game systems

Magnetic media

May 10, 1971

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_console] Two forms of magnetic media commonly used in the 1980s and 1990s for video games are cassette and floppy disk

First generation

Nov 29, 1972

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_console]
In 1972, Magnavox released the Magnavox Odyssey, the first home video game console which could be connected to a TV set. Ralph Baer's initial design had called for a huge row of switches that would allow players to turn on and off certain components of the console to create slightly different games like tennis, volleyball, hockey, and chase.

Second Generation

Nov 1, 1976

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_console] Fairchild released the Fairchild Video Entertainment System (VES) in 1976.

Optical media

Aug 17, 1982

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_console] In the mid-1990s, various manufacturers shifted to optical media, specifically CD-ROM, for games. Although they were slower at loading game data than the cartridges available at that time, they were significantly cheaper to manufacture and had a larger capacity than the existing cartridge technology.

Third Generation

Jul 15, 1983

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_console] In 1983, Nintendo released the Family Computer (or Famicom) in Japan.The NES made home console video games popular again in America after the 1983 crash.

Fourth Generaton

Oct 30, 1987

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_console] NEC brought the first fourth-generation console to market with their PC Engine (or TurboGrafx16) when Hudson Soft approached them with an advanced graphics chip. Hudson had previously approached Nintendo, only to be rebuffed by a company still raking in the profits of the NES. The TurboGrafx used the unusual HuCard format to store games.

5th Generation

Dec 3, 1994

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_console] The Sony PlayStation became the most popular system of the fifth generation consoles, eventually selling over 100 million systems

sixth Generation

Mar 4, 2000

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_console] With more than 155 million units sold, the Sony PlayStation 2 is the best selling video game console in history

seventh generation

Nov 22, 2005

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_console] The release of the Xbox 360 began the seventh generation

Eighth generation

Nov 15, 2013

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_console] The PlayStation 4 is Sony's eighth generation console, featuring a "share" button to stream video game content between devices, released on November 15, 2013. Microsoft released their next generation console, the Xbox One, on November 22, 2013.