History of the video game consoles

A video Game console is an electronic device, generally connecting with a Téléviseur, making it possible to play video games.

Since the first marketings in the years 1970, these apparatuses technologically developed, and took much importance in the multi-media universe, becoming at the same time the object of engagements between the various manufacturers.

History

The first indexed video game console is the Odyssey of Magnavox, appeared on the market in 1972. Create by Ralph Baer, it allows to play several plays different thanks to a system from copies to affix on the screen of the Téléviseur. It is the beginning of the first generation of consoles which finishes with Pong three years later.

The second generation starts with the Fairchild Chanel F in 1976. Thanks to the cartridges, it is from now on possible to make function several plays on only one console, and the player buys only the plays which it likes.

The Krach of the video game of 1983 occurs because of several factors, in particular the proliferation of basic plays quality, as well as the competition of the personal computers.

The industry of the video game starts again really only in 1985, with the third generation and more particularly the success of the BORN with plays like Super Mario Bros. , The Legend off Zelda and Castlevania . The PC-Engine and the Master System arrive on the market but the success of the PC-Engine remains in Japan, that of Master System is located in Europe and at Brazil.

The consoles " 16 bits" belong to the fourth generation. At the end of the years 1980, the Megadrive and the Super Nintendo start a commercial war between Sega and Nintendo. The conflict extends until in the category of the portable consoles, where Nintendo and Sega respectively propose the Game Boy and the Game GEAR. Their official mascots are directly concurrent, Mario the plumber, and Sonic the blue hedgehog. It is also the time during which the Européens consumers make import themselves their plays of the United States, because of the too high costs of translation not allowing official localization for the Old continent.

The fifth generation is that of the " 32/64 bits". The market is dominated by three consoles, the PlayStation of Sony, the Sega Saturn and the Nintendo 64. It is PlayStation which has the most success. The majority of the plays pass to the 3D what is not appreciated by all the players who criticize the lack of Gameplay . They are defined themselves being " old school gamers ". The Cédérom S spread except for Nintendo which keeps the cartridge on Nintendo 64. The emulation appears. Sega loses market shares and starts its decline.

The sixth generation is that of the " 128 bits" even if the consoles are less and less defined by the number of Bit S read by their processor. The principal platforms are the Dreamcast, the GameCube, the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox. PlayStation 2 beats all the records of sale, it spends only five years and nine months with being distributed to 100 million units. It is the time of the public polemics on the contents of the plays, especially on violence, the sex and drug.

The exit of the Xbox 360 announces the seventh generation which really began only with the exits of the PlayStation 3 and of the Wii. In the world of the portable consoles, the domination of Nintendo (since Game Boy in 1989 with DS and DS lite in 2006) is disputed by Sony, which markets its PSP (Playstation Portable). The introduced Nintendo DS of new concepts of plays thanks to its touchscreen, whereas PlayStation Portable wishes to offer technical qualities of a play of living room on a portable console.

The last exit indexed to date is PS3 (PlayStation 3). This game console last generation is equipped with a reader Blu-Ray (better quality than a reader DVD). It is able to read the sets of preceding turntables but also as of his. It is equipped with a lever without gyroscopic wire Bluetooth which restores your movements and their accelerations. An hard drive of 60 Go is built-in the system. Its principal disadvantage is its price (600€ in Europe).

Chronology and duration of marketing of the game consoles

In Europe

DateFormat=mm/dd/yyyy ImageSize= width: 600 height: 400 Period = from: 1/1/1975 till: 12/31/2008 TimeAxis = orientation: horizontal AlignBars = justify PlotArea = width: 90% height: 90% left: 0 bottom: 30

Colors = id: comfort been worth: rgb (0.9, 0.3, 0.3) id: consolealt been worth: rgb (0.3, 0.9, 0.9) id: 2ndgen been worth: tan1 id: 8bit been worth: coral id: 16bit been worth: skyblue id: 32bit been worth: drabgreen id: 64bit been worth: drabgreen id: 6thgen been worth: lightorange id: 7thgen been worth: lavender id: line been worth: black id: liteline been worth: rgb (0.3, 0.3, 0.3) id: bg been worth: white id: been worth projection: rgb (0.9, 0.9, 0.9)

