Ralph Baer
In the mid-1960s, Ralph H. Baer was working as a manager for Sanders Associates, a defense contractor in Nashua, New Hampshire. He had been interested in televisions and radios his whole life, so he put some of his staff to work creating various games that would connect to a T.V., such as a light gun game. When he showed the games to Sanders management in 1967, most thought it was a waste of time, but he did get $2500 of official funding. The seventh prototype console he created with the funding was called the Brown Box named after its wood casing, which ended up being the one that was demonstrated to the T.V. manufacturers Motorola, Sylvania, Philco, RCA, and Magnavox, among others.. This resulted in a license agreement between Sanders and Magnavox, and the Brown Box was renamed the Magnavox Odyssey. Over the next 2.5 years, over 350,000 Odysseys were sold. It was a commercial success, and is generally accepted as being the first home video game console.
Old Magnavox Odyssey Commercial
Old Magnavox Odyssey Commercial