Consoles.
First computer games appeared in
the 1950s, they were based around vector displays, not analog video. It was not
until 1972 that Magnavox released the
first home video game console,
which could be connected to a TV set. It was called The Magnavox Odyssey.
Second
Generation…
Fairchild released the Fairchild Video
Entertainment System (VES) in 1976. The VES contained a
programmable microprocessor so its cartridges only needed a single ROM chip to
store microprocessor instructions!
Third
Generation…
In 1983, Nintendo released the Family
Computer (Famicom) in Japan. Famicom supported high-resolution
sprites and tiled backgrounds, but with more colours. 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 (NES) in 1985. However many people who played it at back in the 1980’s called it simply
Nintendo.
Fourth
Generation…
Sega gained market share by releasing its
next-generation console, the Mega
Drive/Genesis. It was released in Japan on October 29, 1988, in the
U.S. in August 1989 (renamed as the Sega Genesis) and in Europe in 1990, two
years before Nintendo could release the Super
Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES).
Other consoles included in the fourth
generation are NEC's
TurboGrafx-16 and SNK Playmore's Neo Geo.
Fifth
Generation…
The first
fifth-generation consoles were the Atari Jaguar and the 3DO.
Both of these systems were much more powerful than the Super Nintendo
Entertainment System (SNES) or Mega Drive (known as Genesis in North America).
It was not until Sega's Saturn, Sony's PlayStation, and the Nintendo 64 were released
that fifth generation consoles started to become popular. The Saturn and
PlayStation used CDs to store games, while the N64 used cartridges. All three
cost far less than the 3DO, and were easier to program than the Jaguar.
Sixth
Generation…
This generation saw a move towards PC-like
architectures in gaming consoles, as well as a shift towards using DVDs for game media.
· Sony's
PlayStation 2 was released
in North America on October 26, 2000 as the follow-up to its highly successful
PlayStation, and was also the first home game console to be able to play DVDs. As was done with the
original PlayStation in 2000, Sony redesigned the console in 2004 into a
smaller version.
· Microsoft's
Xbox, released on November
15, 2001 in North America, was the company's first video game console. The
first console to employ a hard drive right out of the box to save games, and
had similar hardware specifications to a low-end desktop computer at the time
of its release. Though criticized for its bulky size, which was easily twice
that of the competition, as well as for the awkwardness of the original
controller that shipped with it, it eventually gained popularity due in part to
the success of the Halo franchise.
The Xbox was the first console to include an Ethernet port and offered high
speed online gaming through the Xbox LIVE
service.
· The
Nintendo
GameCube, released November 18, 2001 in North America, was
Nintendo's fourth home video game console and the first console by the company
to use optical media instead of cartridges. The Nintendo GameCube did not play
standard 12 cm DVDs, instead employing smaller 8 cm optical discs.
With the release of the GameCube Game Boy Player, all Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance cartage's
could be played on the platform. The Nintendo GameCube was discontinued in 2007
with the release of Wii.
Seventh
Generation…
The features introduced in this generation
include the support of new disc formats: Blu-ray Disc, utilized by
the PlayStation 3, and HD DVD
supported by the Xbox 360. Also, all seventh generation consoles support
wireless controllers. This generation also introduces the Nintendo DS, and the
Nintendo DSi, which add touch screens and cameras to portable gaming.
· Microsoft
kicked off the seventh generation with the release of the Xbox 360 released on
November 22, 2005 in the United States.
· Sony's PlayStation 3 was released
in Japan on November 11, 2006, in North America on November 17, 2006 and in
Europe on March 23, 2007.
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