Time Line of Gaming Devices Since the 1960s

Joe Casey

The development of gaming devices since 1960

The first console ever made was called the brown box, made in 1968, which had no sound causing it

would be less immersive but it was never released to the public because it was a prototype for what

later became the Magnavox Odyssey. The brown box could play

games such as chase and tennis for two on the home TV which for

the time, was ground breaking because now people could stay

home and play games instead of having to go to the arcade and

have to share with many other people wanting to play.

Before the first public gaming console was released which was the Magnavox

Odyssey (April 1972) people had to go their local arcade to do any gaming, and then

all they had were games such as pong and space invaders which where large gaming

machines and for the majority only one person at a time could go on them, and so

when the first home gaming console was released, more people began to play video

games regularly and so the legacy of gaming and gamers began. The Magnavox

Odyssey sold over 330,000 units and contained no CPU but instead it used a very

simple system to play games, compared to modern day consoles which are practically

computers.

The release of the Magnavox sparked the first round of the war of the consoles, because by

September 1977 the first Atari console was released which was named Atari 2600 and it used a

microprocessor (Atari pong) and ROM cartridges containing game code, instead of having dedicated

hardware but it wasn’t the first console to use this system, the first to use the ROM system was

Fairchild Channel F but this system did not include the

efficient plug in system as the Atari 2600 did. This huge

leap in internal hardware made the game play more

efficient and made it much more smother for the player

causing players to enjoy themselves far more.

Furthermore, the Atari 2600 allowed at least 2 players to

play because it came with 2 joysticks which was one of

the reasons that it was so popular because the joystick

was simple and easy to use instead of other controllers that had too many buttons or not nearly

enough, making it harder to play but not only that, it is considered the building block of all the most

popular consoles since the release of the 2600. In its life time, the Atari 2600 has sold more than

30million units perhaps due to one of the most iconic games of all time being the main go to game

on the platform, Pac man which sold over 7 million copies on that platform.

As the console wars began, the successor of the first console, the Magnavox odyssey, came the

Magnavox Odyssey 2 (1978) which unlike the previous console mentioned (Atari 2600) this was not

so much of a game changer but it did manage to sell 2million units although compared to the 2600 it

didn’t exactly pose much of a threat but never the less, it was a huge improvement to the first

Magnavox because now it included sound, more advanced controls and a CPU (Intel 8048).

Time Line of Gaming Devices Since the 1960s

Joe Casey

The Commodore 64 (released August 1982) was one of the

more successful consoles because it included some

advanced hardware for the time such as a MOS technology

6510 CPU, 64kb RAM and VIC-II (320 × 200, 16 colours,

sprites, raster interrupt) graphics. The Commodore 64 was

one of the first gaming computers which is one of the

reasons for it being so successful because it had many uses but on the gaming side to it due to the

powerful hardware, it was for the time one of the better graphical consoles but not to mention, it

could also be used for office work too.

The first official Sega home console was called the Sega game

1000 (SG-100), this began the entry of Sega into the world of

gaming and consoles. This console was released in 1983 and

was later discontinued in 1984 in Japan however, although the

1000 was not the bestselling console it allowed Sega to enter

the market which has allowed them to become as powerful

and as well-known as they are today. A newer version of the

console known as the SC-3000 had an inbuilt keyboard and so

began to out sell the 1000 because it could run most of the

types of games it could but to a better standard. The SC-3000 sold for $386.81 in 1983, more than

the previous model (1000) because the 3000 included more RAM and an upgraded keyboard which

gave the player more control and intern this made the gaming experience far better so it quickly out

sold the 1000.

On the 21st of May 1984, the next Atari console was released

and it was name the Atari 5200 however, it was not

considered a completely new console but instead it was

meant to be known as a higher end version of the Atari 2600,

because it still contained almost the same internal hardware

although it contained a better CPU, MOS 6502C @1.79MHz,

this allowed it to be more efficient the console also included a

new type of controller, one with a pause and play button but

also a number pad giving games more functions and the

player more options although, the 5200 did not manage to outlive the 2600 but it was still a stepping

stone to the greater consoles which came later on.

With the release of the Third Generation Atari console known as the Atari 7800 in 1984, the NES had

a competitor that was a challenge to compete with, and so the console wars became the most

violent it had been so far especially with the Sega master system also forcing its way into the war.

The 7800 sold over 3.77million units (NA) and it still used the

ROM cartridge system however it had a much more

advanced CPU which was the Atari SALLY 6502 ("6502C")

clocked at 1.19-1.79MHz but it also included 4KB RAM, 4KB

BIOS ROM, and 48KB Cartridge ROM Space. For this reason

the NES was actually threatened however, the majority of

people still fell towards the NES perhaps due to the friendlier

Time Line of Gaming Devices Since the 1960s

Joe Casey

controller devices and the one of the bestselling series of all time being sold on the platform.

