
Fairchild VESBecause of the significance and its long overdue nature, I wanted to point out that videogame pioneer, Jerry Lawson, has recently been getting a lot of attention, including being honored today by the International Game Developers Association. Mike Cassidy of The Mercury News has a nice write-up of the details. Lawson, both a brilliant engineer and programmer, most famously created the first programmable videogame console - released in 1976 - the Fairchild Video Entertainment System (or VES, later repackaged as the Fairchild Channel F System II) - and many of its games. While little remembered today, the forward thinking VES design got a lot of things right, and some amazing homebrew games are still being made for the system today. I know it has a prized place in my own collection. Congrats, Jerry!
Mike Cassidy has a nice follow-up to the article: http://www.siliconvalley.com/opinion/ci_17636469?nclick_check=1
Mr. Lawson has passed away:
http://www.1up.com/news/video-game-pioneer-jerry-lawson-dies