On the Google home page this Thursday, you will see a man playing a video game console: it is Gerald Lawson, a pioneer in the field.

In a biography, Google refers to this engineer as having “led the team that developed the first video game system with interchangeable game cartridges”.

Cartridges, found in the Nintendo Switch in the form of MicroSD, or in the GameBoy and Nintendo 3DS.


And, even if the cartridge format has now given way to other more sophisticated modes such as optical discs (DVD, Blu-ray) and dematerialized access thanks to the virtual, the old generations of consoles used it massively.

These include the N64, the Super Nintendo and the Mega Drive.


Any 🎮 fans here?

Today's #GoogleDoodle honors video game pioneer Jerry Lawson.



To play and create your own game ➡️ https://t.co/kXDDv7AfNh pic.twitter.com/oF7riqypge

— Google FR (@GoogleFR) December 1, 2022

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He invented the first cartridge console

But Gerald Lawson is best known for a rather confidential project: the design of the Fairchild Chanel F, the first cartridge console.

Home console marketed in 1976 in North America and whose production ceased in 1983, it belongs to the second generation like the Atari 2600 or the Colecovision.

For example, a console like Nintendo's NES is part of the third generation which begins in 1983.



It was within Fairchild Semiconductor that Gerald Lawson, now 82, developed the console of the same name, before creating his own company, VideoSoft.

His impact on the video game industry is celebrated with an award that bears his name, the Jerry Lawson Award for Achievement in Game Development.

Note that Gerald Lawson, described by Google as “one of the fathers of modern video games”, does not have a Wikipedia page.

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