Tech Review

Game console

A game console or game machine is a type of computer manufactured specifically for playing video games . The game console strive to be as easy to use as possible, for example, you can use an ordinary TV set as the monitor , and the upgrade is done primarily by a completely new machine rather than new components. Games can be both stationary and portable.

Past performance [ edit | edit source ]

The first game console appeared in 1972 in the United States . It was the American company Magnavox who released his Magnavox Odyssey . Atari developed its popular arcade game Pong to video games for home use, and these two machines are counted as the first generation of game consoles. The first video game crash occurred in 1977 and was caused by the market was flooded with more or less legal pong clones and lack of renewal. The company Atari managed to get through the crisis and launched a new machine ( Atari 2600), which also would be normative and start a wave of new games consoles like Fairchild Channel F , Philips G7000 and Intellivision .These machines belong to the second generation of game consoles .

The second video game crash occurred during late 1983 and early 1984 due to a combination of the failing economy, lack of innovation and the introduction of inexpensive personal computers as the Commodore 64 . This time it was Nintendo that with its 8-bit machineNES in 1986 later started the video game land spirit again. Commodore also made an unsuccessful attempt to break into the console market by launching its popular home computer as a gaming console, C64GS , Atari tried the same with its Atari Xegs . Atari 7800 was another attempt by Atari to remain on the console market. In Sweden hit game console use it big in Sweden with the NES. International had Sega great success with its Sega Master System , NES main competitor. These machines belong to the third generation consoles .

In the early 1990s, was released in Nintendo’s 16-bit console SNES and Sega Sega Mega Drive in Sweden. They were popular, but had competition from 16-bit computers Amiga 500 and Atari ST . Commodore failed break through with his Amiga CD32 . 16-bit machines are counted as the fourth-generation game consoles .

Atari was the first with a 64-bit consoles in 1993, Atari Jaguar , which, however, flopped dramatically and contributed to Atari’s bankruptcy. The same applies to the Commodore 32-bit machine Amiga CD32 (1993). Sega launched the 1995 32-bit machine Sega Saturn had some success, but not in the vicinity of Nintendo Nintendo 64 in 1996. Dominating the 90s, however, was Sony’s PlayStation(1995). 32- and 64-bit machines belonged to the fifth generation consoles .

From the mid 1990s gaming consoles become more than just pure gaming machines, instead they evolved into complete machines formultimedia , early examples are Amiga CD32 and Playstation, which could play music CDs. The sixth-generation consoles start, however, with Sega’s last game machine, the Sega Dreamcast which, however, was discontinued in 2001 with the Microsoft Xbox was imminent. Something went better for the Nintendo Gamecube as mediocre sold 21 million units. As mentioned took Microsoft for the first time into the console market with its Xbox, released in 2002. This machine could with third-party software converted to a full fledged media center. Some consoles also made it possible to surf the Internet . Sony’s PlayStation 2 was completely dominant in this generation of consoles.

The seventh-generation game consoles started for portable consoles in 2004 with the Nintendo DS and the home consoles in 2005 with Microsoft’s Xbox 360 . All home consoles of this generation uses wireless controllers and processors based on the PowerPC . Other consoles of this generation is the Nintendo Wii and Sony’s PlayStation 3 .

The best selling game consoles to date, Playstation 2 for desktop and Nintendo DS for portable consoles.

The latest generation of consoles consist of:

  • Nintendo 3DS
  • Playstation Vita
  • Xbox One
  • Nintendo Wii U
  • Playstation 4

Release [ edit | edit source ]

Area
Console USA Japan Europe
Magnavox 1972-XX-XX – 1972-XX-XX 1972-XX-XX
Fairchild Video Entertainment System (VES) 1976-XX-XX 1972-XX-XX 1972-XX-XX
Nintendo Entertainment System ( NES ) 1983-07-15 1983-07-15 1986-09-01
Sega Mega Drive 1992-10-15 1991-12-12 1993-04-19
Super Nintendo Entertainment System ( SNES ) 1991-08-23 1990-11-21 1992-04-11
Sega Saturn 1995-05-11 1994-11-22 1995-07-08
Playstation 1995-09-09 1994-12-03 1995-09-29
Nintendo 64 (N64) 1996-09-29 1996-06-23 1997-03-01
Dreamcast 1999-10-14 1998-11-27 1999-10-14
Playstation 2 (PS2) 2000-10-26 2000-03-04 2000-11-24
Xbox 2001-11-15 2002-02-22 2002-03-14
Nintendo GameCube (NGC) 2001-11-18 2001-09-14 2002-05-03
Xbox 360 2005-11-22 2005-12-10 2005-12-02
Nintendo Wii (Wii) 2006-11-19 2006-10-02 2006-10-08
Playstation 3 (PS3) 2006-11-17 2006-11-11 2007-03-23
Nintendo Wii U 2012-11-18 2012-12-08 2012-11-30
Xbox One 2013-11-22 2014-09-04 2014-11-05
Playstation 4 (PS4) 2013-11-15 2014-02-22 2013-11-29

Interface [ edit | edit source ]

Input Devices [ edit | edit source ]

The default type of input devices for game consoles are generally controller . These have become far more advanced with every generation of consoles. There are several types of input devices as accessories, such as dance mats and light guns .