PlotData= width: 23 textcolor: black align: center

bar: Atari from: 1/1/1977 till: 1/1/1986 color: 2ndgen text: " Atari 2600 " bar: Atari from: 1/1/1993 till: 06/30/1996 color: 64bit text: " Jaguar " bar: Atari2 from: 1/1/1982 till: 1/1/1984 color: 2ndgen text: " Atari 5200 " bar: Atari2 from: 1/1/1986 till: 1/1/1992 color: 8bit text: " Atari 7800 " bar: Nintendo1 from: 1/1/1985 till: 1/1/1995 color: 8bit text: " BORN " bar: Nintendo2 from: 1/8/1982 till: 1/3/1984 color: 8bit text: " Colecovision " bar: NEC1 from: 1/1/1978 till: 1/1/1984 color: 2ndgen text: " Magnavox Odyssey 2 " bar: NEC1 from: 1/8/1989 till: 1/8/1992 color: 16bit text: " PC-Engine " bar: NEC2 from: 1/1/1980 till: 1/1/1984 color: 2ndgen text: " Intellivision " bar: NEC2 from: 10/10/1992 till: 1/1/1995 color: 16bit text: " TurboDuo " bar: SEGA1 from: 1/1/1986 till: 1/1/1991 color: 8bit text: " Master System " bar: SEGA1 from: 1/1/1995 till: 1/1/1998 color: 32bit text: " Saturn " bar: Sony2 from: 10/26/2000 till: 5/1/2005 color: 6thgen text: " PS2 " bar: Sony2 from: 5/1/2005 till: 12/31/2006 color: projection text: " (proj.) " bar: Nintendo1 from: 1/3/1997 till: 11/16/2001 color: 64bit text: " N64 " bar: Nintendo1 from: 8/12/2006 till: 12/31/2007 color: projection text: " Wii " bar: Nintendo2 from: 1/4/1992 till: 1/1/1999 color: 16bit text: " Super BORN " bar: Nintendo2 from: 3/5/2002 till: 1/5/2005 color: 6thgen text: " GameCube " shift: (- 20,0) bar: Nintendo2 from: 1/5/2005 till: 12/31/2006 color: projection text: " (proj.) " bar: SEGA2 from: 11/30/1990 till: 12/31/1995 color: 16bit text: " MegaDrive " ScaleMajor = gridcolor: line links: year increment: 4 start: 1/1/1976 ScaleMinor = gridcolor: liteline links: year increment: 2 start: 1/1/1978

In North America

PlotData= width: 23 textcolor: black align: center bar: Atari from: 1/1/1977 till: 1/1/1990 color: 2ndgen text: " Atari 2600 " bar: Atari from: 1/1/1993 till: 06/30/1996 color: 64bit text: " Jaguar " bar: Atari2 from: 1/1/1982 till: 1/1/1984 color: 2ndgen text: " Atari 5200 " bar: Atari2 from: 1/1/1986 till: 1/1/1992 color: 8bit text: " Atari 7800 " bar: Nintendo1 from: 1/1/1985 till: 1/1/1995 color: 8bit text: " BORN " bar: Nintendo2 from: 1/8/1982 till: 1/3/1984 color: 8bit text: " Colecovision " bar: Nintendo2 from: 1/8/1991 till: 1/1/1999 color: 16bit text: " Super BORN " bar: NEC1 from: 1/1/1978 till: 1/1/1984 color: 2ndgen text: " Magnavox Odyssey 2 " bar: NEC1 from: 1/8/1989 till: 1/8/1992 color: 16bit text: " TurboGrafx-16 " bar: NEC2 from: 1/1/1980 till: 1/1/1984 color: 2ndgen text: " Intellivision " bar: NEC2 from: 10/10/1992 till: 1/1/1995 color: 16bit text: " TurboDuo " bar: Nintendo1 from: 09/29/1996 till: 1/8/2001 color: 64bit text: " N64 " bar: Nintendo2 from: 10/18/2001 till: 1/5/2006 color: 6thgen text: " GameCube " shift: (- 20,0) bar: Nintendo2 from: 1/5/2005 till: 12/31/2006 color: projection text: " (proj.) " bar: Nintendo1 from: 11/19/2006 till: 12/31/2007 color: projection text: " Wii " bar: SEGA1 from: 1/1/1986 till: 1/1/1992 color: 8bit text: " Master System " bar: SEGA2 from: 9/1/1989 till: 12/31/1995 color: 16bit text: " Genesis " bar: SEGA1 from: 1/5/1995 till: 1/3/1998 color: 32bit text: " Saturn " bar: SEGA2 from: 9/9/1999 till: 1/1/2001 color: 6thgen text: " Dreamcast " bar: Sony1 from: 9/9/1995 till: 1/1/2001 color: 32bit text: " PlayStation " bar: Sony2 from: 10/26/2000 till: 1/1/2006 color: 6thgen text: " PS2 " bar: Sony2 from: 1/1/2006 till: 1/7/2007 color: projection text: " (proj.) " bar: Sony3 from: 11/17/2006 till: 12/31/2007 color: projection text: " PS3 " bar: Ms from: 11/15/2001 till: 1/1/2006 color: 6thgen text: " Xbox " bar: Ms from: 1/1/2005 till: 1/3/2006 color: projection text: " (proj.) " bar: MS2 from: 11/22/2005 till: 12/31/2007 color: projection text: " Xbox 360 " ScaleMajor = gridcolor: line links: year increment: 4 start: 1/1/1976 ScaleMinor = gridcolor: liteline links: year increment: 2 start: 1/1/1978

