Sure, computers were around back then. But I don't think there was much of an industry around them outside of academia And the banks. And defence. And aerospac

Sure, computers were around back then. But I don't think there was much of an industry around them outside of academia And the banks. And defence. And aerospace. And factories. And.... well... lots of other places. IBM started selling the 1400 series in 1960 for Pete's sake! The industry was obviously a lot smaller then - but it was well past the pure academic/military phase by that point. The first home console game - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnavox_Odyssey http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnavox_Odyssey was launched in 1972 - although I guess the Magnavox wouldn't really classify as a computer :-)