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first computer game
tennis for two was created by a scientist called William Higinbotham on oscilloscope and analog computer. -
first generation of game consoles
The first ever games console was the Magnavox Odyssey in autumn of 1975 was canceled as pong became more popular.
Next came the Odyssey 100.
Next came the Odyssey 200. -
the first home video game console
The Magnavox Odyssey is the first home video game console, predating the Atari PONG home consoles by three years. The Odyssey was designed by Ralph Baer, who had a working prototype finished by 1968. This prototype is affectionately known as the "Brown Box" to classic video game hobbyists. Unlike most video game consoles, the Odyssey is analog rather than digital, which makes its invention all the more amazing in spite of its rather crude graphics and controller responsiveness. -
Second generation of games consoles 1
Fairchild released the Fairchild Video Entertainment System (VES) in 1976.
Video game crash of 1977In 1977, manufacturers of older, obsolete consoles sold their systems at a loss to clear stock, creating a glut in the market and causing Fairchild and RCA to abandon their game consoles. Only Atari and Magnavox stayed in the home console market. -
second generation of games consoles 2
Rebirth of the home console marketThe VES continued to be sold at a profit after the 1977 crash, and both Bally (with their Home Library Computer in 1977) and Magnavox (with the Odyssey 2 in 1978) brought their own programmable cartridge-based consoles to the market. -
First video game crash
said to have caused great losses to the game industry. -
the first handheld console
In 1979. Milton Bradley Company released the first interchangelable catridge-based handheld system, Microvision. While the handheld recived modest success in the first year of production, the lack of games, screen size and video game crash of 1983 brought about the system's quick demise. -
the second but more popular handheld console
In 1980, Nintendo released its Game & Watch line, handheld electronic game which spurred dozens of other game and toy companies to make their own portable games, many of which were copies of Game & Watch titles or adaptations of popular arcade games. -
second Video game crash
At the end of 1983, the industry experienced losses more severe than the 1977 crash. This was the "crash" of the video game industry, as well as the bankruptcy of several companies that produced North American home computers and video game consoles from late 1983 to early 1984. It brought an end to what is considered to be the second generation of console video gaming. -
Third generation consoles 1
In 1985, the North American video game console market was revived with Nintendo’s release of its 8-bit console, the Famicom, known outside Asia as Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It was bundled with Super Mario Bros. and instantly became a success. The NES dominated the North American and the Japanese market until the rise of the next generation of consoles in the early 1990s. -
Third generation consoles 2
Other markets were not as heavily dominated, allowing other consoles to find an audience like the Sega Master System in Europe, Australia and Brazil (though it was sold in North America as well). In the new consoles, the gamepad took over joysticks, paddles, and keypads as the default game controller included with the system. The gamepad design of an 8 direction Directional-pad (or D-pad for short) with 2 or more action buttons became the standard. -
mondern day gaming 1
The 1990s were a decade of marked innovation in video gaming. It was a decade of transition from pixels to full fledged 3D graphics and gave rise to several genres of video games including the first-person shooter, the real-time strategy, and the MMO. Handheld gaming began to become more popular throughout the decade, thanks in part to the release of the Game Boy. Arcade games, although still relatively popular in the early 1990s, begin a decline as home consoles become more common. -
modern day gaming 2
The video game industry matured into a mainstream form of entertainment in the 1990s. Major developments of the 1990s included the beginning of a larger consolidation of publishers, higher budget games, increased size of production teams and collaborations with both the music and motion picture industries. -
modern day gaming 3
In 1991, Sonic the Hedgehog was introduced. The game gave Sega's Mega Drive console mainstream popularity, and rivaled Nintendo's Mario franchise. Its namesake character became the mascot of Sega and one of the most recognizable video game characters. -
modern day gaming 4
In 1992 the game Dune II was released. It was by no means the first in the genre but it set the standard game mechanics for later blockbuster RTS games such as Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, Command & Conquer, and StarCraft. The RTS is characterized by an overhead view, a "mini-map", and the control of both the economic and military aspects of an army. -
first affordable 3D accelerator cards
In 1996, 3dfx Interactive released the Voodoo chipset, leading to the first affordable 3D accelerator cards for personal computers. -
Nintendo 64
The Nintendo 64, commonly called the N64, is Nintendo's third home video game console.It was released with only two launch games in Japan and North America (Super Mario 64 and PilotWings 64) while Europe had a third launch title in the form of Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (which was released earlier in the other markets). although it's first release was in japan on the 23rd June 1996 it didn't arrive in europe until almost a year later. -
Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) Model 2
By 1996, the 16-bit era of gaming had ended causing the popularity of the SNES to wane. In recent years, many SNES titles have been ported to the hand held Game Boy Advance and nintendo ds, which have similar video capabilities. Some video game critics consider the SNES era "the golden age of video games," citing the many ground breaking games and classics made for the system, whereas others question this romanticism. See video game player for more. -
the first console to include a built in modem and Internet support for online gaming
The Dreamcast was the first console to include a built-in modem and Internet support for online gaming. It enjoyed brisk sales in its first season and was one of Sega's most successful hardware units. In the United States alone, a record 200,000 units had been pre-ordered before launch and Sega sold 500,000 consoles in just two weeks (including 225,000 sold on the first 24 hours which became a video game record until the PlayStation 2 launched a year later). -
Microsoft's first independent venture into the video game console arena
The Microsoft Xbox is a sixth generation era video game console first released on November 15, 2001 in North America, then released on February 22, 2002 in Japan, and later on March 14, 2002 in Europe. The Xbox was Microsoft's first independent venture into the video game console arena, after having developed the operating system and development tools for the MSX, and having collaborated with Sega in porting Windows CE to the Sega Dreamcast console. -
the first major popular online gaming
In November 2002 Microsoft released the Xbox Live online gaming service, allowing players to play on-line Xbox games with (or against) other players all around the world and download new content for their games to the hard drive. This online service works exclusively with broadband. 250,000 subscriberhad signed on in 2 months since Live was launched. In July 2004, Microsoft announced that Xbox Live reached 1 million subscribers, and announced in July 2005 that Live had reached 2 million. -
next gen consoles
X-box 360 release date: November 22nd 2005
PlayStation 3 release date: November 11th 2006
Nintendo Wii release date: November 19th 2006 -
the ongoing war between the next gen consoles
PS3 Slim Lime release date: September 1 (or 3 depending on country)
X-box 560 release date: 2010