Output Devices [ edit | edit source ]

Output device for image usually consists of a standard TV screen or video projector . Output device for sound can often be TV or a conventional stereo .

The difference between consoles and PCs [ edit | edit source ]

A commercial difference between computer games for personal computers and video games for game consoles is that the console manufacturer should have a certain amount for each game copies produced for the console and sometimes even a certain degree of control over the quality and content, while video games can be made by anyone without license to someone. This creates a more cohesive market and increases the profiling of the machine itself.

A spelkonsols advantages over a personal computer is

  • Physical Convenience: The console takes little space compared to a computer box , and can be easily connected to both small and large displays.
  • Effectiveness: Unlike computer needs a game console does not run any processes except those needed for the game.
  • Compatibility between the hardware and software: PC game releases must be possible to configure the different machines with varying performance, while video-game editions just need to work a kind of machine.
  • Copy Protection: Game cartridges for game consoles can not copy the everyday computer equipment, while the computer owners anywhere can copy and distribute PC games.This is an advantage for gaming companies thus sell more copies.
  • Simplicity: the games do not need to be installed and you can even just start and play.

The computer’s advantages over a game console are:

  • Versatility: A personal computer can be used for things other than games. You can also make many game-related things with a computer, such as creating user-generated content to the game.
  • Upgradability: A computer can be upgraded with new components.
  • Market size: There are more PCs, and thus more accessible game titles for PCs than consoles. This does not apply to Apple computers, although more game titles released for Apple’s Macintosh computers.
  • Other types of interfaces: Mainly keyboard and mouse. Some games are better suited to them than a game controller.

1

  • 3DO

A

  • Action Max
  • Adventure Vision
  • Amiga CD32
  • Amstrad GX 4000
  • Apple Pippin
  • 2001 Arcadia
  • Atari 2600
  • Atari 2600 Jr.
  • Atari 5200
  • Atari 7800
  • Atari Jaguar
  • Atari Jaguar CD
  • Atari Lynx
  • Atari Xegs

B

  • Bally Astrocade

C

  • Epoch Cassette Vision
  • In CD
  • Coleco Telstar
  • ColecoVision
  • C64GS
  • Creativision
  • Cybiko

E

  • Entex Adventure Vision

F

  • Fairchild Channel F
  • Famicom
  • Famicom Disk System
  • FM Towns Marty

G

  • Game.com
  • Game Boy
  • Game Boy Advance
  • Game Boy Advance SP
  • Game Boy Color
  • Game Boy Micro
  • Game Boy Pocket
  • GP32
  • GP2X

H

  • Halcyon

The

  • Indrema L600
  • Intellivision

L

  • Laser Active

M

  • Magnavox Odyssey
  • Microvision
  • MP-1000

N

  • N-Gage
  • Neo Geo
  • Neo Geo CD
  • Neo Geo Pocket
  • Neo Geo Pocket Color
  • Nintendo 3DS
  • Nintendo 64
  • Nintendo DS
  • Nintendo Entertainment System
  • Nintendo Gamecube

O

  • OnLive

P

  • Pandora (console)
  • Phantom
  • Philips Videopac G7000
  • Pico (game console)
  • playdia
  • Playstation
  • Playstation 2
  • Playstation 3
  • Playstation 4
  • Playstation Portable
  • Playstation Vita
  • Pong

R

  • RCA Studio II
  • R-Zone

S

  • Sega 32X
  • Sega Dreamcast
  • Sega Game Gear
  • Sega Mark III
  • Sega Master System
  • Sega Master System II
  • Sega Mega Drive
  • Sega Mega Drive II
  • Sega Mega Drive 3
  • Sega Multi-Mega
  • Sega Neptune
  • Sega Nomad
  • Sega Saturn
  • SG-1000
  • Super Nintendo Entertainment System
  • Supervision
  • Crystal Swan

T

  • Telstar Arcade
  • Turbo Express
  • TurboGrafx-16

V

  • Vectrex
  • Virtual Boy

W

  • Wii
  • Wii U
  • Wonder Swan
  • Wonder Swan Color

X

  • Xbox
  • Xbox 360
  • Xbox One
  • X’eye
  • XGP
  • XGP Mini
  • XGP-Kids