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Nintendo
Nintendo was founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi as a playing card company. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo -
The Birth of Video Games
In October of 1958 a Physicist named William Higinbotham, with the help of technician Robert Dvorak, they created the very first video game. This game they decided to call Tennis for Two. Players would control the angel with which the ball was hit with a little knob and would hit the ball with another button to the other side. If the ball went off the court or hit the net all players had to do was press a button to reset the game
https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200810/physicshistory.cfm -
Sega
Sega enters the race for video games with its very first game called Periscope in 1965. It continued to be a huge competitor in the video game market throughout the Golden Age.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega -
Home console prototype
The very first working home console prototype was created by Ralph H. Baer. It included games like ping-pong, tennis, handball, and volleyball.
https://www.hongkiat.com/blog/evolution-of-home-video-game-consoles-1967-2011/ -
The Magnavox Odyssey
The Magnavox Odyssey was the very first commercially sold home console licensed by Magnavox and created by Ralph H. Baer. It played a total of 27 games including "Table-Tennis"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnavox_Odyssey -
The creation of Atari
Atari was founded by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Atari was the first major video game producer and sold the popular game Pong around the country.
https://www.atari.com/history/1972-1984-0 -
Pong
Pong was created in 1972 by Allan Alacorn. It quickly became very popular and sold 150,000 arcade machines. The game is simple with three dots two that the players control and one that bounces across the screen. As play goes on the ball gets faster.
http://www.ponggame.org/ -
Magnavox Vs. Atari
Magnavox sued Atari for taking the idea of Pong from their table-tennis game in their Odyssey console. They claimed that Nolan Bushnell played the game at a trade show in San Francisco. The case never went to court and Atari payed Magnavox $700,000
http://tabletennisnation.com/technology/atari-vs-magnavox-lawsuit-table-tennis-video-games/ -
Nintendo's first ventures
Nintendo created its very first software called the Color T.V Game. It was a home console and each version featured four different variations of a single game.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo -
Space Invaders
A game created by Tomohiro Nishikado who drew inspiration from pop culture movies such as Star Wars and War of the Worlds. 360,000 arcades in total were made and made over $600 million in Japan alone. The game made way and inspired the next era of video games
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Invaders -
The Golden Age
The Golden Age of arcade games was boosted to a whole new height with the creation of games such as Atari's Asteroids, Lunar Lander, and Sega's Monaco GP.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroids_(video_game) -
Donkey Kong
Nintendo game out with a game that changed the gaming community forever; Donkey Kong. It was the first game to come out with a plot line to the game. Donkey Kong captured the Princess and you had to play as Mario and save the Princess. Nintendo sold over 60,000 arcade units and made over $280 million.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donkey_Kong_(video_game) -
The fight for control
Both Nintendo and Sega released new home consoles in the same year to fight for control of the market. Nintendo came out with the Nintendo Entertainment System and sold 62 million copies while Sega came out with the SG-1000 and finds little success. -
The Gameboy
Nintendo created one of the very first handheld video games the Gameboy! This changed the playing field because now people could take their video games wherever they wanted.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Boy -
Sonic the Hedgehog
In order to combat Nintendo's powerhouse "Mario," Sega needed to come up with their own face of the company. That face became Sonic the Hedgehog. -
PlayStation
Out of a failed relationship with Nintendo and as a way to to get revenge on the rival company, Sony entered the playing field with the all new PlayStation. Unlike its competitors, PlayStation focused on using third parties developers to help streamline the system.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_(console) -
Nintendo 64
Nintendo 64 was named for its 64-bit processing unit. It was the last video game console that used cartridges as its main file holder.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_64 -
Dreamcast
The Dreamcast was Sega's final console before seeing the end of the company. It was considered ahead of its time but with the upcoming releases of the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and the Xbox it just couldn't hang in there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamcast -
Xbox
Video games had taken a whole new meaning and have made a lot of money on the market. This brought attention to one of the biggest business around; Microsoft. Microsoft decided to join the fight for video games and their first release was the Xbox. It was the first console to use a built in hard-disk and used a PC's processor which brought its graphics to a whole new level. -
