Task 1 – Understand Game Platform Types

History of Video Game Consoles

First Generation

Magnavox Odyssey

In 1972, Magnavox released the Magnavox Odyssey, this was the first games console that could be connected to a TV. Despite there being a big misunderstanding about the console’s design, it is in fact a digital console and not analog as some people thought. The sales of the console were hurt due to poor marketing by Magnavox, this led to consumers thinking that the console would only work when connected to Magnavox TV sets. It wasn’t until the release of Atari’s groundbreaking arcade game Pong, that people started becoming interested in video games, this kick started the industry.

Second Generation

Fairchild Video Entertainment System (VES)

In 1976, Fairchild released the Fairchild Video Entertainment System (VES). The stand out feature of this console is that it was the first programmable ROM cartridge based video game console and also the first to use a microprocessor. In 1977 (North America) and 1978 (Europe) the

Atari 2600

Atari 2600 (Atari VCS) was released, it is credited for popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and ROM cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in. Although the first console to use this type of format was the Fairchild Channel F, the Atari 2600 was the console that made this concept popular amongst the public.

Third Generation

Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)

In 1983 the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was released in Japan, it was released in North America in 1985 and then in 1986, the NES was released across Europe. It is an 8-bit video game console and was the best selling gaming console of it’s time, it helped revitalise the US video game industry, following the video game  crash of 1983 and that set the standard for the other consoles of it’s generation. Nintendo introduced a new business model of licensing third-party developers, this authorised them to produce and distribute titles for Nintendo’s platform. The controller for the NES was different to that of previously released consoles as they didn’t have a joystick, instead they had a D-pad that could go up, down, right and left, it also had an A and B button and a select and pause button. The NES had a fair few famous games, these were Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Mega-Man and Donkey Kong, these have all gone on to have sequels.

Fourth Generation

Sega Mega Drive

Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)

The fourth generation of games consoles, also know as the 16-bit era, were made up of two main consoles. Sega’s Mega Drive that was released in Japan in 1988, in the US in 1989 (was known as the Sega Genesis) and across Europe in 1990. The Mega Drive was a 16-bit video game console and was the first console of it’s generation to achieve notable market share in Europe and North America, it competed with various ranges of platforms such as gaming consoles and home computer systems. Although the firm sales figures were never published, the Mega Drive was Sega’s most successful console. When the controversial game, Mortal Kombat was released the United States forced Sega to create the first content rating system for video games, rather than have games heavily censored. This allowed Sega to ship games with little or no censorship and it also gave Sega a competitive edge when the same game was released on Nintendo, the success this led to for Sega led Nintendo to join the ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board). Initially sales of the fourth generation consoles were slow, Sega found their own must have hit, Sonic The Hedgehog, just like Atari’s hit game Space Invaders, after the game’s release sales spiked. Although Nintendo executives were reluctant about designing a new console, they saw the that more and more people were buying fourth generation consoles so two years after the Mega Drive was released, Nintendo brought out their fourth generation console, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (1990 in Japan, 1991 in North America and 1992 in Europe). The SNES introduced advanced graphics and sound compatibilities with other consoles at that time, the development of a variety of enhancement chips helped to keep the console competitive in the market place. The Super FX chip allowed the SNES to run some of the first 3-Dimensional video games, starting with Star Fox.

Fifth Generation

Sega Saturn

The fifth generation of video games consoles, were made up of 32-bit consoles and 64-bit consoles. There were 3 main consoles that were released during this generation, the Sega Saturn, Sony’s PlayStation and the Nintendo 64. The Sega Saturn was released in 1994 (Japan) and 1995 in Europe and North America. It was the first Sega console to use a CD-ROM based media by default and used a special dual chip processor. The two chips were difficult to program, it suffered from bottleneck issues and also required the use of assembly language to harness the chips power, the difficulties to program for Saturn was one of the main factors of the console’s demise, as it limited third party releases.

