-
First game ever
Technically called tennis originally, this rough little game would become Pong. It is widely considered the first game ever made. This was the first time people could actually play virtually. -
Bring it home, baby
Despite popular belief, Atari wasn't the first home console. It was actually a much worse and basic little guy called Magnavox Odyssey. It was the first taste of a uniform control scheme and playing at home. -
The Iconic Controller
Odyssey may have been first, but it was far from perfect. The Atari 2600 rolled in with something the Odyssey was sorely missing: a good controller. for the time, the Atari controller was so great and simple, it was used well past the point it could really play some games, but still tried anyway. -
The Crash
E.T., the beloved film, got it's own game! Could go wrong? Well, basically, the entire video game industry just slumped over and died -
Nintendo saves us
After E.T. failed and collapsed the entire gaming industry, hope was low that it would ever recover, doomed to be a passing fad. Then Nintendo came along and said, "Mario". and just like that, the gaming industry, practically over night. -
Real competion
Nintendo was riding high with tons of iconic games under their belt and the most popular system and mascot. However, in 1989 Sega unleashed the first real competitor to the NES with the Sega genesis. it took aim squarely at Nintendo, called the NES old news, and even had a mascot of their own in Sonic. They even had the violent ports of games because it could do what Nintendon't, which was apparently getting sued in the next event. -
The Fuzz
After the terrors of Nighttrap and Mortal Kombat came to a head in the actual supreme court,(yes, that Supreme Court) the jury decided to let games express themselves freely... under the ESRB. These guys would now rate every game that came out, list why it has it's rating, and ship it out. And just in time as gaming was about to get a lot more "Realistic". -
CD baby
Get a few months after the ESRB was established, Sony hit the scene somewhat randomly with 3D console, which may not have been ground breaking, but had a pretty amazing technology with them: CDs. With this new tech, the PS1 could hold about 1/4583 of Red Dead 2. at the time, 32mb was almost unheard of. And it was no slouch with exclusives either, even tossing out Crash Bandicoot to be the mascot against Mario which, well, didn't work -
Mr. Worldwide
Microsoft joined the console race in November 15th of 2001 with a decent splash with Halo Combat Evolved. However, that's not nearly as import as what they'd introduce a year later. Xbox Live is basically the framework for online multiplayer for consoles now, for better or worse. for $60 a year, Microsoft wouldn't do anything except give you permission to go online, a practice they continue now. Still, it was the biggest revolution for online console play by far. -
Uh Oh
Sony and Microsoft were finally getting a huge chunk of the market Nintendo used to own practically. the GameCube, for as fun as it was, didn't stack up in sales, especially to the PS2 which is current the most sold console ever. Nintendo did good with the DS, with if they wanted print money, well... introduce the Motion control menace. Nintendo said, "Wii will win" and boom, overnight, everyone needed a Wii. After all, real tennis? Nah. Wii sports Tennis. now we're talking
