The document traces the history and evolution of video game consoles from 1972 to 2012. It discusses early consoles like the Magnavox Odyssey, the Atari 2600, and the Nintendo Entertainment System. It then covers the rise of Sony with the PlayStation and Microsoft with the original Xbox. Handheld gaming devices like the Game Boy and Nintendo DS are also summarized. The document concludes by mentioning upcoming consoles like the Wii U.

1. Mollie Wingham

2. In 1972 a USA electric company called
Magnavox produced the very first games
console that connected to a TV set. It was
named Odyssey. At first it didn't do very well
because it was new and not known, it was the
next generation of gaming that people were
uncertain about. However, three years later Invented by Ralph H. Baer
Magnavox bought out the Odyssey 100 which
focused on playing ping pong and hockey
but online. This was more successful. For the
following three years they continued to
upgrade the console making it better each
time. For example they made it for four
players and added games to it.
Atari 2600 was released in 1977. Atari Inc. produced a gaming console that you could
put different games cartridges in and play different games instead of them being built
in. Over the years Atari Inc. made many more games consoles.

3. 1983 bought a new console called the
Famicom also known as the NES (Nintendo
Entertainment System). Nintendo released
the console that had longer games, more
and better quality graphics and colour.
In 1987 the first handheld colour game
console was made and put in shops to sell.
Its was the Atari Lynx. It could be turned
upside down to accommodate left handed
players, also it could connect with up to 17
different players.
Sega Genesis was released in 1989, also by
Nintendo but also by Sega. They wanted to
release something bigger and better after
the five year success of the Famicom. This
console even had add-ons like Sega CD
AND Sega 3x2. The Sega Genesis was a
generally better console over all, it was also
4th generation.

4. The game boy was released in
Europe in 1990. At this point there
had been a few hand-held game
consoles made but this one was
particularly successful because it
released a game that came with the
game boy called ‘Tetris’. It was the
next up to date console, over the
next 15 years Nintendo continued to
update the game boy with, game
boy colour, advance, pocket and
loud.
The 90s was a big decade for consoles. In 1995 Sony produced the
next best console called ‘PlayStation’. With this console new games
were released which increased its profit. Again a few years later the
PlayStation2 was released and is one of the most sold and popular
game consoles made so far.

5. The Xbox was Microsoft's first independent
console in the games console market. Unlike 20
years ago cartridges were no longer being used.
The new thing was disks, which you place in the
console and it reads information, games didn’t
come already on the Xbox, you had to buy them
separately. A year after that (2002) came Xbox live.
This allowed people to play games together and
connect to talk all around the world, however you
did have to sign up for this.
In 2005 Microsoft bout out the new and improved
Xbox 360. Whereas the controller for Xbox was
plugged in, the 360 controller was not, also this
console has online features.
Over the last few years the technology for gaming
has improved and there is now Xbox connect
where you don’t even have to have a control to play
a game, there is a sensor that picks up movement.

6. 2004 Bought the latest hand held
console along with it being the second
most popular console of all time,
behind the PlayStation2. This is a
smaller device than the Atari Lynx, and
obviously the graphics are a lot better.
You could play game boy games as well
as DS games on this console. I think
this is partly why it was so popular. It
was also by Nintendo. The DS lite came
2 years after the original DS, it was a
much better looking console, lighter in
colour and the visual effects are clearer.
Recently the Nintendo DSi came out
and even more recently the Nintendo
3DS which has 3D visual effects, you
can also take pictures on it.

7. In 2006 the Nintendo Wii bought a new meaning
to a family games console, for this reason it was
and very successful. Without a wire to connect to
the actual console, you could strap the remote to
your wrist and play the games, getting exercise as
well as having fun.
2007 gave us a very small hand held devise that
allows you, internet, music and mini games
which cost a lot less then your normal games
console, over the next few years the released
better versions of the iPod touch. They had
cameras and better memory, they were also
thinner.
The Wii u is set to be released a few weeks from
today, (30th November 2012) it is an 8th generation
games console and has been made due to the Wii
being a hit. It will be the latest and most up to
date console in the world. It enables you to
connect games to the wii and play together or