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Sega Was Launched
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Magnavox Odyssey
World's first game console
Prototype known as the “Brown Box” is now at the Smithsonian
340,000 units sold -
Maze Wars
One of the first FPS
Used tile-based movement
Players wander in a maze
Players gain points for shooting other players and lose them for being shot -
Period: to
Second Generation
By the mid-1970s cartridges moved to CPU-based consoles Games now consisting of microprocessor-based code; games burned onto ROM chips mounted inside plastic cartridge casings that could be plugged into slots on the console -
Atari 2600
Popularized game cartridges - popular in the 1980s
Two joysticks, two paddle controllers, and a cartridge game - initially Combat later Pac-Man
Originally Atari VCS; later changed to "Atari 2600" in 1982, after the release of Atari 5200 -
Chuck E Cheese’s
First family entertainment centers aimed at young children Pizza restaurant with arcade games, amusement rides, an animatronics show, climbing equipment, tubes, and slides
Helped improve the image of video games -
Space Invaders
Created in Japan - later licensed in US Shooting game - players defeat waves of aliens with a laser and earn points So successful it caused a temporary shortage of coins in Japan Grossed $2 billion worldwide by 1982 -
Asteroids
Popular and influential game - 70,000 sold by Atari Vector display and 2D view Object - shoot asteroids and saucers while not colliding or being hit by counter-fire -
Pac Man
Namco - considered among the most famous arcade games of all time Became a social phenomenon that sold related merchandise and inspired an animated television series and a top-ten hit single -
Donkey kong
The hero and ape became two of Nintendo's most popular characters
By Nintendo -
Mario Brothers
By Nintendo – platform arcade
It was a full Color game.
Mario, a Italian-American plumber, and his brother Luigi must defeat creatures from the sewers below New York -
Period: to
Third Generation
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Video Game Crash
The delay of Atari's 7800 console left consumers hungry for the next big thing A flood of consoles on the US market gave consumers too many choices Poor game titles and too many games based on the movie ET Millions of consumers shifted their intention to buy choices from game consoles to low-end computers that retailed for similar prices -
Tetris
Name is from the Greek numerical prefix tetra- four segments Sold more than 70 million copies *In January 2010, it was announced that Tetris has sold more than 100 million copies for mobile phones alone since 2005 -
NES Gaming System
8-bit console by Nintendo
Most successful of its time; Sold over 60 million worldwide
Helped revitalize the US industry following crash of 1984 - set the standard for consoles -
The Legend of Zelda
Fantasy action-adventure created in Japan and published by Nintendo
Link, a playable character, must rescue Princess Zelda
As of December 2011, sold 67.93 million copies -
Atari 7800
Replaced Atari 5200,and re-establish Atari's supremacy over Nintendo and Sega
Designed to be upgraded to a home computer
Digital joysticks; fully backward-compatible with the Atari 2600; and affordable - $140 -
Final Fantasy
Science fantasy RPGs
Known for innovation, visuals, full-motion videos, photo-realistic character models, and orchestrated music -
Period: to
Handheld Games
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Nintendo’s Game Boy
8-bit for $89.95
First successful handheld - predecessor of all other Game Boys
Originally bundled with Tetris
Sold 118.69 million worldwide -
Period: to
Fifth Generation
Dominated by three consoles, Sega Saturn, Sony PlayStation, and Nintendo 64
Performance depended on other factors such as processor clock speed, bandwidth, and memory size
PCs now were powerful enough to emulate the 8- and 16-bit systems of the previous five or more years -
Sony PlayStation
32-bit by Sony
First of a series of PS consoles
First to ship 100 million units
PS2 released in 2000 is best-selling home console to date
Has a PlayStation network -
Nintendo 64
Nintendo's third home console $199
64-bit processor sold 32.93 million units worldwide
Released Super Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64 -
Period: to
Sixth Generation
128-bit Era -
Sony PlayStation 2
Best-selling console in history, selling over 150 million
Over 3870 game title are available
Produced for 12 years -
Nintendo GameCube
Nintendo's fourth system used compact discs
Sold 22 million units worldwide
Discontinued in 2007 -
Microsoft Xbox
Microsoft's first console with 24 million units sold
Allowed players to play online
$299.99
Discontinued in 2008
Followed by the Xbox 360 and Xbox One -
Period: to
Seventh Generation
Started on November 22, 2005 with the release of Microsoft's Xbox 360 and a year later with Sony's PlayStation 3 on November 17, 2006 and Nintendo's Wii on November 19, 2006
Each new console introduced a new type of breakthrough in technology
Wii appears to be the leading seller of this generation
