History of the video game consoles (fifth generation)

The Histoire of the video game consoles of fifth generation represents the era of consoles 32 and 64 Bit S. the market is dominated by three consoles, the PlayStation, the Saturn and the Nintendo 64. It is PlayStation which has the most success. The 3DO and the Jaguar also form part of this era but them Marketing is weak and they do not hold the attention. Two new versions of Game Boy appear, the Game Boy Color and the Game Boy Light (the latter leaves only to Japan).

The classification of the consoles by the number of Bit S read by their Processeur is put aside little by little. This number of bits was used by the manufacturers like a demonstration of power; however the performance profits are weak between systems 32 and 64 bits - the performances depend more other factors, such as the speed of the processor, the Band-width and Random access memory cuts it.

The fifth generation of consoles sees the appearance of the emulation. One of the very first projects of translation by fans is Final Fantasy V which leaves at that time. This illegal translation is regarded as one of the catalysts which launches the popularity of the play to the United States of America. Thanks to it, or because of it, of ROMs of BORN and Super BORN circulates on Internet, they are even easier to find a few years later.

The transition to the 3D

This era is dissociated by the appearance of plays completely in 3D. Whereas certain plays had already used environments in 3D, they henceforth replace almost all the traditional plays in 2D. The launching of PlayStation, with Tomb Raider and Ridge Racer is perhaps the best example; the marketing of Sony the watch like one of the first consoles for plays entirely in 3D. It draws the attention of the industry of the video game and causes the renunciation of the plays with scrolling .

Criticisms of certain players

With the growing popularity of the plays in 3D, industry sees the birth of a new term, the play " new school " (" new school "). Largely pejorative with use, this term indicates what the old players perceive like a lack of quality on the level of the Gameplay of the new handsets. They protest that these plays are concentrated on graphics than on the way of playing and other less obvious qualities. Many players criticize and start to be called themselves of the " old school gamers " (" players of the old school "). They call this era the industrial revolution and declare categorically that plays SNES are more amusing, more interesting. The fundamental changes are on the level of the gameplay , in particular around realistic animations (what already had been made with Prince off Persia but really emerges with plays like Tomb Raider and Tekken ), instead of fast animations, in 2D of style Cartoon of the typical plays like Super Mario World and Sonic the Hedgehog . Another change fondemental is the almost general adoption of the technology of the Cédérom which allows more developed scenarios. The critics protest that the improvement of the scenarios obliges the developers to spend less time on the gameplay .

Disappointments

This generation of consoles continues the war between consoles of the principal manufacturers. This phenomenon rises owing to the fact that the customers buy consoles according to technologies used. They speculate in the quality of the plays according to the console. Since the development of the plays is increasingly long, and as the customers are interested in it, the speculation ignites on the forces and weaknesses of the machines. Several events mislead the players, which causes controversies and bitterness.

In spite of an important support on behalf of the third parties, and an enormous publicity campaign, the price of the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer (700$) prevents it from being success near the players who prefer the more accessible contemporary consoles.

The customers having bought the 32X and the Mega-CD very badly take the exit of the Saturn hardly a year later. They are obliged to buy the new console because of the quasi-immediate stop of the development of the plays on the old systems. This fiasco largely sullies the reputation with Sega.

The Jaguar leaves in 1993, with one surprising good departure, but the number of the plays of quality is weak, only Tempest 2000 , Wolfenstein 3D , Doom , Rayman and Alien vs. Predator is pointed out. The question of knowing if the system were one 64 bit is very discussed.

The Nintendo 64 leaves with two bearings sets of arcades, Killer Instinct and Cruis' N the USA , announcing that they use the capacities of the console. Some time before, a publicity famous for the Super version BORN from Killer Instinct watch a player to open a Terminal of arcade with a slicer, to take a console inside. People think that this console with graphics sublimes is Nintendo 64 and abstain from buying the others like the 3DO, Saturn or PlayStation. However, the play proves to be completely different at the time of its exit on Nintendo 64, considerably disappointing those which had believed in the images of publicity.