One of the bestselling consoles of its time was the Nintendo

Entertainment System released in1985 (North America) and it is

known as one of the best consoles of the time because it’s

advanced features; such as a simple but easy to use controller

that featured a D pad and 2 action buttons that easily allowed the

user to control the in game characters and now giving the

characters greater range of motion due to its multiple directions

on the which perhaps added to the reason that it sold over 61.91

million units worldwide. The Nintendo entertainment system (Super Famicom) had popular titles

which were the super Mario bros series selling over 40 million copies and causing many people to

addictively play the series on the NES, and so creating millions of fans for Nintendo and their content

which is proven later on with the release of the SNES and its success.

The Sega Master System is a third generation game console

released in North America in June 1986, the third console

produced by Sega. The system played off Sega Cards which were

quite cheaper than cartridges and so allowed owners of the

console to own more games for a cheaper price although still

maintain a good graphical condition. The Sega Master System

was a competitor of the NES because it was technically superior

to the NES and so the console wars forced the bringing out of

more advanced consoles such as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System which then bested the

SMS because of the far more user friendly controllers/control scheme compared to the poor control

system of the mater system which was only 2 action buttons and a barely functional D pad.

The Game Boy was an 8-bit handheld video game console which was made by

Nintendo and released in NA in August 1989. The Game Boy was the first console in

Nintendo’s handheld line selling over 118.69 million units worldwide and so became

the greatest selling handheld console of that time, which is very clear when it was

only discontinued in 2003. This first console sparked the beginning of the very

popular Nintendo handheld line and so has now brought out the Nintendo DS and

more recently the Nintendo 3DS. This popular console series all came to life through

the release of the game boy but not only that, when the game boy was released, it

was also the first decent hand held console that was publicly used with little fault

compared to the Atari Lynx which, although was a 16-bit handheld console, still had many faults and

bugs compared to the more reliable Nintendo Game Boy. Not to mention, one of the most popular

gaming franchises, Pokémon was exclusive to Nintendo Consoles and so also added to the popularity

of this console, selling over 23.64 million copies.

Next, the Commodore 64 Games System was released in

December 1990. This was released after seeing the success of the

original Commodore 64 and so changing it from a general

Time Line of Gaming Devices Since the 1960s

Joe Casey

computer and focusing it just on the computer game aspect. This was in order to try and cut into the

gaming console wars however, compared to the other consoles around at the time like the SNES, the

Commodore was far out matched and along with the occurring hardware issues it often had it fell

out of the race fairly quickly. However, it still managed to please many buyers because it did what it

said it could although, some problems could occur but nothing that couldn’t be fixed.

One of the most revolutionary things to happen to gaming consoles was

the incorporation of the compact disk and that came with the new Play

Station (PS1) released in NA September 1995 by Sony. It was a fifth gen

console and was a 32-bit system which was extremely powerful for the

time, increasing the enjoyment for the players because they didn’t have

such a jittery gaming experience compared to previous consoles. This was competing with the also

recently released console by Nintendo, which was the Nintendo 64 however; the PS1 far out scaled

it with its CD-ROM games and far more ergonomic controllers with 2 analogue sticks, which allowed

easier control of in game characters creating easier gameplay. It sold over 102.49 million units which

then sparked the beginning of the PlayStation series which, to this day, is one of the greatest gaming

consoles of all time.

Continuing on from the PS1, with the release of the PS2 on the 4th March 2000

it was one of the most anticipated releases of all consoles of all time due to the

success of the previous PlayStation. The PS2 became the bestselling video game

console, which sold over 150 million units and so put to shame many, if not all,

previous console selling records. It too also included the CD playing system

however; it also included a 128-BIT CPU and a new feature, the backward

compatibility with PS1 games. The new backward compatibility feature turned

out to be very popular because it meant that people that still owned PS1 games, could still play them

on the PS2 which made many people very happy because it was more cost effective. In addition, the

PS2 also allowed multiplayer online with an internet connection. This allowed people all over the

world to compete with each other on their game but this was a key change because the online

function was not widely used before the PS2 integrated it and now it is the main go to option on a

game for modern consoles.

The game cube was released in North America on November 18th 2001.

This was the latest Nintendo console release and it adapted much like

the PlayStation to disks although, the Game Cube used a miniDVD

format in order to maintain its uniqueness from the PlayStation

franchise. Just like previous Nintendo consoles, it came along with lots

of popular games such as Zelda and Mario however, due to the lack in its performance and features,

compared to the other consoles around at the time; it wasn’t as spectacular although it was still

popular with Nintendo fans. It could run the popular games the best it had ever done before but not

to the standard of the PlayStation franchise could and so for this reason the PS2 easily was the

favourite but the Game cube still managed to sell over 22 million units.

