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1970s
In the 1970's a small company named atari released the Atari 2600 to consumers and revolutionized the industry with video games. At the time it was a gamble because the average consumer didn't really know what a video game or what a console was. The competitors were starting to catch on and made their own games, like with Activision which was formed by a small team of former atari employes and did things with the games not even atari could think of. -
1980s
The final straw was when E.T was released in 1982 which was the final straw and caused the video game industry crash of 1983. Which was caused by atari making so many copies of E.T and consumers returning the copies they already had and no one really being able to see what the game was going to be like and if it was good or not when they were purchasing them. Atari decided to bury the copies they had in New Mexico. In 1983 Nintendo released their first video game console in Japan. -
rebirth
Two years later, in 1985, they were thinking if they should release it in America, they decided to do it but they disguised it as a toy. Along with the console you could buy R.O.B or robotic operating buddy and a zapper which used the light to help the console know where the gun was.Bundled with the Nintendo entertainment system you got mario bros. This revived the dead industry in america. -
the graphics race
The 1990's really was a revolutionary time for the industry. Sega started the famous sega and nintendo competition, with sega releasing their sega genesis. So nintendo released their SNES to compete with them.Around this time Sega started their famous ad campaign " sega does what nintendon't" to try and push their blast processing and the graphical capabilities of the console. -
controversy
Mortal kombat at that time was one of the most gruesome games and when it got ported to home. it started a huge controversy and eventually turned into a lawsuit. From the lawsuit, the Entertainment Software Ratings Board was founded to help consumers know if the game is suitable for their little jimmy. -
testing the water
Also during this generation companies were starting to test the waters for 3-D games like with starfox with nintendo's super fx chip.Sega released the sega cd in 1992 which showed that cds were more efficient for holding more data than cartridges.Behind the scenes Nintendo was planning a cd add on for the SNES and was collaborating with sony to make it. -
3D
The late 90's is when things are starting to become what they are today.Nintendo and Sega were starting to release their 3-D consoles. Nintendo with their Nintendo 64 and Sega with their Sega saturn.With the nintendo 64 you could buy Mario 64 and pilot wings 64.Mario 64 went on to revolutionize the industry and invented the 3-D platformer.While this was happening sony was starting to think about their first console -
new comer
Sony made the first PlayStation. this was done using the knowledge they had gained from working with Nintendo earlier in the decade.The PlayStation had a genius anti-cheat system.The CDs were given a wobble which stored the data. Pirating a game using a cd burner wouldn't add a wobble so the console could tell if it was authentic or not. -
polish and revision
they did start to polish 3-D games and the graphics were starting to get more life-like. Nintendo released the GameCube which would be the third best-selling console in that generation. This generation was when Microsoft released their first console, the Xbox. The Xbox would be the second selling console of the generation. The PlayStation two was the highest selling console of all time, because sony had the console be able to play cd movies. -
mistakes
Sony announced that the PS3 would launch with a price of $500 which for many people was a very hard pill to swallow. With Microsoft, they released the Xbox 360 a year earlier to get ahead but the console had a high failure rate which caused the famous red ring of death which indicated a general error. They extended the warranty by a couple of years and they spent $1 billion dollars to fix the problem. Nintendo was experimenting with motion controls and the Wii was born. -
8th gen consoles
Microsoft was showing off the Xbox one and messed up by saying that the Kinect was mandatory, it needed a constant connection to the internet, and you can't use pre-owned games. Sony called them out on it while they were revealing the PS4. Nintendo was showing off the Wii u which would sell terribly. Nintendo got to work on a new project to release in the same generation that would be code-named the NX. Nintendo revealed the NX which is now known as the switch -
new ideas
Sony and Microsoft made a mid-generation upgrade with the PS4 Pro and the Xbox one x. They also made cheaper versions with the PS4 slim and Xbox one s.This generation saw the start of VR for pcs. Then Sony released the Playstation VR which was the first use of virtual reality for consoles and made gamers more immersed in their games.