Know your roots: The history of consoles (1972-2006)

by Blake Snow { Feb 28th 2007 at 5:55PM }

The Game Console provides a concise reference on the history of console video games from Magnavox's 1972 Odyssey all the way up to the recently launched Wii. Though not complete, photos of the hardware, retail boxes, controllers and game media do accompany the profiled systems. How can we know where we're going, if we don't know where we've been? Your 10,000 word essays are due Friday by 5pm EST.

[Thanks, Scott]

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Splinter @ Feb 28th 2007 6:21PM

They forgot the Virtual Boy.

Mr Khan @ Feb 28th 2007 6:28PM

How do we know where we're going? Easy.

Microsoft desires convergence with the PC market, the next Xbox will simply be a living-room-friendly gaming PC that has emulated backwards compatibility with Xbox/360

Nintendo will never hold technological supremacy again (so long as the competition is willing to put out $400-$600 consoles), but considering the pace of technology, their next console should be a good follow-up (smokes the best of previous generation, pales vs. the best of current generation)

Given strong chance of economic reprisals for their mistakes this generation, PS4 will most likely be a more well-balanced console, but basically a souped-up PS3

tcc3 @ Feb 28th 2007 6:45PM

You're wrong about MS. As they discovered with the Xbox, a glorified gaming pc, that uses technology they dont have rights to, is hard to price reduce. Its also pretty low margin and hard to make a profit on. You'll see them continute to do the media convergence thing with movie downloads and media center extenter features, but they learned a lesson: a console needs to be a console.

joe smith @ Feb 28th 2007 6:47PM

Nice stuff. I still have my original Magnavox Oddysey in my garage. I saved all summer to buy it back in 1972 when I was in 8th grade. It sucked, but it was my intro to the whole thing. And you could learn a lot by taking it apart and putting it back together. Just wish I still had the light gun. That and my Vectrex are my favorites. If only I had an extra room to set them all up in.

Poisoned Al @ Feb 28th 2007 6:55PM

Doesn't feel complete without the mention of the "stop gap" machines. The Commador 64 and the ZX Spectrum need a mention for their part in bridging the gap after the crash.

mykie @ Feb 28th 2007 6:59PM

I'll say it once, I'll say it a million times. The most technologically superior console has never sold the highest number of consoles in a generation.

Furthermore, no single manufacturer has sold the most 3 generations in a row, save for Nintendo's handheld supremacy.

Consistently what has sold the most is games, games, games from 1st and 3rd parties. Look at the libraries, then you'll see the consistencies.

Where we are going is seeing a tooth-and-nail battle between Wii and Xbox360 for the first two years of this generation, with the PS3 sitting patiently in 3rd place. Sony will continue selling the PS3 until it's finally successful, and then along comes the next Xbox and Wii consoles (2-3 years from now).

Again, Microsoft will release their next-generation system first, but will hold out as long as they can until just before Nintendo does. About this time is when we'll see the PS3 shine, but will it be too little too late?

Also, I think we're going to see another player enter the race, with some strong financial backers. And by "strong" I don't mean Sega or SNK. I'm thinking AMD/ATI or Apple/Disney. Along those lines, V-Tech and LeapFrog may even make a more mainstream splash in the gaming market.

Coolie @ Feb 28th 2007 7:01PM

Wow, I can't believe how many times they cloned popular games back in the 70s. Thank goodness they don't do that anymore...oh wait.

Eric @ Feb 28th 2007 7:08PM

The news of this website is so old that there should be an "Old news hall of fame" dedicated to it.

-OR-

Old news is ooooolllllddddddddddddddd...

Sensai @ Feb 28th 2007 7:10PM

Coolie, might I show you this neat company I found? It's EA, and it's a BLAST!

Larry @ Feb 28th 2007 7:12PM

Ah, Nostalgia... My first was the NES; got it for my 8th or 9th birthday.

kinshadow @ Feb 28th 2007 7:18PM

I'd like to see a technical breakdown of all these consoles. TFA seems to be some tech, some social, some random info on each. Not very much consistency.

Mr Khan @ Feb 28th 2007 7:32PM

@ kinshadow, they did seem rather spotty with what they described about each. For some they described how they did sales-wise, for some they listed tech specs, for Wii they just spouted Nintendo marketing jargon

@ mykie: I'd say SEGA could be poised to re-enter the industry, if the industry takes a more profitable turn (should happen if Wii wins), EA is also a potential entrant, as is Apple and BanDai Namco

aaron @ Feb 28th 2007 8:30PM

My first was an Atari 7800 and a couple of years later, a NES in '89. Thanks Dad!