PlayStation

Sony’s PlayStation was released in 1994 (Japan) and 1995 in North America and Europe. It is a 32-bit video game console and was the first console that was released by Sony and the first in the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld devices. The PlayStation was the result of a breakdown in a business partnership between Sony and Nintendo to create a CD add-on for the SNES, Nintendo went back on the deal, so as the product was near completion, Sony took what it had learned and created it’s own console, the PlayStation. The PlayStation was able to assemble a vast amount of third party developers due it’s inexpensive compact discs, its massive market share and the fact that it was easy to develop with C libraries. It was the first console ever to sell over 100 million consoles, it also had it’s own must-have hit, Crash Bandicoot, this character became the mascot for the PlayStation to compete with Nintendo’s Mario and Sega’s Sonic The Hedgehog. Early in 2000, Sony released a smaller, slimmer version of the PlayStation, which was called the “PSone” this was to avoid confusion with Sony’s next console, the PlayStation 2. It was the first console to use a 3D microprocessor in their system and the ability to save a game at any point during the game was added.

Nintendo 64

The Nintendo 64 (N64) was released in 1996 (Japan & North America) and 1997 in Europe. The N64 is a 64-bit console (hence the name Nintendo 64). Unlike the other two consoles that I have just wrote about, the N64 continued to use ROM cartridges instead of CD ROMs, many developers saw this a bit of a hindrance because cartridges have less memory space and are far more expensive than optical media, Nintendo backed their decision to use cartridges instead of CD ROMs by stating that cartridges cannot be damaged by a simple scratch to the surface, load times aren’t much of an issue and saved data can be stored on the cartridge rather than a memory card. Due to the N64’s storage media limitations, many of third party developers, that had previously supported Nintendo’s other consoles stopped publishing games for it, although the most successful games for the N64 came from first or second party studios.

Sixth Generation

Sega’s Dreamcast and Nintendo’s GameCube, Sony’s PlayStation 2 and Microsoft’s XBOX were the four main consoles that made up the sixth generation of video game consoles.

Sega Dreamcast

The Sega Dreamcast was the first console released in what was known as the sixth generation, it was released in 1998 in Japan and 1999 everywhere else. It was Sega’s last console to date and was developed to detoxify the Sega brand after the failings of the Sega Mega CD and Sega Saturn. One of the main features of the Dreamcast, other than the cutting edge graphics for 1998/1999 is the built in 56K-modem, this gave access to the internet, so users could browse the web, chat, e-mail and most importantly online gaming. This was the first console to offer online features straight out the box and the first to offer these features worldwide.

Nintendo GameCube

The Nintendo GameCube was released in 2001 in Japan and North America and 2002 in Europe. The GameCube was the first Nintendo console to use optical discs for it’s primary storage medium. It is considered to be Nintendo’s least successful console, despite high regards to build quality and a strong line of first party games, poor management decisions caused the console to be abandoned by third party publishers within 3 years. It took a family-friendly approach to the video game industry and missed out on some ‘mature’ titles, this meant that they failed to attract the majority of the gaming public.

PlayStation 2 (PS2)

Sony’s PlayStation 2 was released in 2000 worldwide and was the first console to allow DVD’s to be played on it. It sold over 155 million consoles and is known as the most successful console of all time, at the time of it’s release it was the most powerful console in the world. Sony gathered strong third party support from Japanese publishers, another reason for it’s success was that it’s rivals all had different failings compared to the PS2; The GameCube was unable to attract a mature audience, the XBOX was unable to break into Japan and the Dreamcast was unable to compete from a technical or marketing perspective. The fact that the PlayStation was a huge success in the fifth generation helped the PS2 become a success as people were familiar with the name.

XBOX

Microsoft’s XBOX was released in 2001 in North America and 2002 in Japan and Europe. It was the first console to employ a hard drive right out of the box to save games, the first to include an ethernet port for broadband internet and that sparked the beginning of XBOX Live, which is still used today. The XBOX was considered to be the most powerful console of it’s generation but the company’s business naivety of dealing with console gaming led to a number of issues and kept it behind the PS2 in terms of content and sales.

Seventh Generation

There were three consoles that make up the seventh generation, they are the XBOX 360, the PlayStation 3 (PS3) and the Nintendo Wii.

XBOX 360

The XBOX 360 was released in 2005 and was the first console out of the three in the seventh generation. There have been several versions of the XBOX 360, including the arcade and the slim version, whilst the original console didn’t have an internal HDD (Hard Disk Drive), the following versions have all included one, or offer the option to have one. The console allows 4 controllers to be connected to it at once and in 2010 the motion sensor device was released and was called the Kinect. The Kinect is basically like a webcam and allows the user to control the XBOX and play games without having to use the controllers, you are the controller.

