In home TV screens, the electron beam would automatically scan the screen left-to-right, top-to-bottom, 50 or 60 times per second in a horizontal line pattern. This fixed pattern is called 'raster scanning'. Atari's 'Pong' (1972) was designed to be compatible with this type of TV display, and instead of controlling the electron beam's position freely, the beam output intensity would be controlled as a function of the x- and y-position of the electron beam, which would create colored areas on the screen. This approach normally results in blocky graphics with right angles. See namelessalgorithm.com: Framebuffer Rendering.
Pong Atari Arcade 1972 2 logs Gotcha Atari Arcade 1973 2 logs Pong Doubles Arcade 1973 2 logs Breakout Atari Arcade 1976 4 logs Super Breakout A2600 1981 1 logs