Following is a timeline of video games.

1958 — Physicist Willy Higinbotham invents the first video game at Brookhave National Laboratory in Upton, New York. His game is a table-tennis-like game played on an oscilloscope.

1971 — "Computer Space" becomes the first video arcade game ever released.

1972 — Magnaxox released the Odyssey, the first home video game system. Atari, which means "Go" in Japanese, is founded and the first game under development is called "Pong."

1975 — "Pong" — so named because Ping-Pong is copyrighted, is released.

1976 — Coleco releases Telstar home video game system.

1977 — Atari 2600 is released.

1978 — Midway releases "Space Invaders" into arcades.

1980 — Intelevision is released to complete directly with Atari. Pac-Man is released and sells 300,000 units.

1982 — Colecovision and Atari 5200 are released

1983 — Commodore 64 is released. It is billed as a home computer, but gamers see it as another gaming system.

1986 — Nintendo NES, Sega Master System and Atari 7800 are all released.

1989 — Nintendo releases handheld Gameboy. The first 16-bit console, TurboGrafx-16 is also released along with Sega Genesis.

1991 — Super NES is released1993 — Atari releases the Jaguar, a 64-bit home console.1994 — Sega Saturn and the Sony PlayStation make debut in Japan. The Entertainment Software Rating Board is created. Ratings are now marked on game packaging for the first time.1995 — PlayStation hits the United States.1996 — Nintendo 64 is released.1999 — Sega's Dreamcast is released. Billy Mitchell scores 3,333,360 on "Pac-Man," the highest possible score a player can achieve.2000 — PlayStation 2 makes debut and is sold out overnight.2001 — Nintendo releases GameBoy Advance handheld. Microsoft's Xbox and Nintendo's GameCube make debut.2004 — Nintendo DS is released.2005 — Sony releases its first foray into hand held systems with the PSP. Xbox 360 released to high demand and mass shortages.SOURCE: infoplease.com