I spent a good portion of my elementary school years pining for a Nintendo Entertainment System. My parents really couldn't afford one (or didn't want me to have one). My dad always had random computers around, so I did my best with things like the TI-99 or whatever archaic thing I could find.

One day I was randomly going through our shed - which was filled to the brim with total junk - and found a box that was the Magnavox Odyssey (can't recall the model). Like most people, I had no idea what this was, but still wondered why my dad didn't mention anything about this when I whined about not having a Nintendo.

So I bring it inside. It kind of looks like an Atari, pretty archaic by my young and inexperienced eyes. It has a few games. Wikipedia suggests they were multiple cartridges, but I don't remember that.

Upon firing it up (I remember it needed batteries), I was astonished at how ... capable it was. It wasn't an NES, but given I had never heard of it and it seemed better than the 2600 in several ways, this was a total surprise.

Within a year I had my NES, in a classic Christmas Story-esque "what's that over there" move my dad liked to pull. But I can't imagine too many other systems of the time tiding me over beyond the mysterious and shockingly decent Odyssey.

If yours didn't have cartridges, it was probably one of the more standard home models that had 'built in' games. My family had an Odyssey 300 (similarly, I don't know who bought it or how it arrived). It featured tennis (aka pong), smash (aka squash or wallball), and hockey with 3 difficulty levels and two paddle wheels built into the console. Does this look familiar? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnavox_Odyssey_series#Odyssey...

After reading this page, I can kind of see why your old man wouldn't bother telling you about it.

http://elblancosretroworld.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-magnavox...

I've got a similar Christmas Story-esque story about getting ghe SNES… my dad said "there's no more Nintendos coming into this house!" Turns out that meant they had already bought it. And yes, I've already put the same exact thing into motion with my kid and the Xbox One.

But .. why would you give your kid a machine they can't do anything with but consume content? Wouldn't something like a Kano be a better gift for a kid these days? The XBox generation have very little clue about computers, alas ..

The Kano might be more like getting a set of Lego bricks, back in the day, instead of the (S)NES. Your parent's peers might have said the exact same thing about 'consuming content' reagrding the Nintendo!

That Kano thing looks pretty neat, but he wants an Xbox and so do I. He's got a computer that's pretty much just a Minecraft machine.

He's shown some interest in wanting to make games someday, so he's getting this too: http://www.amazon.com/Game-Programming-Kids-Interactive-Prog...

If it sticks, then maybe we can actually invest in some hardware.

His creation of the original tech behind hooking up video games to televisions enabled me to learn programming at age 10 (courtesy of a Commodore 64 hooked up to an old 13" black and white) and began my interest in gaming (courtesy of an Odyssey 300).

RIP Mr. Baer. We have arguably lost someone who did more for modern console gaming than most people realise. A really smart and talented guy who produced entertainment devices ahead of their time. Us modern gamers have a lot to be thankful thanks to this legend.

For those who don't know what he invented: http://elblancosretroworld.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-magnavox...

Bane, the video from that article is awesome: http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/sc/web/video/titles/12590/...

His personal page: http://www.ralphbaer.com/

>He received a 2008 Game Developers Choice Pioneer Award. "Thank you very much," he said at the time. "I appreciate the honor, and I'm still cranking out stuff. Goodbye."

The fact that Ralph Baer was mid 80s at the time and still 'cranking out stuff' is the best.

http://gamasutra.com/view/news/231730/Obituary_Ralph_Baer_fa...

Larry “Major Nelson” Hyrb was posting about his passing on Twitter this morning, including this fantastic photo of Mr Baer still in the workshop at 92.

https://twitter.com/majornelson/status/541707579605282816

Sad day, his contributions have been huge.

Url changed from http://www.theverge.com/2014/12/7/7349715/ralph-baer-father-..., which points to this.

Edit: and again from http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/231730/Ralph_Baer_father_..., because the NYT has more information.