-
The 'Brown Box'
Developed by German television engineer Ralph Baer and his coworkers. He build a vacuum tube circuit that connects to a television and allows players to control squares chasing each other on the screen. It was developed as a prototype for he first multiplayer, multi-program video game system. It was originally called the TV Game Unit #7, but quickly became better known by its nickname, coming from the materials used to make the prototype which made it much more appealing to potential investors -
Magnavox Odyssey
After Baer's team presented their work, Magnavox began production on their own console, led by Baer himself, dubbed the Odyssey. After the release of the console, it sold between 69,000 and 100,000 units by the end of the year and then 350,000 by the time it was discontinued in 1975. It marked the beginning of the rise of the commercial video game industry along with the start of the first generation of video game consoles. -
Pong
Pong was Atari's first major success. They sold a home version of Pong in Sears under the Sears Tele-game label. The system helped catapult Atari to household-name status and introduce video games to masses. It was one of the earliest arcade video games, featuring two dimensional graphics. Alcorn developed the game as a training exercise assigned to him by Atari co-founder Bushnell. He based the idea on an electronic ping-ping game on the Odyssey. This later resulted in a lawsuit against Atari -
NES
Nintendo's entertainment system released in the U.S, alternatively known as Famicom in Japan. Retailers were skeptical at first after the video game crash but popular sales broke record sales. Originally released in Japan in 1983, Nintendo turned its attention to the North American Market after it's massive success. -
Game Boy
Nintendo came out with the Game Boy after the NES. It was the first major handheld gaming console. It underwent multiple makeovers throughout the years, including the Pocket in '96 and the Color in '98. The system and it's successor, the Game Boy Color sold over 118 million units worldwide. Upon it's release in the US, it sold it's entire shipment of one million units within a few weeks, -
SNES
After being beaten to the 16-bit punch by Sega Genesis, Nintendo releases its own offering. Had a slow start but caught up to the Genesis because of it's tech superiority, having advanced graphics and sound capabilities compared with other systems at the time. It was the best-selling console of the 16-bit era despite its relatively late start and it remained popular into the 32-bit era. -
Playstation
The arrival of the most popular console of the 32 bit era of video games. Games stress 3D graphics for the first time and introduced CD-ROM technology which allowed for the larger memory capacity for the storage of games. It was the first 'computer entertainment platform' to ship 100 million units, which it had reached 9 years and 6 months after initial release. -
Nintendo 64
The last mass market system which used cartridges. Though more expensive they had much faster loading times. It lacked a broad range of titles but still had blockbuster hits which helped sales. It was Nintendo's third home video game console and was named for it's 64-bit central processing unit -
Period: to
PS2/XBOX
Developed by Sony and Microsoft respectively, marking one of the large rivalries between video game consoles. The PS2 was developed as the successor to the earlier PS1 in 1995. This is in comparison the Xbox which was developed by Microsoft as a potential competitor after seeing the success that could be had in the growing video games industry. Whilst both games had a variety of exclusive games, the Xbox marketed their online features much more than Playstation did. -
Steam
The most successful PC based games distribution platform developed by Valve. Allows users to pay for and download games directly onto their system eliminating the need for storage hardware. Steam allows users to download their software completely for free, and even offers free to play games such as Team Fortress 2 and DOTA 2. It allows games developers to easily distribute games across the platform and has made PC gaming the largest gaming platform. -
Nintendo DS
The DS is a 32-bit dual-screen handheld game console developed and released by Nintendo, and is the second generation of handheld consoles developed by them in succession of the Gameboy. It introduced revolutionary new features to handheld gaming: two LCD screens working in tandem, a built-in microphone and support for wireless connectivity. The development of the Pokemon games on the system massively aided sales and grew both franchises massively. -
Period: to
Xbox 360/PS3
Each console was developed by Microsoft and Sony respectively, each being a successor to it's previous generations iteration. The systems continued their famed rivalry and competed closely in sales. The PS3 was the first console to make use of the Blu-ray Disc as its primary storage and was the first Playstation to integrate the social service, PlayStation Network. The Xbox 360 further developed it's online service, Xbox Live, and allowed users to download games, demos, stream music and films. -
PS4/Xbox One
Both consoles, again respectively developed by Sony and Microsoft are the next generation consoles that succeeded their previous iterations. The major improvement that was developed in these consoles was the major leap in hardware used. Both systems were made with the aim of producing HD quality graphics and a processing unit. The ability to share clips directly from game play or to live-stream directly to platforms such as Twitch was also introduced. -
Virtual Reality
The first rendition of Virtual Reality was introduced with the Oculus Rift and placed the into a rendered 3D environment through the use of a headset. More recently the HTC Vive was released with major success and Playstation developed their own version for their system. Virtual reality is prevalent on high end PC systems due to it's specifications to run at a high quality but shows a major leap forward in technology and gives an idea of what to expect in the future.
