The very first video game commercial ever

[A Black Falcon]

Ah yes the Fairchild. I forgot about that one. Did that one have a true CPU? I have to give credit to the Fairchild for having a name that sounds like the woods.

A guy working for Fairchild (Robert Noyce; his wife went on to do a lot of philanthropy here in Maine) built the first working integrated circuit, you know. There was a pretty good documentary about the invention of the IC on PBS sometime last year. So yes, the Channel F has a CPU.

I consider the Odyssey a true console because, regardless of the internals, it was the first machine to, however basically, do most of the same things any video game console does. Modern video games, to this day, follow many of the basic concepts this machine established (multiplayer, individual game media, light guns, manipulation through the paleolithic equivalent of a controller), and no machine before ever attempted any of this stuff in such a way as we would describe a game console.

I mostly agree, but it is true that the system doesn't actually have any data on its cards, just different connections for the internal hardware. I wouldn't make as much of a deal out of that it doesn't have a CPU; yes it doesn't have one, but it's simple enough that it didn't need it. I don't think that makes it not a videogame system, certainly. But is it a console, ie, a system with multiple interchangeable games? Yeah... and no, because of the unique nature of the cards. But yes, the system created the standards that the industry would follow. No question about that.