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Ralph H. Baer conceived the idea of a home video game in 1951. In the 1960s he created a working video game console at Sanders Associates, but struggled for years to find a television manufacturer willing to produce the console
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Finally, in 1972 Magnavox released the Magnavox Odyssey, the first home video game console which could be connected to a TV set.
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In 1977, manufacturers of older, obsolete consoles and Pong clones sold their systems at a loss to clear stock, creating a glut in the market, and causing RCA and later Fairchild to abandon their game consoles. Only Atari and Magnavox remained in the home console market, despite suffering losses in 1977 and 1978.
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Throughout the early 1980s, other companies released video game consoles of their own. Many of the video game systems were technically superior to the Atari 2600, and marketed as improvements over the Atari 2600. However, Atari dominated the console market in the early 1980s.
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Most video game companies filed for bankruptcy, or moved into other industries, abandoning their game consoles.
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ntendo released their Famicom as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) which used a front-loading cartridge port similar to a VCR, included a plastic "robot"
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In 1990 Nintendo finally brought their Super Famicom to market and brought it to the US as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) a year later.
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The first fifth-generation consoles were the 3DO and the Atari Jaguar.Sony's Playstation would not only dominate its generation, but become the first console to sell over 100 million units by expanding the video game market.
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The sixth generation saw a move towards PC-like architectures in gaming consoles, as well as a shift towards using DVDs for game media. This brought games that were both longer and more visually appealing. Furthermore, this generation also saw experimentation with online console gaming and implementing both flash and hard drive storage for game data.
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Microsoft kicked off the seventh generation with the release of the Xbox 360 on November 22, 2005 in the United States, December 2, 2005 in Europe, December 10, 2005 in Japan and March 23, 2006 in Australia. It featured market leading processing power until the Sony PlayStation 3 was released one year later.
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Aside from the usual hardware enhancements, consoles of the eighth generation focus on further integration with other media and increased connectivity