PlayStation 3 (PS3)

The second console that was released during the seventh generation was the PlayStation 3 in 2006/2007. Every console comes with a hard drive and are able to play blu-ray disc games and blu-ray disc movies, it was the first console to support HDMI output, this utilized full 1080p resolution. The console allows 7 controllers to be connected using bluetooth and in 2010 a motion sensing game controller platform was released called the PlayStation Move.  To use the PlayStation Move, you hold the main controller in your dominant hand and an optional second controller in the other hand, the controllers will always be tracked accurately by a camera.

Nintendo Wii

The final console that was released to make up the seventh generation, is called the Nintendo Wii, it was released in 2006 and was released with Wii Sports in all regions except Japan. There are some major differences between the Nintendo Wii and the other consoles in this generation, one of them being that the Wii doesn’t have an internal hard drive, but instead uses 512MB of internal flash memory and includes support for removable SD card storage. Another thing that makes the Wii different to other consoles in the seventh generation is that the maximum resolution of the Wii is 480p, and is not able to output high-definition graphics. The Wii controls are very unique too, they more or less resemble a tv remote, it also uses a sensor bar that emits infrared light that is detected by an infrared camera in the Wii Remote to determine orientation relative to the source of the light. It also has backwards compatibility with previous Nintendo consoles, which means it is able to play Nintendo GameCube games on and has the ability to connect 4 GameCube controls to the console. The Wii  was released at a much cheaper price than both the xbox360 and the ps3.

Arcade

An arcade game is a coin operated entertainment machine and was the first way people could play games. The arcade machine was basically a television screen with a computer inside a cabinet, the games were extremely primitive and were started by inserting a certain amount of coins into the cabinet. The first arcade machine appeared in 1971 in Stanford University, where they set up an arcade game called Galaxy Game, 2 months after Galaxy Game appeared Nolan Bushnell released Computer Space, an arcade video game that consists of the player controlling a spaceship using a thruster and a pair of rotational buttons, the aim of the game was to avoid enemy fire from a pair of flying saucers moving together and the player can fire back to destroy the enemy saucers.

In 1972, Atari was formed by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Atari released the game Pong in the same year and was the first ping pong game. Despite Pong’s immense popularity, imitators stopped Atari from dominating the video game industry, with their own versions of the game Pong. Atari created another smash-hit, Space Invaders, this caused the popularity of arcade machines to go through the roof and were being sold to pubs, bars and restaurants. The main limitation of the arcade machines was that you had to spend money each time you wanted to play it, as people back then didn’t have home consoles, I suppose they didn’t mind but this was in fact one of the reasons home consoles were made in the first place.

Handheld Consoles

A handheld console is a portable console, with a built in screen, controls, speakers and a battery pack.

Microvision

Microvision

The microvision was the first handheld console and the first to use interchangeable game cartridges. It was released in 1979 by the Milton Bradley Company, the combination of portability and a cartridge based system led to Smith Engineering (which was purchased by Milton Bradley Company) grossing $8 million in the first year of it’s release. There were certain limitations to the microvision, there were very few cartridges, a lack of support from established home video game companies and a small screen, these all led to the demise of the handheld console and was later discontinued in 1983.

Nintendo GameBoy

GameBoy

The Nintendo GameBoy was released by Nintendo in 1989 in Japan and North America and 1990 in Europe. It is an 8-bit handheld video game console. The GameBoy was Nintendo’s second venture into the handheld consoles world, the first being the “Game & Watch”, the GameBoy combined features from the Game & Watch and the Nintendo Entertainment System. Gunpei Yokoi, the creator of the GameBoy recognised that the console needed a killer app and after going to a trade show, Nintendo bought the rights to a game called Tetris and they bundled that game with the GameBoy, it was an immediate hit.

Sega Game Gear

Sega Game Gear

The Sega Game Gear was the third colour handheld console after the Lynx and the TurboExpress. It was released in 1990 in Japan and 1991 in North America and Europe, and was based on the Sega Master System, this gave Sega the ability to quickly create titles for the Game Gear from the Master System’s large library of games. It was part of the fourth generation of consoles and was created to compete with the Nintendo GameBoy and it’s competitors the Atari Lynx and the NEC TurboExpress, even though it’s unique library of games and price point gave it an edge over both the Lynx and the TurboExpress, it’s lack of original titles, short battery life and weak support from sega it was unable to beat the GameBoy and sold around 11 million units.

