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First console inventor calls violent games a "disgrace"

Ralph Baer, who invented the first home console in 1972, isn't happy with the direction of some modern games.

"I think it’s a disgrace," the Magnavox Odyssey inventor said of violent games in an interview with the Salt Lake Tribune.

"What I created got abominated."

Nevertheless, Baer is proud to have been a part of it all, and said he could never have predicted how games would rise to become a major entertainment medium.

"All I did was come up with what I thought was a fun idea that was the result of a little box that was attached to a television set. It just grew and grew and grew," he said.

"Nobody realised, even at that time, that we were on this geometric curve that would go straight up to heaven.

"It was unforeseeable; it was fantastic. I’m glad it happened. And if I hadn’t had started it, someone else would have."

Thanks, Gamepro.

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Brenna Hillier avatar

Brenna Hillier

Contributor

Based in Australia and having come from a lengthy career in the Aussie games media, Brenna worked as VG247's remote Deputy Editor for several years, covering news and events from the other side of the planet to the rest of the team. After leaving VG247, Brenna retired from games media and crossed over to development, working as a writer on several video games.

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