 Magnavox Odyssey 4000 Magnavox Odyssey 2 Soon, however, the Atari 2600, Coleco Telstar, Atari 5200, ColecoVision, and Atari 7800 would blow this device out of the water. All of these consoles were released in a short period of time, leading to the game crash of '83-'84. Then...NES was born.

[thehyrulehistorian]

this was excellent advertising for Magnavox

[GBscottieUK]

Fantastic and fascinating video as the contestants clearly had no preconception of what a video game is, as would have been normal in 1972.

It looks like a great load of stuff you get in their too, if I was 10 in 1972 I would have wanted one.

[PurpleMintSam]

Did you see that the center court line is a stick that is TAPED to the screen!!?!?!

[juanparty]

amazing graphics!!! i meant wowwww

[earthday47]

"just under $100". That's what I like to hear....

[mig189189189]

Nice classic video!

[nowhammies10]

If they only knew what was coming afterwards...

[jbellsey]

Imagine seeing a video game for the first time. Watch this video from 1972, as celebs are awed by not only new technology, but an entirely new concept.

[echo036]

"very detailed"

[dormantreign]

@sygo7g I agree, ive been thinking about building a cab to hold my 42inch lcd.

[4PMGame]

AVGN did a review of that very first video game system last year, but it was a 2-player game, he joined the Nerdy Turd to play the game. Awesome episode.

[RizingBlackSun]

It's fun looking back.

[SchlossRitter]

Heh, the host was having too much fun playing the game to focus on running the show.

.

"It works on any TV," the guest says. Unfortunately most of the ads led people to believe it only worked on Magnavox TVs. That and it only being available at "Magnavox Outlets" led to sales that could have been better with better marketing. But Magnavox was too busy trying to use the console to sell more of their own TVs.

[PsYcHoFaB]

I never saw the "slide" scorecards go by the original scoring. I only saw it countdown from 10-0.

[pocketmego]

Wow, it's like something came from the future and they had no idea of how to describe it or even remotely explain it. That is HILARIOUS!

[Timstuff]

LOL, no-one had any idea what a video game was. No wonder the Odyssey was a hit, there was nothing to compare it to at the time.

[Love4SK]

ps3 blows, just throwin it out there

[Jal8919536]

What were those wooden television sets called? I wish they were reproduced into digitally-compatible models that can be enjoyed today, they look so elegant.

[catholicpriest1]

It's called a console. We had one when I was a kid. Notice how the screen is so close to the floor. Weird for today.

[eskiewolf76]

Now I want a Odyssey. And the TV that came with it !!

[LLB9977]

bring back furniture piece tv's :]. i close my eyes and i see my dad telling me to go to the set and turn the antenna dial

[poniesinashed]

I love how they're so distracted by the game; we haven't changed a bit!

[wingnut4427]

blows the PS3 out of the water.. hands down. lol

[SuperCrankyGuy]

@wingnut4427

What are you? 12 years old?

[wingnut4427]

@SuperCrankyGuy jokes ... what do People see in them ? 

[wmlfan9]

Video games at their absolute infancy!

[kmojave321]

wtf man how could they guess that shit

[i8246i]

@kmojave321

Durr hurr lets downvote his comment because obviously everyone knew what videogames were in the 1970s hurr durr..

Indeed, this was the beginning of it all. No real graphics, just manipulating a CRT to emit light....how were they supposed to figure this out?

[MrWilliamtom]

This occurred to me---are they playing this Magnavox game on a Magnavox TV set or since they're in the RCA building is it an RCA TV?? INTERESTING!!

[byrd56]

Jennifer Wood, at 4:28, was the "time-saving device" that producer Gil Fates mentioned in his 1978 book about "What's My Line?"

[PirateQueenMaureen]

LOL...Games have come such a long way...

[soulierinvestments]

The producers of syndicated WML kept the Dorothy Kilgallen tradition alive with some writer / news reporter panelists such as Melba Tolliver, who reporter / anchor at WABC Manhattan's (1967-76).

When Fred Allen died, the producers considered Jim Backus as a replacement -- he appeared in a number of funny 1956 appearances.

Wow -- nostalgia time. TV sets as furniture, and a video game involving three moving blips.