--- title: Ralph Baer, 'Father of Video Gaming,' Dies at 92 description: The inventor is widely credited with the first video-game console, still used as blueprint for the PlayStations and Xboxes of today canonical: https://time.com/3622824/video-game-inventor-ralph-baer-dies/ author: Rishi Iyengar article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-08T04:28:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:45:30.700Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Father of Video Gaming Dies og:description: Ralph Baer, who invented the first gaming console, was 92. og:url: https://time.com/3622824/video-game-inventor-ralph-baer-dies/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd2adf92e97a5cf3d/69876d410b72e351386dc6c9/ralph-baer-video-games.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Ralph Baer Dead Video Games og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Father of Video Gaming Dies twitter:description: Ralph Baer, who invented the first gaming console, was 92. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd2adf92e97a5cf3d/69876d410b72e351386dc6c9/ralph-baer-video-games.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Father of Video Gaming Dies at 92 by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Dec 8, 2014 4:28 AM CUT  Ralph Baer an engineer for Sanders Associates, Inc., of Nashua, N.H. watches his TV hockey game on Feb. 3, 1977. Ralph Baer an engineer for Sanders Associates, Inc., of Nashua, N.H. watches his TV hockey game on Feb. 3, 1977.CM/AP by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Dec 8, 2014 4:28 AM CUT Ralph Baer, the man known for creating the first-ever video-game console, which continues to serve as a blueprint for the Xboxes and PlayStations of today, has reportedly [passed away](http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/231730/Ralph%5FBaer%5Ffather%5Fof%5Fvideo%5Fgames%5Fpasses%5Faway.php "undefined"). The news of the 92-year-old inventor’s death was confirmed to gaming website Gamasutra by sources close to him. Baer, a German immigrant, built a device he called the Brown Box in the late 1960s, which hit the market in 1972 as the Magnavox Odyssey. It [consisted](http://www.techhive.com/article/256101/inside%5Fthe%5Fmagnavox%5Fodyssey%5Fthe%5Ffirst%5Fvideo%5Fgame%5Fconsole.html "undefined") of a main electronic unit that connected to a television screen, two player control units that enabled user interaction, and insertable electronic cards that held different games. Sound familiar? Over the course of his career, Baer accumulated over 150 patents and won several awards and honors — including the 2006 National Medal of Technology from President George W. Bush, and an induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2010. “I can never thank Ralph enough for what he gave to me and everyone else,” reads a [quote](http://www.ralphbaer.com "undefined") from Apple Computers co-founder Steve Wozniak prominently displayed on Baer’s website. Right until his final days, Baer retained a passion for creating new products. “I still get a big charge out of making something work,” [the Verge ](http://www.theverge.com/2012/3/6/2850761/ralph-baer-videogame-inventor-interview "undefined")quoted him as saying in a 2012 interview. ### See The 15 Best Video Game Graphics of 2014  Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Activision's futuristic first-person shooter in which players take on a rogue private military company uses a brand new engine built specifically for PCs and new-gen consoles to handle its cutting-edge lighting, animation and physics. Sledgehammer Games/Activision  Far Cry 4\. This pulled back shot of fictional Himalayan region Kyrat is in-game, believe it or not, rendered with an overhauled version of the engine Ubisoft used to design Far Cry 3. Ubisoft  The Last of Us: Remastered. Naughty Dog's meditation on the worst (and best) of humanity is built on technology that reaches back through the studio's pulp-adventure Uncharted series. The graphics are so impressive, TIME recently assigned a conflict photographer to photograph inside the game. Ashley Gilbertson for TIME  Alien: Isolation Built from scratch, the Alien: Isolation engine's outstanding deep space visuals all but replicate the set design of Alien film concept artists H.R. Giger and Ron Cobb's work. The Creative Assembly  Assassin's Creed Unity. Ubisoft says it "basically remade the whole rendering engine" in its AnvilNext design tool to handle the studio's meticulous recreation of Paris during the French Revolution. Ubisoft  Child of Light Inspired by filmmakers like Hayao Miyazaki and artist Yoshitaka Amano, Child of Light's hand-drawn artwork puts the lie to presumptions that graphical richness depends on shader support or polygon counts. Ubisoft  Destiny Built from scratch by ex-Halo studio Bungie, Destiny's game engine was designed to scale across the next decade, says the studio. Bungie  Mario Kart 8 Nintendo's kart-racer for Wii U reminds us that raw horsepower is just a facet of crafting a beautiful game world. Nintendo  Infamous Second Son Sucker Punch's freeform Seattle-based superhero adventure models all sorts of minutia, from the intricate wrinkling of an aged character's face to the way eyelids stick, slightly, before separating when characters blink. Sucker Punch Productions  Monument Valley Escher-like at first glance, Ustwo's mind-bending puzzler was also inspired by posters, bonsai plants, arabic calligraphy and filmmaker Tarsem Singh's The Fall. Ustwo  Grand Theft Auto V Rockstar's remastered crime spree opus was crafted from an in-house engine first employed in a game that simulated table tennis. Rockstar  Titanfall Respawn Entertainment  Forza Horizon 2 Turn 10's Euro-racer actually models light refracted through drops of moisture, the render tech plausibly simulating something as intangible but essential as the earth’s atmosphere. Microsoft Studios/Turn 10 Studios  80 Days Inkle's anti-colonialist vamp on Jules Verne's famous novel uses crisp art deco imagery inspired by travel posters to unfurl 80 Days' tale of intrepid globetrotters Monsieur Fogg and his valet Passepartout. Inkle  Tomb Raider Crystal Dynamics' radical reboot of its popular series about an athletic archaeologist uses a modified version of the engine that powered Tomb Raider: Legend in 2006. 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