Ralph Baer, father of Pong (the tennis videogame only predated by Willy Higginbotham's Tennis for Two), will receive a National Medal of Technology from the US White House for his dedication to new technologies, says /. and Gamasutra. The award is actually the 2004 medal, which suggests that technology moves rather slowly in the real world. I wonder as well if Baer would have been included in the shortlist if it had been drawn up after Hot Coffee-gate.

From Gamasutra:

The award, which is America's highest honor for science and technology, goes to those who "have helped commercialize new technologies, create jobs, improve American productivity, and stimulate the Nation's economic growth and development", and was established by Congress in 1980.

The event will be webcast today from the White House website at 10:40am US Eastern Time.