How long did it take to download 45 years of updates?
The very first pong game system did not use software, which blows my mind. OP’s does not appear to be the same version but it’s possible this it also does not use software.
Am I too stupid…how did it work?
It used transistor to Transistor logic or ttl, which means chips are wired together on the board to build the “code” and handle Inputs and Outputs, because affordable CPUs, ram or storage did not exist when the first arcades came out. However with more complex games this became increasingly expensive because each additional chip caused costs for parts, soldering work, warranty, potential failures during operation.
I can’t really give a great answer to that, pretty sure it was all just electrical hardware. I’m curious now, I’ll look around and let you know if I find something.
Edit: yep, no code, just circuits. Here is the original circuit diagram from Atari
Many 80s games have an amusing hybrid design. Galaga has its game code and sprites in ROM, but has an entire custom chip that is a dedicated circuit for generating the ship explosion sound, another custom chip that only makes the scrolling starfield, etc.
Essentially the “program” was baked into the hardware design itself. It didn’t have a rom chip or something, it just had hardware circuits dedicated to each function, like drawing the paddle etc.
It works but my polish PAL tv doesn’t seem to like it very much, it took a lot of tuning to get this wonderful image.
Mmm… realistic
Colour is also not very accurate… unless they mean a single colour, green.
They probably did. It’s not exactly honest, but the system is technically outputting a colour signal, and it was released at a time when that wasn’t a given. They didn’t say “full colour” anywhere on the box, did they?
Let’s call it a mix of lower expectations for the time, and a bit of marketing deception.
That might have Pong but it isn’t Pong.
Obviously but it is a Pong Console, it’s the category started by the original Pong.
This one has a bunch of additional games too.
According to the box, it is noticeably missing Pong.
The pong clone, likely Tennis, is in one of OPs photos.