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Origins
The <i>Cathode-Ray Tube Amusement Device</i> was created in the US by two men named Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr and Estle Ray Mann on the 25th of January 1947. Games were writin and developed for the divice using early computers such as NPL Pilot ACE and the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC). (The image to the left is that of a game titled "Tennis for Two", one of the early games developed by an oscilloscope and analog computer in 1958) -
DEP PDP-1
In 1961, a group of students at MIT, including Steve Russell, programmed a game titled Spacewar! on the DEC PDP-1. The game involved two players, each controlling a spacecraft capable of firing missiles, which had to shoot each other while a star in the center of the screen created a large hazard for the crafts. The game was eventually distributed with new DEC computers and traded throughout the then-primitive Internet. Spacewar! is credited as the first influential computer game. -
The Golden Age of Video Arcade Games
It was during the early 1970s that mainframe games blossomed. Two notable distribution paths for early game designers were that of either the PLATO system or the DECUS system
A number of noteworthy games were also written for Hewlett-Packard minicomputers such as the HP2000. The first coin-operated video game, <i>Galaxy Game</i> was installed at a student union at Stanford University in September 1971. Only one was built, using a DEC PDP-11 and vector display terminals. -
Magnavox Odyssey
Created by Ralph Baer in1968, the Magnavox Odyssey is the first home video game console. Unlike most video game consoles, the Odyssey is analogue rather than digital. The console was powered by batteries and also lacked sound capability. Released in May 1972, it failed somewhat due poor marketing which mislead consumers into believing that it would work only on Magnavox televisions. Magnavox then went on to release 5 more versions of the system which were named Magnavox Odyssey 100-500 -
Atari PONG
Design documents were drawn up in 1973 by an Atari engineer called Harold Lee and the console was then released to the public in 1975.
The concept was taken from the coin opperated version of PONG developed by Alan Alcorn and is nothing more than a scaled down and slightly modified version for home use. Later Atari would continue to cash in of the PONG franchise by releasing yet another home version of one of its arcade game assets called Super PONG. 150,000 units were sold. -
Second Gen consoles (1976–1983)
By this time video games were found on cartridges, starting in 1976 with the release of the Fairchild 'Video Entertainment System (VES). Three machines dominated the second generation of consoles in North America. The Video Computer System, Intellivision and ColecoVision. -
Handheld LCD games
Microvision was the first interchangeable cartridge-based handheld system, created by the Milton Bradley Company. The console died off rather quickly due to the lack of games, screen size and the infamous <i>video game crash of 1983.</i>
In 1980, Nintendo released the Game & Watch line, a handheld electronic game which spurred dozens of other companies to make their own.
Improving LCD technology meant the new handhelds could be more reliable and consume fewer batteries. Tiger Electronics still -
Early Online Gaming
In the 1980s some Dial-up bulletin board systems offered access to various games which were playable through a user interface, ranging from text adventures to gambling games like blackjack
The first user interfaces were plain-text. Later, platform-specific graphical services were available to the Commodore 64, AppleLink for the Apple II and Macintosh, and PC Link for the IBM PC—all of which were run by the company which eventually became America Online -
Video game crash of 1983
The end of 1983 was considered the "crash" of the video game industry, as well as the bankruptcy of several console and game producing companies It brought an end to the 2nd Gen of console video gaming.
The crash was caused by the production of poorly designed games such as E.T. and Pac-Man which suffered due to short deadlines. More Pac-Man cartridges were manufactured than there were systems sold and so many E.T. cartridges were unsold that Atari buried thousands in a landfill in New Mexico. -
Gaming Computers
At this point computers offered equal gaming ability and since their simple design allowed games to take complete command of the hardware after power-on, they were nearly as simple to start playing with as consoles. The Commodore 64 was released in August 1982 which had advanced graphic and sound capabilities for that time. Other systems such as the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, the IBM PC, The Apple Macintosh, the Atari ST and the Commodore Amiga also put more pressure on home gaming consoles. -
Third generation consoles (1983–1995)
In 1985, the North American video game console market was revived with Nintendo’s release of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The NES practically was the 3rd Gen of game consoles. The 8-bit console dominated the North American and the Japanese market as its gamepad, took over joysticks, paddles, and keypads as the default game controller.
