Generations of Video Game System: Defying the Method we Specify Entertainment

Posted by Lasonya on August 5th, 2021

Home entertainment takes its brand-new form. With the development of innovation and its combination to numerous elements of our lives, standard entertainment such as theatrical plays and cultural programs is changed by so-called "electronic home entertainment". There you have various digital and animated movies that you can view on cinema or on your house entertainment system, cable tv system (CTS), and the video game system, which is popular not simply to young and old gamers alike but likewise to game designers, simply because of the development of innovative technologies that they can use to improve existing game systems.

The video game system is meant for playing computer game, though there are contemporary game systems that allows you to have a gain access to over other kinds of home entertainment utilizing such game systems (like viewing DVD movies, listening to MP3 music files, or surfing the Web). Hence, it is typically referred to as "interactive entertainment computer" to distinguish the game system from a device that is used for various functions (such as personal computer and arcade games).

The very first generation of video game system started when Magnavox (an electronic devices business which produces tvs, radios, and gramophones or record players) launched its very first video game system, which is the Magnavox Odyssey created by Ralph Baer. Odyssey's appeal lasted till the release of Atari's PONG computer game. Magnavox realized that they can not compete with the appeal of PONG games, therefore in 1975 they developed the Odyssey 100 computer game system that will play Atari-produced PONG video games.

The 2nd generation of computer game system came a year after the release of Odyssey 100. In 1976, Fairchild launched the FVES (Fairchild Video Entertainment System), which made use of a programmable microprocessor so that a video game cartridge can hold a single ROM chip to conserve microprocessor instructions. However, because of the "video game crash" in 1977, Fairchild deserted the computer game system industry. Magnavox and Atari stayed in the video game market.

The renewal of the computer game system began when Atari released the popular arcade Area Invaders. The market was all of a sudden restored, with many gamers made purchase of an Atari computer game system just for Space Intruders. Simply put, with the popularity of Area Intruders, Atari dominated the computer game market throughout the 80s.

Computer game system's 3rd generation came into being after the release of Nintendo's Famicon in 1983. It supported complete color, high resolution, and tiled background video gaming system. It was at first released in Japan and it was later on given the United States in the form of Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1985. And similar to Atari's Space Intruders, the release of Nintendo's famous Super Mario Brothers was a huge success, which totally restored the suffering computer game system industry in the early months gamesread of 1983.

Sega planned to compete with Nintendo, however they failed to develop substantial market share. It was up until 1988 when Sega released the Sega Genesis in Japan on October 29 of the exact same year and on September 1, 1989 in the United States and Europe territories. 2 years later on, Nintendo released the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) in 1990.

Atari came back with their brand-new video game system, which is the Jaguar and 3DO. Both systems could display more onscreen colors and the latter used a CD instead of video game cartridges, making it more effective compared to Genesis and SNES. Nintendo, on the other hand, opted to release new video games such as Donkey Kong Nation instead of producing new video game systems. Sega's Vectorman and Virtua Racing did the same. Several years later, Sony, Sega, and Nintendo launched the 5th generation of computer game systems (PlayStation, Saturn, and N64, respectively).

The sixth generation of game systems followed, including Sega (Dreamcast, which was their last computer game system and the first Internet-ready game system), Sony (PlayStation 2), Nintendo (Video Game Cube which is their first system to make use of game CDs), and the beginner Microsoft (Xbox).

The current generation of video game systems is now gradually going into the game industry. These are as follows:

- Microsoft's Xbox, which was launched on November 22, 2005;

- Sony's PlayStation 3, which is schedule to be launched on November 11, 2006 (Japan), November 17 of the exact same year (North America), and March 2007 (Europe); and

- Nintendo's Wii, which is arranged to be released on November 19, 2006 (North America), December 2 of the very same year (Japan), December 7 (Australia), and December 8 (Europe).

The development of video game system does not end here. There will be future generations of video game system being established since this moment, which will defy the method we define "entertainment".