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[ResidentDante]

Engineer, inventor and video game pioneer Jerry Lawson passed away Saturday of unknown causes.

Lawson was among the earliest video game engineers. His first arcade title, Chicago Coins' Demolition Derby, was developed in his garage in the early 1970s.

Lawson is remembered as the inventor of Fairchild Semiconductor's home video game console, the Channel F. Released in 1976, the Channel F is the first console with programmable game cartridges; before it, home video game systems only played the games that were built into them.

Until recently, Lawson's name was not very well known, even amongst the video game community. Fortunately, Lawson was honored by the International Game Developers Association's Minority Special Interest Group at the Game Developers Conference just last month.

Additionally, six previously-unreleased games for the Atari 2600 that Lawson worked on were finally released earlier this year.

A memorial service -- likely in the San Jose area -- is planned, with details forthcoming. Those interested should keep tabs on this discussion thread by computer historian David Erhart.

Original article here: http://www.1up.com/news/video-game-pioneer-jerry-lawson-dies

Update: A link to a 2009 interview with him in the article:
http://www.vintagecomputing.com/index.php/archives/545

 

[GraveRobberX]

Did the Medical Team or Paramedics try the old trusty way on reviving?

 

[Keyser Soze]

Someone blow in him

edit - boooooo

 

[Rygar 8 Bit]

Did the Medical Team or Paramedics try the old trusty way on reviving?

i feel bad for laughing at that

 

[ResidentDante]

Did the Medical Team or Paramedics try the old trusty way on reviving?

I certainly hope they did!

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

Rest in peace, dude.

Cartridges were awesome.

 

[IonicSnake]

Did not know about this guy. R.I.P

Best wishes to his family and friends.

 

[arnoldocastillo2003]

RIP dude, and bad taste jokes guys.

 

[GraveRobberX]

Someone blow in him

edit - boooooo

Oi Fella', you late, looks like Lobster Head had too many limes, too many limes...OOOOOHH!!!!

 

[ResidentDante]

Rest in peace, dude.

Cartridges were awesome.

DS/3DS still uses them

RIP to the inventor, I will fondly remember cartridges for their ability to take quite a beating in various kids rooms compared to faulty, scratched up cd's that followed.

 

[onQ123]

R.I.P

by the way he looks like the real Mario

 

[Dead Man]

Awww... RIP.

Did the Medical Team or Paramedics try the old trusty way on reviving?

blowonit.jpg[/QUOTE]
Flawless.

 

[Small Mailman]

Cartridges will always be apart of my childhood. RIP dude.

 

[GraveRobberX]

RIP dude, and bad taste jokes guys.

Wasn't trying to do the hurr durr punGAF, I'm funny, worship me

When I read the title of thread, like 10+ memory bubbles popped of me blowing into my cartridges, just trying anything to play a little more SMB3 etc.

Blowing, resetting button, slapping/tapping the top part gently, begging the machine to let me play, then after 5th-7th try, Voila! it works, I'm AWESOME!

Sorry if I came off a little douchey, was paying my respect the way cartridges were in my life

 

[onQ123]

DS/3DS still uses them

RIP to the inventor, I will fondly remember cartridges for their ability to take quite a beating in various kids rooms compared to faulty, scratched up cd's that followed.

yep just found this in my closet the other day & the 1st thing I thought about is how carefree cartridges was & you could let kids deal with them and they are still around.

on a side note: Blu-ray >> DVD & CD because not one of my PS3 games or Blu-ray movies has had any problems over the last 3 or 4 years

 

[arnoldocastillo2003]

Wasn't trying to do the hurr durr punGAF, I'm funny, worship me

When I read the title of thread, like 10+ memory bubbles popped of me blowing into my cartridges, just trying anything to play a little more SMB3 etc.

Blowing, resetting button, slapping/tapping the top part gently, begging the machine to let me play, then after 5th-7th try, Voila! it works, I'm AWESOME!

Sorry if I came off a little douchey, was paying my respect the way cartridges were in my life

Yeah don´t worry about it, this is how gaf rolls.

 

[Osuwari]

it is a bit sad the guy didn't get to be more known before his death after his invention got so famous.
well, RIP dude. thanks to you, i never had to suffer any load times until discs were fast enough.

 

[GhaleonQ]

Aw. I wish more industry folk got mentioned before their deaths.

 

[ResidentDante]

Aw. I wish more industry folk got mentioned before their deaths.

There's a link to a 2009 interview with him in the article:
http://www.vintagecomputing.com/index.php/archives/545

 

[Krev]

It's sad that we needed a 'Minority Special Interest Group' to bring to attention the guy who invented cartridges.

