Evolution of Gaming
Developer: Magnavox Release Date: 1972 Units Sold: 330,000 Most Popular Games: Table Tennis & Dogfight Fact: The First console Fact: Lacked Sound Capabilities Innovation: Powered by batteries Developer: Nintendo Release Date: 1991 Units Sold: 49.1 million units sold Most Popular Game: Super Mario World Fact: Life Span: 19911999 Innovation: Regional Lock-Out
Generations 1-4
Magnavox Odyssey
Atari 2600
NES
SNES
Developer: Atari Release Date: 1977 Units Sold: 30 million Most Popular Game: Pac-Man Fact: Cost of development was over $100 million Fact: Although the unit sold for over $100.00, the units production costs were only $40.00
Developer: Nintendo Release Date: 1985 Units Sold: 60.91 million sold Most Popular Game: Super Mario Bros. Innovation: Games required Seal of Quality Fact: Wanted to release under Atari
Developer: Sega Release Date: 1994 Units Sold: 9.4 million sold Most popular game: Virtual Fighter 2 Innovation: Dual CPU Innovation: Most advanced hardware of the time Fact: Produced in secret under the code name, Aurora
Developer: Nintendo Release Date: 1996 Units Sold: 32.9 million sold Most Popular Game: Super Mario 64 Innovation: 64-bit CPU Fact: Produced in secret under code name, Project Reality Fact: Many game designers refused to design Nintendos game packs.
Generation 5
Sega Saturn
PlayStation
Nintendo 64
Developer: SONY Release Date: 1994 Units: 102.49 million sold Most Popular Game: Gran Turismo Innovation: Able to play audio CDs Fact: Largest number of available games Fact: Nintendo contracted Sony to produce CD drives. Nintendo then sued Sony claiming they stole their Idea
Developer: SONY Release Date: 2000 Units Sold: 153.6 Million Most Popular Game: Grand Theft Auto, San Andreas Innovation: Played DVD Movies Fact: Was redesigned for a more compact model
Generation 6
PS2
Game Cube
Xbox
Developer: Nintendo Release Date: 2001 Units Sold: 21.6 Million Most Popular Game: Super Smash Bros Melee Innovation: Game Boy Compatibility Innovation: First Console to use optical media
Developer: Microsoft Release Date: 2001 Most Popular Game: Halo 2 Innovation: Xbox Live: online gaming Innovation: Included Ethernet port
Developer: Microsoft Release Date: 2005 Units Sold: 75.9 Million Most Popular Game: COD: MW3 Innovation: Install Games from disk to hardrive Innovation: Xbox Video, watch TV and movies
Generation 7
XBOX 360
PS3
Wii
Developer: SONY Release Date: 2006 Units Sold: 70 Million Most Popular Game: COD: MW3 Innovation: Introduced the wireless controller Innovation: Blue-Ray capabilities
Developer: Nintendo Release Date: 2006 Units Sold: 99.39 Million Most Popular Game: Mario Kart Wii Innovation: Motion sensing Innovation: Two controllers in one: remote and nun-chuck
Sources:
http://www.ign.com http://www.computerandvideogames.com http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_video_game_consoles
