-
The Brown Box
The Brown Box was the first video game console. The Brown Box was debuted as a bulky brown wooden box with two attached controllers. The game console was invented by Ralph H. Baer, he was also known as ‘The father of Video Games’, the brown box could be hooked up with any ordinary TV sets. (All of this was a prototype and was never released) -
Period: to
First Generation
-
Magnavox Odyssey (Best-selling game: Table Tennis)
The Odyssey was based on the brown box home video game system. Seen, as the brown box was just a prototype, the Odyssey was really the first official home video game console. As the earliest films did not feature recorded sound, the first video game console is silent as well. -
Fairchild Video Entertainment System (VES) or Fairchild Channel F (Best-selling game: Pong&Table Tennis)
The VES took example off the Odyssey. It has been recognized as the first programmable ROM cartridge-based video game console. And it is the first console to use a microprocessor. It was launched as the Video Entertainment System but when Atari released their VCS the next year, Fairchild renamed their machine. Fairchild didn’t meet much success with their first and only console while Coleco’s first video game system was well received. -
Period: to
Second Generation
-
Atari 2600 VCS (Best-selling game: Pac-Man)
The Atari 2600 VCS or the Atari VCS (Video Computer System) but was later renamed the Atari 2600 after the release of the Atari 5200 in 1982. The Atari was built with the goal in mind that it’d have shelf life of 2-3 years. It was originally planned to sell a total of 10 games for this console. The first game boxes used to be marked 01”, 02” and so on for the original intention of selling only 10 different games. -
Intellivision (Best-selling game: Major League Baseball)
The Intellivision development began less than a year after the introduction of its main competitor the Atari 2600. The word Intellivision is a play on “intelligent television”. Over 3 million units were sold and a total of 125 games were released for the console. The graphics were slightly better than the Atari 2600 and the console also had the first synthesized voices in video games. Although the Intellivision was more powerful than the Atari it was never as popular. -
Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) (Best-selling game: Super Mario Bros)
The NES is an 8-bit video game console that was first released by Nintendo in Japan but it was known as the Family Computer. It was a huge success selling 8.56 million in Europe & Australia alone. The console was discontinued in 1995. It was rated the single greatest video game console in history by IGN in 2009. The NES has made some ground breaking games that have gone off to make some amazing franchises examples would be The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Brothers and Metroid. -
Period: to
Third Generation
-
Sega Master System (Best-selling game: Alex Kidd in Miracle World)
The Master System was released as a direct competitor to the Nintendo Entertainment System in the third videogame generation. Sega failed to overturn Nintendo’s significant market share advantage in Japan and North America. The SMS featured accessories such as a light gun and 3D glasses, which were designed to work with a range of specially, coded games. -
Game Boy (Best-selling game: Tetris)
Nintendo in 1989 score its second smash hit with the introduction of the Game Boy. It was the first major handheld console. The Game Boy featured a black and white LCD screen. There were several changes including the Game Boy Pocket in 1996 and the Game Boy Colour in 1998. The Game Boy was the introduction to Pokémon. Even today the Pokémon franchise is still going strong with a new one coming out in October 2013. -
Period: to
Fourth Generation
-
Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) (Best-selling game: Super Mario World)
The SNES introduced advanced graphics and sound capabilities compared with other consoles at the time. It had better chips to enhance its performance. The SNES was able to run some of the first three-dimensional video games on consoles. The Super Nintendo Entertainment System was Nintendo’s second home console following the Nintendo Entertainment System. The SNES remained popular well into the 32-bit era and continues to be popular among fans, collectors and retro gamers. -
PlayStation (Best-selling game: Gran Turismo)
The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of console and handheld game devices, which was first created and released in Japan. It has sold 100 million units, 9 years and 6 months after its initial launch. The best games for the PlayStation have become popular franchises for Sony, such as Spyro and Crash. -
Period: to
Fifth Generation
-
Nintendo 64 (Best-selling game: Super Mario 64)
The N64 was released with two launch games, Super Mario and Pilotwings. The best selling games were Super Mario 64 and Mario Kart 64. The console was released in at least eight variants with different colours and sizes. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time set the standard for future 3D action-adventure games and is considered by some to be the greatest game ever made. -