R.I.P., his work will be remembered.

 

[Dark Schala]

It breaks my heart a little that the man was relatively unknown prior to his death even though his accomplishments had a hand in making gaming what it is today (storage-wise). And cartridges were far more durable and easily fixable than discs. Can't believe it took a "Minority Special Interest Group" to give him recognition for his work.

Amazing work, and what an accomplishment! Rest in peace.

 

[onQ123]

Aw. I wish more industry folk got mentioned before their deaths.

GhaleonQ onQ123.

 

[IrishNinja]

R.I.P. , id still be playing them if they made more games on them. this forum owes that man a lot.

 

[subversus]

The first two posters are dicks.

RIP!

The interview linked in OP is fun to read. I'm glad that the guy was confident enough not to have issues with racists.

 

[hteng]

RIP

 

[Mailenstein]

RIP, dude.
Best wishes to family and friends.

 

[gimmmick]

Did the Medical Team or Paramedics try the old trusty way on reviving?

I'm not going to lie, I got a good laugh out of it.

 

[godhandiscen]

RIP.

Update: A link to a 2009 interview with him in the article:
http://www.vintagecomputing.com/index.php/archives/545

Great read.

 

[stilgar]

The first two posters are dicks.

Stop this.

R.I.P.

 

[Suzzopher]

Sad news. R.I.P fella.

 

[Naked Prime]

Saw this yesterday...RIP

 

[Dead Man]

It's sad that we needed a 'Minority Special Interest Group' to bring to attention the guy who invented cartridges.

Yeah, that is pretty tragic.

 

[BishopLamont]

The first two posters are dicks.

RIP!

The interview linked in OP is fun to read. I'm glad that the guy was confident enough not to have issues with racists.

Loosen up, it's paying respect to Jerry Lawson in a very sincere way, albeit a little humorous, but thats the point.

 

[DiscoJer]

I wonder if he ever finished that book he mentioned in the interview?

 

[Ellis Kim]

RIP

 

[Rekubot]

RIP dude, and thanks for making gaming into what it is today.

 

[justjohn]

Rip jerry.

 

[Snaku]

RIP

Carts > disc based media.

 

[KenOD]

Much respect for all that he did and all that was done because of him for video games as a whole. RIP.

 

[Cerebral Assassin]

R.I.P.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Rest in peace.

 

[Sew]

Rest in peace. I'm ashamed to say I'm one of the many who hadn't heard of him before today.

I still buy old carts, and play them of course.

 

[Izayoi]

Damn. Carts are still - and always will be - the best.

Rest in peace, you'll be missed.

 

[Shaneus]

That really is sad news. Somewhat surprised that he's American, too.

I actually now remember reading that article that was linked. Fascinating read about a guy who should have been more well known. We all owe a lot to him, regardless of what systems we grew up on... NES, Genesis, Gameboy, Neo Geo arcade, SMS... the list is almost endless.

Thank you, Jerry. Rock on <3

Edit: Seems like an awesome guy, too. This made me chuckle:

And one of the things that really cracked me up is that I was starting to get really jaded by answering the phone, right? One woman called up, really irate, and she said, "My game hums! Do you know why?" And I said, "'Cause it doesn't know the words, lady."

 

[-KRS-]

I LOVE cartridges

Rest in peace.

 

[C.Dark.DN]

RIP. I'm glad cartridges were used until his death and after on a popular system.

 

[SovanJedi]

Carts are awesome, so much better than discs. Rest in peace buddy.

 

[BY2K]

Did the Medical Team or Paramedics try the old trusty way on reviving?

 

[Mar]

Sad news indeed.

This statement however:

Lawson is remembered as the inventor of Fairchild Semiconductor's home video game console, the Channel F. Released in 1976, the Channel F is the first console with programmable game cartridges; before it, home video game systems only played the games that were built into them.

Is factually incorrect. In fact, the very first console, the Magnavox Odyssey, had circuit board cards that were very much like cartridges but without the casing. It's just that no one ever made any more games for it than what came with the system.

 

[C.Dark.DN]

Sad news indeed.

This statement however:



Is factually incorrect. In fact, the very first console, the Magnavox Odyssey, had circuit board cards that were very much like cartridges but without the casing. It's just that no one ever made any more games for it than what came with the system.

Guess it's true:

"In retrospect, all ROM-based cartridge manufacturers may have been required to pay a royalty to Sanders Associates had Ralph Baer filed a patent for his "active cartridges""