SIDEBAR: SAN FRANCISCO--Modern-day gaming consoles aren't always known for their durability, but the original home gaming system--Ralph Baer's 1968 Brown Box (pictured below)--still works perfectly today. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the engineer's reflexes. To cap off a Game Developers Conference presentation titled "How to Create an Industry," Baer and original Pong (bottom) programmer Allan Alcorn stumbled through a head-to-head game of Brown Box table tennis that somehow made the simple process of bouncing a small dot between two larger rectangles appear hopelessly complex.

　　At first Baer offered some advice to his fellow industry legend, telling Alcorn to ignore the controller's horizontal movement knob entirely, since "you'll never win a game if you use it." A few unreturned serves from both sides later, and the genial Baer was bordering on trash-talk.

　　"You're supposed to hit the ball," he quipped.

　　Given the Brown Box's lack of any sort of scoring functionality, no winner was declared. However, in an unannounced post-match presentation, a representative from Guinness World Records took the stage to plug the company's upcoming game-focused edition and to present Baer with a special award acknowledging his position as the inventor of the first game console.

　　Baer graciously received the award, as well as the accompanying standing ovation, before brushing aside the admiration. "We're done. You can leave," he said, prompting a volley of laughter. "Back to work. Back to work…"