Gaming Technology
History of In-home Gaming Systems
The in-home game systems of today are considered fifth-generation which means that people have been able to play games in their homes since the 70s. From the time of the first in-home gaming system to today’s there has been a challenge in the gaming market to make the systems appeal to more and more people. How do the gaming companies plan to do this? How do the gaming systems change to meet the competitors system? These are all relevant questions when studying the history of in-home gaming. Throughout the history of gaming, programmers have tried to make games more lifelike by producing better graphics and programs for their games.
In the first generation of in-home gaming systems graphics were mainly pixel imaging on a screen with very little details. At that time gaming was still mainly for the arcade, which had parts that were bulky and heavy, even though these game systems were only eight bit systems and graphics. These systems were the only way to game at the performance of an eight bit system. According to "A History of Video Game Consoles" (2012), “… [the Magnavox Odyssey was] the first commercial video-game console” ("A History of Video Game Consoles", 2012). With introduction of the Magnavox Odyssey, the public now had a choice to go to the arcade or to buy an in-home system and enjoy gaming without having to pay for ever session. A few years after the Magnavox Odyssey a new system was introduced to the public, this system was the Atari 2600 VCS. The Atari had the same performance system that the Odyssey. At this time cartridges were the only way to store game data for the gaming systems. Out of the two first generation in-home gaming systems Atari was the dominate console with the most sales ("Classic Gaming", 1996-2011).
The second generation of in-home gaming systems was the Nintendo which had an eight bit system still and the Sega Genesis which had a 16 bit system and graphic card which made the graphics for
The in-home game systems of today are considered fifth-generation which means that people have been able to play games in their homes since the 70s. From the time of the first in-home gaming system to today’s there has been a challenge in the gaming market to make the systems appeal to more and more people. How do the gaming companies plan to do this? How do the gaming systems change to meet the competitors system? These are all relevant questions when studying the history of in-home gaming. Throughout the history of gaming, programmers have tried to make games more lifelike by producing better graphics and programs for their games.
In the first generation of in-home gaming systems graphics were mainly pixel imaging on a screen with very little details. At that time gaming was still mainly for the arcade, which had parts that were bulky and heavy, even though these game systems were only eight bit systems and graphics. These systems were the only way to game at the performance of an eight bit system. According to "A History of Video Game Consoles" (2012), “… [the Magnavox Odyssey was] the first commercial video-game console” ("A History of Video Game Consoles", 2012). With introduction of the Magnavox Odyssey, the public now had a choice to go to the arcade or to buy an in-home system and enjoy gaming without having to pay for ever session. A few years after the Magnavox Odyssey a new system was introduced to the public, this system was the Atari 2600 VCS. The Atari had the same performance system that the Odyssey. At this time cartridges were the only way to store game data for the gaming systems. Out of the two first generation in-home gaming systems Atari was the dominate console with the most sales ("Classic Gaming", 1996-2011).
The second generation of in-home gaming systems was the Nintendo which had an eight bit system still and the Sega Genesis which had a 16 bit system and graphic card which made the graphics for
References: A History of Video Game Consoles. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/interactive/0,31813,2029221,00.html Classic Gaming. (1996-2011). Retrieved from http://classicgaming.gamespy.com/genesis/ G4 (2011, February 20). The Complete History of the Sony PlayStation [Video file]. Retrieved from YouTube website: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ryi1QBA6XyI#!