I was watching Attack of the Show on G4TV and saw a reference to the first video game system that I ever owned, the Magnavox Odyssey. The Odyssey, while more primitive than games found on today’s cellphones, was cutting edge at the time. I had to be around 7-8 years old when it came out. I still remember when my father brought it home and my cousin Clarence and I played all night on it. I think was hooked on gaming and computers from that point on.
Now keep in mind that this system pre-dated the Atari 2600, Colecovision, Intellivision, the Commodore Vic 20, and just about all of the old classic gaming systems. In fact I was shocked to see that it was released in 1973. Pops must have paid nearly $100 bucks for the system. So in “1973 dollars”, the Odyssey was probably more expensive than the PS3 is today. So I guess buying my kids PSPs and DS Lites isn’t so strange in comparison now.
I found an old commercial for the system on YouTube. I still can’t get over how silly it looks by today’s standards.