Nintendo GameBoy Color

GameBoy Color

The Nintendo GameBoy Color was the successor to the GameBoy & it’s spin-off the GameBoy Pocket (which was a smaller, lighter unit that also requires less batteries) and was released worldwide in 1998. As you can tell by the name, this handheld console features a colour screen and has 8-bit processor. It is part of the fifth generation of consoles and it’s primary competitor was the Neo Geo Pocket, even though the GameBoy Colour outsold it by an absolutely huge margin. The GameBoy color is almost as powerful as the NES and between the GameBoy and GameBoy Colour it sold 118.69 million units worldwide.

Nintendo GameBoy Advance/SP

GameBoy Advance

The Nintendo GameBoy Advance was released worldwide in 2001 and was the third GameBoy console. Unlike the GameBoy and GameBoy Color, it has 32-bit processor instead of just an 8-bit processor, this allowed more advanced games such as new and improved Mario games. This handheld console is part of the sixth generation of video game consoles and has backwards compatibility with the GameBoy and GameBoy Color. The button layout was different to that of the previous Nintendo GameBoy console, because the buttons were next to the screen instead of just below them, two more buttons were also added to the GBA, the L and R buttons which were situated at the top left and top right of the console. In 2003 Nintendo released the GameBoy Advance SP (SP means special) this was a redesign to the GBA and featured some improved parts, it was the first GameBoy to have a rechargeable battery, it also had back-lighting on the game screen to make it easier to see and just like the GameBoy and GameBoy Color the buttons were below the screen. The SP had a clamshell design, this means that it opens and closes just like a laptop, this was to make the console a lot smaller.

Nintendo DS

The Nintendo DS (DS being short for Dual Screen) was released in 2004 and is part of the seventh generation of consoles. The Nintendo had a clamshell design just like the GameBoy Advance SP, which is what was the predecessor of the DS. Nintendo introduced some distinctive new features these were a built-in microphone, support for WiFi connectivity and an LCD screen that was accompanied by a touchscreen  below the LCD screen. Nintendo DS users are also able to connect to each other over WiFi within a short range, this enable users to play against one another. There were three redesigns of the DS, they were the DS lite, the DSi and the DSi XL. The DS lite as you can tell by the name is a slimmer, brighter and a more lightweight design of the DS. The DSi is lighter than the DS lite, has a bigger screen, a camera, a music player and an internet browser. As of June 30th 2013, all Nintendo DS models combined have sold 153.93 million units, making it the best selling handheld console of all time and the second best selling console of all time.

PlayStation Portable

PlayStation Portable (PSP)

The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is Sony’s first handheld console and was released in 2004 and 2005. It can play PSP video games, music, videos and pictures, the games and movies come on a disc called a Universal Media Disc (UMD) they hold 1.8 GB which is more than a CD but less than a DVD. For the memory storage a memory stick duo pro is used, the PSP was the first handheld console to use discs instead of cartridges. Some distinctive features were that a large viewing screen, connectivity with the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 aswell as other PSP’s and the internet, it also had robust multi media capabilities. The console uses the PlayStation’s traditional button setup, this includes the circle, square, triangle and cross button, aswell as a D-pad and an analog ‘nub’.

Nintendo 3DS

Nintendo 3DS

The Nintendo 3DS is the successor of the Nintendo DS consoles and can display 3D effects without the need of glasses. The 3DS is an auto-stereoscopic device, which makes it capable of projecting stereoscropic 3D effects and the console is part of the eighth generation of consoles. It was released in 2011 and has backwards compatibility with the Nintendo DS. The console allows the user to play games in either 3D or 2D, there is a slider on the console that allows the user to change the level of 3D that is seen on the screen, normal DS games can only be played in 2D. The system includes 3 cameras, all of which are 3D which allows the user to take pictures and videos in 3D. In 2012 the 3DS XL was released which features larger screens, a longer battery life and is much bigger than the 3DS. The console was made to compete with PlayStation Vita.

PlayStation Vita

PlayStation Vita

The PlayStation Vita is the successor to the PSP and was released in 2011 and 2012. The handheld console includes a 5″ multi-touch capacitive touchscreen, two analog sticks and supports bluetooth & WiFi. The Vita features a quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore processor and a quad-core SGX543MP graphics processing unit.