I was one of the 80’s kids who owned the first Nintendo system, and what an exciting Christmas that was! The Nintendo was definitely a jewel of the 80’s that will always hold a place in video game history, but we also have to recognize the early generation systems like the Magnavox Odyssey , Odyssey 2, Atari 2600 and ColecoVision. What puts Nintendo at top is that Nintendo revolutionized the way video games were played by not only having cool looking games, but they also added extended interactivity with accessories like the track and field pad, the gun, and the power glove, on top of having games with amazing game play. I even miss blowing out the cartridge just to even get the game to work!
After Nintendo’s 8-bit reign, the 16-bit systems took over the market. Nintendo introduced the Super Nintendo and Sega introduced the Sega Genesis. Both were excellent systems and I can’t say which was better because both hosted an array of great titles. There was also a 16-bit system called TurboGrafix which did very well in 
Now drifting a bit into time, we go into the fifth generation of game consoles. The Atari Jaguar, 3DO, Sony Playstation, Sega Saturn and Nintendo 64 were all introduced. All were great systems but Jaguar and 3DO didn’t have the third party support needed, plus programming was a difficult task for each system. Nintendo failed when Sony decided not to create the CD add-on for SNES. Sony later took the new technology and created the Sony Playstation, which became a huge success. Nintendo had mild success with the Nintendo 64, but unlike other companies they decided to continue using Rom cartridges. Since cartridges hold less memory and cost more, the system eventually fell into a black hole. The Sony Playstation dominated the market by selling well over 100 million consoles.
Ok, lets speed through time a bit more. We get into the sixth generation of the console wars. We are now introduced to the Sony Playstation 2, Sega Dreamcast, Microsoft Xbox, and Nintendo Gamecube. All offered more processing power and memory than previous systems, but in my opinion, the Sega Dreamcast was ahead of the game as far as graphics, gameplay, and cool titles. “Power Stone” was one of my favorite games for that system. The system ended up getting discontinued in 2001. Playstation 2 was the first to offer DVD playback and backwards compatibility, the Gamecube used the 8cm optical, and Xbox was the first to use a hard drive. Xbox was more like a PC inside of a console and was very successful due to the “Halo” franchise. The Gamecube also was a cool system and was very affordable compared to Xbox and Playstation 2. Although each system hosted a great lineup of games, Sony continued to dominate the market by selling over 120 million units.
Now we’re into the seventh generation of gaming. The Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360 both have even more amazing graphics and much higher processing power, but Nintendo has finally made a very strong comeback. Nintendo introduced the Wii back in 2006 and the high amount of sales has even shocked Nintendo. The systems graphics isn’t up to par with its competitors, but the innovative gameplay is what makes this system great. It uses a wireless remote called the Wii Remote, which is used as a pointing device and can detect movement in three dimensions. The system is so fun to play that it has even attracted a wider demographic. Well, with all this said, we’ve seen a lot of growth in the gaming market. We’ve seen highly detailed graphics, backwards compatibility, high processing power, Bluetooth capability, wireless interactive gameplay, and online gameplay. What’s next? I’m sure the game wars will not end with the current systems and they will always try to out perform each other. I think the Nintendo Wii is probably the next standard in gameplay. Since it’s now introduced it can only get better with time.
Now I’d like to hear what others think future gaming will be like.
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A buddy of mine wrote a blog post on the history of video game consoles, and asks for predictions on the next gen. What'll happen after the Wii, the PS3 and the Xbox360? [... read rest]
nintendeo scrapped the cd addon after seeing segas fail, and also had a deal with another company, behind sony's back, which is what fuled sony to release the cd addon as a stand alone system. hehe
I think oneday it'll be like the Matrix. We can just plug something into our head that will send us into whatever virtual world possible. ahhh the possibilities :D
If you look up Johnny Lee on youtube you will find some interesting videos of what the Wii may hold for the future of gaming. I think graphical improvement will slow down and gameplay is going to become vital. Enhanced graphics are extremely costly and in the end don't contribute to a better game. I would love to see more games take risks for the sake of finding new gameplay mechanics and level designs.
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