This generation ended with the discontinuation of the NES in 1995. -
Fourth generation consoles (1989–1999)
The 4th gen saw rise to the TurboGrafx-16 and the Sega Mega Drive in 1989, and the Super NES in 1991. Intense competition led to a period of not entirely truthful marketing. The TurboGrafx-16 claimed to be the first 16-bit system but its CPU was 8-bit and only its graphics processor was truly 16-bit. CD-ROM drives and 3D graphics entered the mainstream with flat-shaded polygons enabled by additional processors in cartridges. This generation ended with the SNES's discontinuation in 1999. -
1990's
The 1990s were a decade of marked innovation in video gaming. The increasing computing power and decreasing cost of processors caused transition of raster graphics to 3D graphics Handheld gaming began to become more popular with the release of the Game Boy and home consoles became more common than arcade games. In 1991 Sega's Mega Drive console gained mainstream popularity with the release of Sonic. In 1996 the Voodoo chipset was released leading to the 1st affordable 3D accelerator PC cards. -
Fifth generation consoles (1993–2001) (32 and 64-bit)
In 1994 the Playstation was released in Japan and outsold all its competitors and with the release of games such as Final Fantasy VII it became the defining console of the genre. With only the NES to compete, Nintendo released the Nintendo 64, a 64-bit console. However, Nintendo continued to use cartridges rather than CD-ROMs. This proved to have negative consequences resulting in a loss of game companies This generation ended with the PlayStations discontinuation in March 2006. -
Sixth generation consoles (1998-2004)
The 6th gen opened with the launch of the Dreamcast in 1998, the first console to allow online play. The 2nd release of the generation was Sony's Playstation 2, the best selling console at the time. Nintendo followed a year later with the GameCube, their first disc-based console which suffered from a lack of third-party games and earned a reputation as a "kid's console" and lacked the mature games the market demanded. -
Mobile phone gaming
Mobile phones became gaming consoles when Nokia installed Snake in its phones released in 1998. Soon every major phone brand had to offer "time killer games" that could be played on the move. Major limiting factor of early mobile phones were the size of the screens as well as the fact they were monochrome. Mobile phones also had very limited amount of memory and processing power and games would tend to drain the phone’s battery quite quickly. -
Sixth Generation Continued.
In 2001, Microsoft, known for its Windows operating system entered the console market with the Xbox. Microsoft reportedly sold the Xbox at a significant loss and concentrated on drawing profit from game development and publishing.
The Xbox also featured "Xbox Live" which was a driving force for games such as halo and took online gaming to a new level. Nintendo was pushed into 3rd place but was still on top of handheld gaming. -
Seventh generation consoles (2004)
The Nintendo DS and the PSP opened the 7th gen. The PSP had superior graphics and power which allowed it to snatch veteran gamers where as Nintendo gambled on a lower-power design but featured two screens, one which is touch sensitive and the first of its kind, which proved popular with younger gamers. <i>Apple</i> made its first appearance with relation to gaming hardware with the release of the IPhone and IPod touch, allowing gamers to purchase and download their games online. -
Seventh Gen continued (2005)
Microsoft released the Xbox 360 in 2005, and Sony followed in 06 with the PlayStation 3. Setting the standard for the generation, both featured HD graphics, large storage space and online game play, although they were both more expensive than past consoles selling for around $300 and $500 respectively. Nintendo released the Wii shortly after which had lower technical spec than both the 360 and the PS3 but the demand was so high that it was sold out for 18 months because of its motion controller -
Eighth Generation consoles
Due to the massive costs there lack of desire to create new consoles that are graphically superior to the present day consoles. The future of gaming looks towards motion based gameplay keeping in pattern with the Wii with such inventions as Microsoft's Kinect and Sony's PS Move as well as 3 dimentional gaming without the need for glasses.
The Eighth Gen has yet to be defined by any console but speculations of the above make it worth waiting for.
