Designer of first ever console: "What I created got abominated."

The man responsible for inventing the world's first ever home console isn't too happy with how the medium he pioneered has evolved in recent years.

Ralph H. Baer was the creative force behind the Magnavox Odyssey back in 1972. A full five years before the Atari 2600 arrived on the scene, it offered a selection of primitive games including a tennis title that would later inspire a patent infringement law suit against the makers of Pong.

Speaking in an interview with The Salt Lake Tribune, the 89-year-old Baer expressed his displeasure at how violent video games have recently become.

"I think it's a disgrace," he said. "What I created got abominated. You can see the same thing in music, literature, art - any form of art."

Perhaps he should have better considered the possible ramifications of his other big contribution to gaming - the first ever light gun peripheral.

"Could I project how far this thing was going to go? The answer is obviously no," he said elsewhere during the talk.

"Nobody realised, even at that time, that we were on this geometric curve... that would go straight up to heaven. It was unforeseeable; it was fantastic. I'm glad it happened. And if I hadn't had started it, someone else would have."