PlayStation 2 (Best-selling game: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas)
The PlayStation 2 was Sony’s greatest console selling over 155 million units and having more than 3, 800 game titles. The video game console was positioned as a competitor to Sega’s Dreamcast. Despite Sony’s announcement, the Dreamcast went on to a very successful North American launch later that year selling over 500,000 units within two weeks. Sales of the console, games and accessories pulled in $250 million on the first day whereas the Dreamcast made $97 million on there first day. -
Period: to
Sixth Generation
-
Xbox (Best-selling game: Halo 2)
The original Xbox was released in 2001 and was discontinued in 2008 selling over 24 million as of 2006. The console competed with Sony’s PlayStation 2, Sega’s Dreamcast and the Nintendo GameCube. This console was the first console produced by an American company since the Atari Jaguar ceased production in 1996. In 2002 Microsoft launched Xbox Live, this is a fee-based online gaming service that enables subscribers to download new content and connect with other players through a broadband connect -
GameCube (Best-selling game: Super Smash Bros. Melee)
This was Nintendo’s first console to use optical discs as its primary storage medium, after several aborted projects from Nintendo. The GameCube sold approximately 22 million units worldwide before being discontinued in 2007. It’s successor, the Wii, was released in 2006. More The Legend of Zelda games did come out for the GameCube and Mario. -
Nintendo DS (Best-selling game: New Super Mario Bros)
Even though the DS is a handheld game console it is still one of Nintendo’s biggest selling product with the dual-screen, built-in microphone, LCD screen working in tandem with a touchscreen and support for wireless connectivity. The Nintendo DS also brought to the table the ability for multiple DS consoles to directly interact with each other over Wi-Fi within a short range without the need to connect to an existing wireless network. -
Period: to
Seventh Generation
-
Xbox 360 (Best-selling game: Kinect Adventures)
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console developed by Mircosoft and the successor of the Xbox. It competes with Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii as part of the Seventh Gen of video game consoles. The Xbox 360 has sold 78.2 million units worldwide as of June 30th 2013. In 2009 by IGN it was named the sixth greatest video game console of all time out of a field of 25. -
PlayStation 3 (Best-selling game: Gran Turismo 5)
The PlayStation 3 is the successor of the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Nintendo’s Wii as part of the Seventh Gen of video game consoles. The console was first announced at E3 in 2005 and was originally set for a spring 2006 release date, it was delayed several times until finally hitting stores at the end of the year. The PS3 was the first console to use Blu-ray Disc as its primary storage medium. -
Wii (Best-selling game: Wii Sports)
The Wii competes with Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3 as a Seventh Gen console. The Wii has many advanced features compared to previous Nintendo consoles, for example:
The wireless remote (the Wii Remote) can be used as a handheld pointing device and detects movement in three dimensions.
Another feature of the console id WiiConnect24 which enables it to receive messages and updates over the internet while in standby mode. -
Wii U (Best-selling game: Nintendo Land)
The Wii U is the first entry in the eighth gen video game consoles and will compete with Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One. The Wii U is the first Nintendo console to support high-definition graphics, capable of producing video output up to 1080p and has 2 GB of RAM with half dedicated to the consoles operating system. -
Period: to
Eighth Generation
-
PlayStation 4 (To be released)
The PS4 was announced as the successor to the PS3 during a press conference in Feb 2013. It will compete with Nintendo’s Wii U and Microsoft’s Xbox One as part of the Eighth Gen video game consoles. Sony showed the device itself in June 2013 at E3. The PlayStation 4 still plays Blu-ray but it does not play PlayStation 3 games but a cloud-based streaming service has been planned. The service will emulate and render previous generations of PlayStation games. -
Xbox One (To be released)
Microsoft and various publications have classified the device as an ‘all-in-one entertainment system’ making it a competitor to other home media devices such as the Apple TV and the Google TV platform as well as competing with Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Nintendo’s Wii U. Microsoft were announcing that they would be putting restrictions on sharing and the resale of used games but they have decided to drop this feature.