The videoludic media constantly compare technical specificities of the consoles by using doubtful statistics. The manufacturers of consoles publish theoretical figures on the maximum number of Polygone S displayable, without taking into account various parameters in truths plays, like the Artificial intelligence, the lighting, and the texture S.

Since the Crash of the video game of 1983, it is this time which knows the most concurrent consoles. Finally, Atari stops the development of consoles and in 2003 the video game editor Infogrames re-elects Atari a few years after having acquired the rights of use of the name of the mark. Sega loses the confidence of some of its customers, his decline starts.

The cédérom against the cartridge

In spite of the generalization of the plays on Cédérom S, Nintendo makes the decision to base Nintendo 64 on cartridges like its predecessors. The official argument is the time of loading, which is theoretically shorter with a cartridge. That also has a beneficial financial effect for Nintendo which makes pay the launching of the plays of the third developers more expensive, since the cartridges cost more expensive than the cédéroms. However, almost all the other consoles start to use the cédérom, and of many developers start much less expensive to prefer PlayStation thanks to the cost of launching of the plays. That launches a new conflict between the players to decide which support is the best. This conflict is fed by the declarations of the companies themselves; a publicity of Nintendo presents a space shuttle representing a cartridge, and a snake representing a cédérom, the question is posed textually: " Choose the meilleur".

This debate causes a harmful climate at the time of the exit of Final Fantasy VII . The six predecessors of the series left on consoles Nintendo, but Square Co. (the developer) decides to carry this episode on PlayStation. In answer, the president of the marketing of Nintendo states that Nintendo does not need Public garden, because its plays are tedious, obsolete, slow and the players do not want any more. This incident shows a rupture with the system of the cartridges, largely mediatized, which caused a very negative publicity for Nintendo.

A few established series

Noticed plays

Super Mario 64 is the first play left on Nintendo 64. It contributes to prove that analogical controllers are almost essential for the plays in 3D, contrary to the D-pad.
The Legend off Zelda: Ocarina off Time is one of the most acclaimed plays of all times. It transfers all the mechanisms from the precedents Zelda 2D, in an environment completely in 3D. Two sights are available, the Vision cinema and the subjective Vision. Additional searches appear, such as the fishing and the horse-race. It is also the first play to have obtained the note of 40/40 by the famous Japanese magazine Famitsu .
GoldenEye 007 (on Nintendo 64) popularizes the subjective plays of shooting on consoles. It combines furtivity and massacre with animations and movements pioneers. Its mode Multijoueur is very appreciated.
Pokémon is the play of Nintendo which is sold best. It creates a phenomenon of cultural mode among the children who buy an enormous amount of accessories like charts, toys, etc

Doom is an enormous success. Inventing a new kind: the Play of subjective shooting.
Final Fantasy VII (PlayStation) is the first play of the series to use kinematics, it opens the US market with the Japanese roleplays. It shows the convergence of films and the interactive media, and puts the high bar for its competitors.
Gran Turismo breaks the tradition of the plays of race of style arcade, by offering a realistic simulation with physical models and a plétore of famous vehicles. It is the play more sold on PlayStation.
Tomb Raider puts in adventurous scene sexy style of Indiana Jones which will become famous thereafter, Lara Croft.
Metal GEAR Solid leaves to the end of the year 1998. It receives acclamations for its scenario, its dialogs spoken, like its kinematics and becomes a best-seller.
Dragon Quest VII is the play which is sold best on PlayStation in Japan.

Certains players only buys Saturn to play Nights into Dreams developed by the team of Sonic. Its gameplay innovates completely, it requires even a special joystick.
Panzer Dragoon Saga is a roleplay worship of Saturn. Left in the lapse of memory at the end of 1998, it is a few years later, the most required play on Saturn with a coast of almost 150 euros.

Comparisons

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