In Japan

PlotData= width: 23 textcolor: black align: center bar: Nintendo1 from: 07/15/1983 till: 1/1/2003 color: 8bit text: " Famicom (BORN) " bar: Nintendo2 from: 11/21/1990 till: 1/9/2003 color: 16bit text: " Super Famicom (Super BORN) " bar: NEC1 from: 10/30/1987 till: 1/1/1999 color: 16bit text: " PC Engine (TurboGrafx-16) " bar: NEC2 from: 1/1/1994 till: 1/1/1998 color: 16bit text: " PC FX " bar: Nintendo3 from: 1/7/1983 till: 1/1/1985 color: 2ndgen text: " SG-1000 " bar: Nintendo3 from: 06/23/1996 till: 1/1/2002 color: 64bit text: " N64 " bar: Nintendo4 from: 09/14/2001 till: 1/5/2005 color: 6thgen text: " GameCube " shift: (- 20,0) bar: Nintendo4 from: 1/5/2005 till: 12/31/2006 color: projection text: " (proj.) " bar: Nintendo1 from: 2/12/2006 till: 12/31/2007 color: projection text: " Wii " bar: SEGA1 from: 10/20/1985 till: 4/2/1989 color: 8bit text: " SG-1000_Mark_III (Master System) " bar: SEGA2 from: 10/29/1988 till: 12/31/1995 color: 16bit text: " Mega Drive (Genesis) " bar: SEGA1 from: 11/22/1994 till: 1/1/1999 color: 32bit text: " Saturn " bar: SEGA2 from: 11/27/1998 till: 02/24/2004 color: 6thgen text: " Dreamcast " bar: Sony1 from: 3/12/1994 till: 1/1/2002 color: 32bit text: " PlayStation " bar: Sony2 from: 4/3/2000 till: 5/1/2005 color: 6thgen text: " PS2 " bar: Sony2 from: 5/1/2005 till: 12/31/2006 color: projection text: " (proj.) " bar: Sony3 from: 11/11/2006 till: 12/31/2007 color: projection text: " PS3 " bar: Ms from: 02/22/2002 till: 5/1/2005 color: 6thgen text: " Xbox " bar: Ms from: 5/1/2005 till: 12/31/2006 color: projection text: " (proj.) " bar: MS2 from: 10/12/2005 till: 12/31/2007 color: projection text: " Xbox 360 " ScaleMajor = gridcolor: line links: year increment: 4 start: 1/1/1976 ScaleMinor = gridcolor: liteline links: year increment: 2 start: 1/1/1978

Introductory price

Opposite the classification of the video game consoles by introductory price for the initial versions. Price in dollars, inflation not taken into account.

Concerning the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 the prices of the two versions left to launching are indicated. For the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360, there exist two versions (20Go and 60Go) everywhere in the world.

Contrary to an impression of the players, the general price of the game consoles significantly did not increase during the last decade. A comparison of the price of the consoles, fascinating of account monetary inflation, shows that the most expensive console (with launching) was the Neo-Geo (in 1990) followed 3DO (in 1993) then of the Intellivision (in 1979).

Fallen through projects

In 1996, Apple left the console Pippin. In advance over its time, it could be manufactured by various manufacturers, just like the 3DO, but used various elements of a computer: CD-ROM, ports allowing to connect joysticks indifferently, keyboards, operating system Mac OS reduced, and the processor PowerPC 603 given rhythm to 66 MHz. It accepted the software written in Java, but it was sold only a few tens of thousands of them.
the projects of consoles Konix Multisystem and VR of SEGA never succeeded.
Phantom of Infinium Labs: based on an architecture PC, it should propose mainly plays online. This project is regarded as a Vaporware.

Random links: