The Shortened History Of Video Games Consoles by Sam Deane
1. The Shortened History Of Video Games Consoles by Sam
Deane
Although there had been gazillion brilliant inventions by that time, it was not until 1949 that video
games consoles were ever considered. It was in that year that Ralph Beer got the idea to create a
kind of game that was built into the inside of a television. However, it was to be a further 18 years
before Beer's idea started to really catch on.
It was then, using a kind of an oscilloscope, that Willy Higginbotham created a game similar to
tennis which could be played on something similar to today's TV. Realizing this was a great idea,
very quickly lots of people got in on the act, developing all kinds of video games.
Soon the big boys got a clear view of the enormous potential of these games. Soon, video games
were being mass-produced. One of the original and most celebrated of these video games consoles
was the American company Atari. The hugely successful Sega was to originate in that era also, as
did Nintendo, one of the most successful video games consoles manufacturers ever.
It was not to be long before a new era of video games technology was to begin. This new era was to
be marked by the dawn of the video games system. Video games consoles, also known as video
games systems, are bits of high-end electronic technology that are designed specifically to do one
thing - play video games using TV or computer screen.
With a video games console, the controller acts as the main input device. Controllers comes in all
shapes and sizes. They may be steering wheels, joysticks, light rays, guns ... you name it. There have
been any number of types of controllers. They are all used to direct the action of the video game.
It was in 1972 that video games consoles began to take a hold of the market. Coleco Telstar and
Magnavox Odyssey were two leading lights in those days, but it would not be long before the Atari
2600 transformed the video games consoles industry with their cartridge based 8-bit console
systems.
With competition from companies like Intellivision and Vectrex, a further massive technological leap
occurred in the form of the release of the Sega Nomad. This 16-bit system became 'the daddy' for a
while despite intense competition from such excellent bits of kit as the Phillips CD-I and Supervision.
This reign lasted until the release of the 32/64 bit consoles of the Nintendo 64DD and the ill-fated
Apple Pippin. Hand-held video games consoles were getting hugely popular as the majors began to
take control. Now companies like Microsoft, Sega and Sony were taking over with their Xbox 2001,
Dreamcast and PlayStation respectively.
This is swiftly taking us all the way up to the present day with the technology of the modern portable
video games consoles. These days, Microsoft's Xbox-360 and the Sony PlayStations rule the roost,
arriving fully loaded with increasingly stronger, larger, faster, in-built hard drives. As these units get
more and more powerful, so the video game designers can do even more incredible things with the
medium.
We are now in the era of the Xbox Elite and the PlayStation 3 video games consoles. It is almost
2. impossible to choose between these two great video games consoles. The end of this article is not
the place to start in on that subject. Suffice it to say, these cutting edge devices that take no
prisoners. So, if you are about to buy a new version of one of these two video games consoles, lock
and load and get ready for the ride of your life!
