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Influential Person: Nolan Bushnell
Nolan Bushnell is a influential person in the gaming industry and is most famous for being the co-founder of Atari one of the oldest game companies who is famous for the invention of Pong one of the earliest video game successes, It is due to his company that gaming was able to take off with the development of consoles like the Atari 2600 which introduced gaming to households across the world. -
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First Console Generation
Ralph Baer first thought of the idea of a "intractable television" which would later become the video game, First Video game to exist outside of a singular location is believed to be Spacewar as it was copied onto several other computers across American academic institutions, This generation's consoles had no microprocessors instead being based on custom code less state machine computers using discrete logic circuits, -
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Second Console Generation
This generation is defined by the inclusion of game cartridges that housed entire games without the need for screen overlays or accessories while also seeing the introduction of microprocessors, -
Influential Person: Shigeru Miyamoto
Shigeru Miyamoto is one of the most influential figures in the video game industry who was a important person in the devolopment of Nintendo's most famous series those being Mario and The Legend of Zelda, his work on The Legend of Zelda is some of the most important in the terms of open world games as the first title in the Zelda series is extremely open so much so that you can beat the game in any order of the dungeons, His work on other Nintendo titles cemented them in the gaming industry. -
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Third Console Generation
Started with the release of the Nintendo Famicom and the Sega SG-1000, Is sometimes referred to as the 8-bit era, Introduced RPGS to gaming consoles, This era is famous for its classic games. -
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Fourth Console Generation
This generation is sometimes referred to as the 16 bit generation, Started with the release of TurboGrafx-1, saw the launch of the first optical disc systems such as the Philips CD-1 -
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Fifth Console Generation
This generation is referred to as the 3D era, It saw the introduction of 3D games to the market, This era also introduced handheld devices to a wider market with them being available from the main players of the time. -
Super Mario 64 release
This is one of the most influential "modern" games of all time as it was the first third person Mario game and one of the first high selling games to be full 3D in the platforming scene, Its one of the most important games ever released due to it kick-starting the whole of the 3D game market scene as its release led to a plethora of 3D platformers which would go on to be a genre main stay and its influence is still seen today in most modern Nintendo releases. -
Influential Person: Gabe Newell
Gabe Newell is one of the most influential people in the gaming industry, the company he co-founded Valve Software which is a company that has released many influential games such as the Portal and Half-life series, Gabe Newell is known for seeking out innovation in gaming and believes in experimenting to see what works, this can partially be seen in the layout of Valve as a flat company where a employee can work on any project currently in the making leading to massive innovation in gaming. -
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Sixth Console Generation
This era is sometimes referred to as the 128-bit era, This generation saw full use out of the internet and allowed for fully online game experiences, This generation saw the balance of power change as long standing companies dropped out of the console market and saw the introduction and cementing of new companies. -
Half Life 1 release
This game is my personal favorite of the ones listed and is extremely influential and it was the first instant of a extremely popular FPS game that had a unbroken or interrupted story, although it was a PC release it would influence all later FPS games that have single players and pave the way for games such as Halo and Call of Duty which are now household names in the gaming scene especially on console. -
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Seventh Console Generation
This era of consoles is the one that set up the current competitors in the market completely as they all launched some of their most recognizable systems, -
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Eighth Console Generation
This era of consoles is very interesting as most of the marketing for them was from the games they included instead of the hardware they possess, It is also a unique generation as it is the first to properly introduce VR to the gaming scene causing a huge spike in consumer interest in the potential of this new style of gaming -
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Ninth Console Generation
This era has not yet started but is in the not so distant future and will most likely include massive innovations in the VR industry causing pricing to be more affordable to the average consumer, a continuation of the main 3 companies those being Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo staying at the helm of the market, and "return to form" for many standard gaming releases as they attempt to either remake or capture what made the older games of their respective series so enjoyable. -
Half-Life Alyx release
This game while not even a year old is still one of the most influential games of all time as it has begun to pave the way for proper AAA VR games which is a industry that has really gotten on its feet this generation and I believe will be a pivotal part of the ninth console generation as more developers will hopefully release their own in house VR systems such as the PSVR. This was the title that for many people made VR gaming no longer just a cool gimmick but instead a proper gaming format.