Poisoned Al @ Feb 28th 2007 8:43PM

@:kinshadow

Go nuts:

http://www.old-computers.com

WhatIsThatThing @ Feb 28th 2007 9:21PM

Great! Now make us a shirt with all o' thems on it.

bootsielon @ Feb 28th 2007 10:34PM

There is no way the industry will have more than three contenders. It's too expensive as it is, and even if Wii wins, their successor will be on par with Xbox 360 or PS3 in terms of horsepower (but more innovation on the hardware front).

So, while that will reduce development costs temporarily (because assets of last-gen will keep being used), finding new ways to make games fit for new controllers, not to mention R&D costs for the next-next-gen will again sky-rocket; and again, if nobody delivers a cutting-edge console on the horse-power front, the industry will become somewhat static; but of course, that would again open an oportunity to make a console that is both innovative AND powerful. So I doubt that there won't be cutting-edge tech in the living room anymore; they will simply be somewhat cheaper and they'll lose less money on each. But that's bound to happen in 5 or 10 years as everything starts getting downloaded instead of bought of a retailer, and streamed instead of downloaded.

Downloaded games will make costs of development and publishing way down, jumping the middle-man, which will make consoles need only an HDD and GPU/CPU/PPU/AIPU combo; Back-compat will be optional. The fact that games will become cheaper to make will make them cheaper to buy, and since they'll be immediately accessible through download, demand will rise, and so will profit, and so will the amount of games; especially with episodic content.

Now, when games start becoming streamed instead of downloaded, expensive HDDs (or flash memory) won't be needed anymore, and games will be accessible even faster, and the only thing's that'll sell are CPU broadband enabled combos that connect to the TV, the substitute for consoles will become even cheaper (or cost the same, but give you more power or more profit for the maker). That'll also help the industry grow even more.

After this comes the integration of PCs with the living room. Again, all backwards compatibility will be optional, but PCs will be rendered useless if next-gen HDTVs become cheap enough to include PC/game-console/media and communications center-functionality. That is, they are also connected to the net, include microphone and webcam. The only things you have to buy now are peripherals, but who knows though, maybe game makers will do marvels with motion sensing and video technology as they'll do with sony's eyeToy and 360's webcam. This makes install base as big as the mobile phone area, except you can deliver more technology on it, and on a big screen. The mobile arena will be similar, but will have small, casual games for being "on the go", mixing work and entertainment into a single PDA (the only things workstations will be used for anymore will be for development and servers, and even that could end).

After this begins the era of holographic media and virtual reality. I think holographic media will be basically much higher fidelity audio, 360 degree movies and pictures (new generation cinema), and of course, gaming. Virtual Reality will be mostly for the hardcore gamers. WHo knows if we'll be alive by then.

Of course, all of this will be propelled by advances in holography, qubit computers, WiFi broadband, integration, cost reduction, and so on.

But hey, this is just a guess, I mean, I could be wrong. lol

bootsielon @ Feb 28th 2007 10:39PM

Oh, and by the way... Nintendo will always try to make some proprietary bullcrap on every generation. I know they-re everyone-s darling right now, but remember Nintendo has always tried to go against the mainstream for the sake of profit (and who could blame them?), instead of adapting to the mainstream and looking for other ways to profit, even if their installed base isnt as big. So, if Nintendo decides to not just make peripherals and games in the future, expect Nintendo to keep squeezing whatever they make us think is "fun", but not pushing the limits on hardware.

Im not saying games shouldnt be fun, Im saying the overall experience should be better, not just "the fun" and "the gameplay"; all of it. Hell, maybe that would end up being more expensive in the long run, as Nintendo would require you to buy their peripherals, consoles, and so on just to enjoy Mario, Metroid and Zelda again.

Crono @ Mar 1st 2007 1:29PM

Dude, you're questioning if we'll be alive when VR hits mainstream? If wii is successful, and Wii2 has 360++ horsepower, I can see home VR happening in 2 generations (Wii3). It probably won't be nintendo that pulls it off, because by the time Wii3 hits, Nintendo will be the new Sony (or the old nintendo) arrogant and pompus. But home VR is just a stonesthrow away.