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Choose your Gaming Console:
History Of
Gaming Consoles:
First generation
Although the first computer games appeared in the 50s[4] it
was not until 1972 that Magnavox released the first home video
game console, the Magnavox Odyssey, designed by Ralph Baer.
The Odyssey was initially only moderately successful, and it
was not until Atari's arcade game PONG popularized video games
several months later the public began to take more notice of
the emerging industry. By [[1975] Magnavox, bowing to the
popularity of PONG, cancelled the Odyssey and released a
scaled down console that only played PONG - the Odyssey 100.
Almost simultaneously released with Atari's own home PONG
console through Sears, these consoles jump started the
consumer market. As with the arcade market, the home market
was soon flooded by dedicated consoles that played simple pong
and pong derived games.
Second generation
Fairchild released the Fairchild Video Entertainment System (VES)
in 1976. While there had been previous game consoles that used
cartridges, either the cartridges had no information and
served the same function as flipping switches (the Odyssey) or
the console itself was empty and the cartridge contained all
of the game components. The VES, however, contained a
programmable microprocessor so its cartridges only needed a
single ROM chip to store microprocessor instructions.
RCA and Atari soon released their own cartridge-based
consoles.
Video game crash of 1977
In 1977, manufacturers of older obsolete consoles sold their
systems at a loss to clear stock, creating a glut in the
market and causing Fairchild and RCA to abandon their game
consoles. Only Atari and Magnavox stayed in the home console
market.
Rebirth of the home console market
The VCS continued to be sold at a profit after the 1977 crash,
and both Bally (with their Home Library Computer in 1977) and
Magnavox (with the Odyssey2 in 1978) brought their own
programmable cartridge based consoles to the market. However
it wasn't until Atari released a conversion of the arcade hit
Space Invaders that the home console industry was completely
revived. Many consumers bought an Atari just for Space
Invaders. Space Invaders' unprecedented success started the
trend of console manufacturers trying to get exclusive rights
to arcade titles, and the trend of advertisements for game
consoles claiming to bring the arcade experience home.
Throughout the early 80's other companies released video game
consoles of their own. Many of the video game systems were
technically superior to the Atari 2600, and marketed as
improvements over the Atari 2600. However, Atari dominated the
console market throughout the early 80's
Video game crash of 1983
In 1983, the video game business suffered a much more severe
crash. A flood of consoles, glut of low quality video games by
smaller companies especially for the 2600, industry leader
Atari hyping games such as E.T. that were poorly received, and
a growing number of home computer users caused consumers and
retailers to lose faith and interest in video game consoles.
Most video game companies filed for bankruptcy, or moved into
other industries, abandoning their game consoles.
Intellivision sold the rights of the Intellivision to INTV
Corp, who continued to produce Intellivision consoles and
develop new games for the Intellivision until 1991. All other
North American game consoles were discontinued by 1984.
Third generation
The Robotic Operating Buddy that came packaged with the NES
Enlarge The Robotic Operating Buddy that came packaged with
the NES
In 1983, Nintendo released the Famicom in Japan. It supported
high-res, full color, tiled backgrounds, and high-res sprites.
This allowed Famicom games to be longer, and have more
detailed graphics. Nintendo brought their Famicom over to the
US in the form of the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985.
In the US, video games were seen as a fad that had already
passed. To distinguish its product from older video game
consoles Nintendo used a front loading cartridge port similar
to a VCR on the NES, packaged the NES with a plastic "robot"
and a light gun, and originally advertised it as a toy.
Nintendo also built a lock-out chip into the NES. This kept
third parties from producing their own cartridges and forced
all developers to go through Nintendo to get NES games
published. This allowed Nintendo to do things like prevent
developers from releasing low-quality games and limit
developers to five titles a year.
Like Space Invaders for the 2600, Nintendo found its breakout
hit game in Super Mario Brothers. Nintendo's success revived
the video game industry and new consoles were soon introduced
in the following years to compete with the NES.
Fourth generation
Sega's Master System was intended to compete with NES, but
never gained any significant market share and was barely
profitable. Sega regained market share by releasing their
next-generation console, The Sega Genesis, which was released
in Japan on the 29th of October 1988, and in the USA/Europe on
the 1st of September 1989 (under the new name of Sega Mega
Drive), two years before Nintendo could release the Super
Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)(1990).
Fifth generation
Going from left to right, top to bottom: Iron Soldier (Atari
Jaguar), Gex (3DO), Starfox (SNES), Donkey Kong Country 3 (SNES),
Virtua Racing (Genesis), Vectorman (Genesis).
Enlarge Going from left to right, top to bottom: Iron Soldier
(Atari Jaguar), Gex (3DO), Starfox (SNES), Donkey Kong Country
3 (SNES), Virtua Racing (Genesis), Vectorman (Genesis).
The first fifth generation consoles were the Atari Jaguar and
the 3DO. Both of these systems were much more powerful than
the SNES or Genesis (known as Mega Drive outside the U.S.);
they were better at rendering polygons, could display more
onscreen colors, and the 3DO used CDs that contained far more
information than cartridges and were cheaper to produce.
Neither of these consoles were serious threats to Sega or
Nintendo, though. The 3DO cost more than the SNES and Genesis
combined, and the Jaguar was extremely difficult to program
for, leading to a lack of games that used its extra power.
Nintendo released games like Donkey Kong Country that could
display a wide range of tones (something common in fifth-gen
games) by limiting the number of hues onscreen, and games like
Star Fox that used an extra "Super FX chip" inside of the
cartridge to display polygon graphics. Sega followed suit,
releasing Vectorman and Virtua Racing (the latter of which
used the Sega Virtua Processor.)
It was not until Sony's PlayStation, Sega's Saturn, and
Nintendo's Nintendo 64 were released that fifth generation
consoles started to become popular. They had advanced polygon
capabilities. The Saturn and Playstation used CDs to store
games, while the N64 still used catridges. All three cost far
less than the 3DO, and were easier to program for than the
Jaguar. The Saturn also had 2D sprite handling power on par
with the Neo-Geo.
Sixth generation
This generation is currently phasing out.
* Sega's Dreamcast was Sega's last videogame console, and is
discontinued, despite being the first internet ready console.
Sega now develops software for other consoles.
* Sony's PlayStation 2 was the sequel to their first console,
PlayStation.
* Nintendo's GameCube was Nintendo's fourth home videogame
console and the first nintendo console to use cd's.
* Microsoft's Xbox was Microsoft's first videogame console.
Seventh generation
This generation is currently phasing in.
* Microsoft's Xbox 360 was released on November 22, 2005.
* Sony's PlayStation 3 was announced to be released in Japan
on November 11, 2006 and in North America on November 17, 2006
and in Europe in March of 2007.
* Nintendo's Wii was announced to be released in North America
on November 19, 2006 (retailing for $250), in Japan on
December 2, 2006, in Australia on December 7, 2006, and in
Europe on December 8, 2006.
* Evizions Computer Entertainment's Evo: Phase One will be
released October 20, 2006.
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