Time Line of Gaming Devices Since the 1960s

Joe Casey

With the release of Microsoft’s Xbox in November 2001 Sony

finally had a competitor that rivalled it due to its also advanced

hardware like the PS2 although, because of its new ergonomic

style controller and different operating system, not many people

liked it because they were more accustom to the PlayStation style

and so they stayed clear of Xbox. The new Xbox controller featured a radical new design with the 2

analogue sticks placed diagonally from each other and so made it easier for people with big hands to

hold, allowing for people to play on the Xbox for a longer time without their hands hurting. The

Xbox sold over 24million units but due to the interest from many people believing that Xbox could

beat the PlayStation franchise, a new and improved Xbox wouldn’t be too long away.

Going back to the hand held side of gaming devices; Nintendo released a

new hand held console in November 2004 and called it Nintendo DS. It

featured a touch pad screen on the bottom and it used a DS cards to play

games and so it could play many tittles that were previously only able to be

played consoles such as Mario cart. It sold over 153.96 million units. The

popularity of this console came down to the easy to use controls (D pad, y,

x, a, b buttons and left and right bumpers at the back) and the high quality

games, never seen before on a hand held console. To this day, Nintendo is a very popular developer

of handheld consoles and they remain at the top of the selling charts due to the far cheaper price

compared to the PSP/PSvita. The latest model of the DS franchise is the Nintendo 3DS. The Nintendo

3DS is the first hand held console to completely integrate 3D into its design without the need for

glasses causing the games to be more visually stimulating especially to children and along with a

circle pad also included, it gives batter movement control for games. It is also backward compatible

to normal DS games however with the new 3ds cards, games are becoming more graphically

advanced and more entertaining to the player. The 3DS was released February 2011 and sold over

34.98 million units worldwide as of September 30th 2013.

When Sony saw one of their main competitors dominating the handheld market, they had to do

something about it. In March 2005, Sony released the PlayStation Portable. The PSP was Sony’s first

handheld console and it featured a circle pad, a D pad and the normal action buttons. This gave a

whole new concept to hand held gaming because now with the PSP, players could play console style

games on the go. It had further advanced graphics than the DS but not the amount of power a

console can have. It used a UMD (universal Media Disc) to play games and so was far better at

playing fast pace games than the DS. However, the PSP sold 76.3 million units which did not beat the

DS (150milion units sold) and this could have been because the DS is more

children friendly and was far cheaper in price. Although the PSP was fairly

expensive when it came out, the games were also slightly higher in price

compared to DS games and so that made the over cost of the PSP far

greater that of the DS. Never the less, the PSP still did outstanding in

pleasing its buys and Sony realised this so they started developing the

next model, the PlayStation Vita.

Time Line of Gaming Devices Since the 1960s

Joe Casey

Now, we have arrived at the modern day gaming platforms. The first

arrival of the seventh generation (for those that has been counting) was

the PlayStation 3. It was released on November 17th 2006 (in the US). It

included a blue ray player, all new wireless controllers (included) and a

variety of hard drive sizes (up to 500GB). One of the greatest things about

the PS3 was the fact that the online connect ability took a huge leap for

example, first person shooter games like Call of Duty could now be easily

played online, wirelessly and it had far less issues than the PS2. It was the first console to include

Blue ray and a unified online gaming experience and so clearly already many people fell in love with

it shown by it selling over 80 million units. The amount of things that could now be done on the PS3

is a huge bound from the basic PS2 which could only play games and a DVD. Now, on the PS3 users

can search the web, stream films and even talk over a voice chat to friends. Through the new

progression made by the seventh generation consoles, communities began to arise with PS3 vs. Xbox

360. Many people, even now are passionate about their console and so people that like PS3 would

laugh at those that like Xbox 360 and vice versa although, both had their good points and their bad.

The next to arrive was the Xbox 360, released on November 22nd 2005. It

featured many similarities to the PS3 such as an online experience (Xbox Live)

and wireless controllers however; the Xbox did not contain any blue ray player

or a 500GB hard drive. The Xbox 360 sold over 79.4million units and for what

was the second attempt by Microsoft, the Xbox 360 did very well, only falling

under the PS3 sales by a few thousand units. Comparing the Xbox to the PS3,

overlooking the fact that the Xbox didn’t have blue ray player for its game

system, the Xbox was a very good console, especially for someone that couldn’t afford a PS3.The PS3

was over $100 more expensive and when the PS3 played some types of games such as first person

shooter games, it did occasionally have some lag issues however, the Xbox 360 didn’t have that

problem to the extent that the PS3 did. In addition, many people preferred the Xbox controllers to

the PS3 controllers and so found it easier to play for extended lengths of time causing people to be

immersed in a game for longer. In addition, the operating system for Xbox was far more intuitive and

included safer transactions compared to the PS3 hacking crisis, which allowed hackers to gain

account information of many people on the PlayStation Network.