Hi, I'm Medium Invader, from the classic video game Space Invaders,
大家好，我是来自经典电子游戏太空侵略者的Medium Invader，
and I want to tell you a little bit about where video games came from.
今天我来和大家讲讲电子游戏是怎么来的。
A video game is an electronic game that has an interface designed for human interaction on a video device.
电子游戏是一种可以在显示屏界面上与人们相互交流的电子类游戏。
Simple. Video games are used by scientists, the military, and people like you,
简单点说，电子游戏的使用人群中有科学家，军人，还有像你一样的人，
and their evolution has spread across arcades, consoles, computers, smart phones, and all kinds of other electronics.
它们的进化经历了大型游戏机台，家用游戏机，电脑，智能手机以及各种其他电子设备。
These days video games are everywhere, but they were actually made in science labs.
这几年到处都是电子游戏，但其实它们是在实验室中制造的。
In fact, the earliest U.S. video game patent on record was in 1948,
实际上，美国记录上最早的电子游戏专利证书是1948年申请的，
and at the time it was referred to as a cathode-ray tube amusement device. That's a mouthful!
而在那时，它被称为阴极射线管娱乐设备。真拗口啊！
Some of the earliest video games include the Nimrod computer, OXO, Tennis for Two, and my personal favorite, Spacewar!
最早的电子游戏包括尼姆罗德计算机，圈差圈，双人网球，以及我最喜欢的太空之战！
But none of these early video games were ever sold to the public
但是这些早期游戏中没有任何一款卖给过平民百姓，
because they were either too huge or too expensive to get out of the lab.
因为它们要么太庞大，要么贵的要死，完全拿不出实验室。
This all changed when a man named Ralph Baer looked at his television screen and wondered how else it might be used.
但是当一个叫拉尔夫·贝尔的人看电视时，突然想到电视屏幕完全可以干别的事情，从此改变了一切。
In 1972, Baer's idea to get video games out of the science lab and into the living room
1972年，贝尔把电子游戏从实验室搬到客厅的主意，
led to the release of a game console called Odyssey.
导致了家用游戏机的发行，它叫奥德赛。
Odyssey allowed you to play a game on your TV.
奥德赛使你可以在电视机上玩游戏。
At about the same time, two other people, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney,
几乎同时，另外两人，诺兰·布什内尔和特德·达布尼，
were working on something similar in a little company called Atari.
在一个叫雅达利的小公司着手干一件差不多的事情。
You might have heard of it, and even if you haven't, I'm sure that your Dad has.
你有可能听说过，也有可能没有，但我肯定你爸爸听说过。
Atari's first major game release was in 1972, an arcade game called Pong.
雅达利首款主打游戏于1972年发行，是一款叫Pong的游戏。
It was an immediate hit, and it's credited as the first commercially successful video game.
顿时引起了极大轰动，这款游戏也被誉为首款获得成功的商业化游戏。
Atari then released a home version of Pong in 1974.
之后雅达利于1974年又推出了Pong的家庭版。
By 1978, competition between Atari and another game company called Midway was heating up.
到了1978年，雅达利与另一家电子游戏公司Midway之间的竞争开始升温。
Midway had licensed an arcade game for the Japanese company, Taito, that put them on the map.
Midway为日本太东公司注册了一款的街机游戏，使它们名声大噪。

The game: Space Invaders.
这款游戏：太空侵略者。
It featured iconic actors, like me, and it went on to become the second highest selling arcade game of all time.
它创造了许多和我一样有代表性的角色，并且在日后变为有史以来销量排行第二的电子游戏。
Space Invaders also helped kick off what is known as the Golden Age of Arcade Games.
太空侵略者帮忙敲开了被称为街机游戏黄金时代的大门。
In response, Atari followed with the release of the arcade game Asteroids,
作为回应，雅达利很快发行了电子游戏打陨石，
which ranked sixth on the list of highest selling arcade games.
并且其在电子游戏销售排名上排到第六。
It was a good game, but it's no Space Invaders.
它是一款好游戏，但它不是太空侵略者。
By 1980, color came to arcade games, and this was also the year that another video gaming milestone was born.
到了1980年，街机游戏开始有了颜色，同年，又一个划时代的游戏出现了。
Pac-Man, created by the Japanese company Namco, was brought to the U.S. by Midway.
由日本南梦宫公司创造的食豆小子被Midway引入美国。
Important to the spread of video games into popular culture, Pac-Man was a character that could be licensed.
如果要说哪款游戏对于电子游戏进入大众文化是至关重要的话，食豆小子一定少不了。
It wasn't long before it had a song on the charts, a Saturday morning television show, and all sorts of other products.
很快它就有了一首主题曲、星期六早间电视秀以及各种周边产品。
In just a year, Pac-Man arcade games made over one billion dollars in quarters.
在一年内，食豆小子街机游戏就赚到了超过10亿美元。
Then, in 1981, a company called Nintendo started making waves in the U.S. video game market with their release of Donkey Kong.
然后，1981年，一个叫任天堂的公司开始在美国电子游戏市场里活跃起来，他们发行了游戏大金刚。
It was the earliest video game to have a story line.
这是第一个有故事情节的电子游戏。
The story went a bit like this: Donkey Kong is the pet of a carpenter named Jumpman.
故事大致是这样的：大金刚是一名叫做跳人的木匠的宠物。
Jumpman mistreats his pet ape, so the ape steals his girlfriend,
跳人没有把自己的猩猩养好，于是这只猩猩就偷了他的女朋友，
leaving the game player to assume the role of Jumpman and rescue the girl.
让玩家扮演这个跳人的角色去英雄救美。
Jumpman was eventually renamed to Mario.
跳人最终被改名为马里奥。
Other iconic arcade games from the early 80s include Frogger, Dragon's Lair, and Mario Brothers.
80年代标志性的街机游戏还有青蛙过河、龙穴历险记以及马里奥兄弟。
Perhaps the last iconic game considered to be part of the Golden Age of Arcade Games is Double Dragon.
也许最后一个街机游戏黄金时代的标志性游戏可以被认为是双截龙。
It was the first really successful example of the beat-them-up genre.
它是打杀型游戏的第一个成功典范。
It was released in 1987, and, like Donkey Kong,
它于1987年发行，和大金刚一样，
it featured a damsel in distress storyline, a storyline common in many video games.
它也是一个美女被困的剧情，这种剧情貌似已经在游戏中泛滥。
By the mid-90s, the Golden Age of Arcade Games was coming to an end, and the home game console was gaining in popularity.
到了90年代中期，街机游戏的黄金时代终于告终，而家用游戏机人气开始暴涨。
While arcade games continued to decline in sales over the years, the popularity of video games was merely beginning,
当街机游戏的销售额几年持续下滑的同时，电子游戏的普及才刚刚开始，
and we'll talk about that and a lot more in part two of a brief history of video games.
我们会在电子游戏简史第二部分中讲述更多内容。