Mollie Wingham

Unit 14: Task 2 Game Consoles through the

decades.

The first ever video games console was made by Magnavox and named the Odyssey. To begin with it was not successful due to it being new and not known as the next big thing. Atari’s Pong was very popular at the time. The original Odyssey was released in 1972 but the updated version called Odyssey 100, with the games hockey and pong came out in 1975, this was a big triumph.

In 1977 Atari bought out the Atari 2600, the difference for this console was you could use cartridges games. First Combat and then Pac-Man. The controls for this game were joy sticks.

1970s

In 1982 Coleco Industries bought a new games console that had more colours and games, there were plenty of games. The ColecoVideo bought near arcade quality for the screen and the basic hardware was strengthened. It was a second generation games console.

Famicom was the family computer released to the world in 1983 and produced by Nintendo. As a third generation console it had better graphics and colour than any other console before. The games that were played on this console were also longer because it supported high-resolution spirits.

1980s

The Sega Saturn was released in Europe on the 8th July 1995. This was a fifth generation games console that in 2009 was awarded the 18th best console of all time, this was out of twenty-five at the time. The control was a step up from the joy stick but it wasn’t the best of it’s generation. It was popular in Japan but it didn’t compete with the likes of the Nintendo64.

In 1994 the PlayStation was born, this was the most popular of its generation, there has been a PlayStation 2, in 2004, which is the most successful console of all time. The most resent home console by Sony is the PlayStation 3 released in 2006. Over time this console has just got better and better. It even has it’s own handheld PlayStation named the PSP (PlayStation Portable)there is to be a PlayStation 4 shortly.

1990s

In 2001 Nintendo gave us the Nintendo GameCube. This was Nintendo’s first console to use optical discs (flat circular discs). On this console you could get four online games for the GameCube. It could not play DVDs like its competitors but it was different because it was a cube.

Atari Inc bought us the Atari Flashback in 2004. With joy stick controllers, instead of paddles, it had twenty built-in-games. It looked similar to the Atari 7200 and wasn’t a very popular console for some because the games were different from other Atari games.

2000s

Over forty-three years we have gone from singular games in a bulky games console with no internet or add-ons, poor graphics and very simple controllers to be able to talk to the console without touching anything, buying games for it and the console having memory storage, amazing graphics and some 3D effects. All thanks to technology we are able to enjoy another life through video entertainment, being able to become your favorite super-hero. You can now also take your console out with you or stay at home and play games and talk with your friends through the internet on the console.

Over Time…

The Odyssey, the first homes games console.

The latest games console, Nintendo’s Wii U.