Atari Lynx 1989
The Atari Lynx is a 16-bit handheld console that was released by Atari Cooperation in September 1989. The Lynx holds the distinction of being the world's first handheld electronic game with a colour LCD. The system is also notable for its forward-looking features, advanced graphics, and ambidextrous layout. As part of the fourth generation of gaming, the Lynx competed with Nintendo's Game Boy (released just a month earlier), the Sega Game Gear and NEC'S TurboExpress, both released the following year. However, the Game Boy in particular, as well as the Sega Game Gear, outsold the Lynx. Atari failed to achieve the sale numbers required to attract quality third party developers and the Lynx was eventually abandoned.
Today, as with many older consoles, there is still a small group of devoted fans, creating and selling games for the system.
Sega Game Gear 1990
The Sega Game Gear is an 8-bit handheld game console released by Sega on October 6, 1990 in Japan. 1991 in North America and Europe, and Australia in 1992. As part of the forth generation of gaming, the Game Gear primarily competed with Nintendo's Gameboy, the Atari and NEC's TurboExpress. The handheld shares much of its hardware with the Sega Master System and is able to play its own titles as well as those of the Master System, the latter being made possible by the use of an adapter. Containing a full-colour backlit screen with a landscape format, Sega positioned the Game Gear as a technologically superior handheld to the Game Boy.
Though the Game Gear was rushed to market, its unique game library and price point gave it an edge over the Atari Lynx and TurboExpress. However, due to issues with its short battery life, lack of original titles, and weak support from Sega, the Game Gear was unable to beat the Game Boy, selling approximately 11 million units. The Game Gear was succeeded by the Sega Nomad in 1995, and was discontinued in 1997. A rerelease of the system was done by Majesco in 2000. Several Game Gear titles were released on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual console service on the Nintendo eShop in 2012. Retrospective reception to the Game Gear is mixed with criticisms over its battery life, praises for its full-color backlit screen, and uneven reception over the quality of its game libary
PlayStation 1994
The PlayStation is a series of video games consoles created and developed by Sony Computer Entertainment with consoles in the fifth to eight generations. The brand was first introduced on December 3, 1994 in Japan with the launch of the original PlayStation console. It now consists of a total of three core home consoles, as well as a media center, an online service, a line of controllers, two handhelds and a phone, as well as multiple magazines.
The first console in the series, the PlayStation, was the first video game console to ship 100 million units, 9 years and 6 months after its initial launch. Its successor, the PlayStation 2 was released in 2000. The PlayStation 2 is the best selling home console to date, having reached over 150 million units sold as of January 31, 2011. Sony's latest console, the PlayStation 3 , was released in 2006 has sold over 75 million consoles worldwide.
Game Boy colour 1998
The Game Boy Colour, sometimes referred as GBC, is a handheld game console developed by Nintendo and released on October 21, 1998 in Japan, November 18, 1998
in North America,
November 23, 1998 in Europe and November 27, 1998 in Australia. It is the
successor of the original Game Boy.
The Game Boy Colour,
as suggested by the name, features a colour screen. It is slightly thicker and
taller than the Game Boy Pocket, which is a redesigned Game Boy released in 1996. As with the
original Game Boy, it has an 8-bit processor.
As part of the fifth generation of gaming (post-1997), the Game Boy Colour's
primary competitors were the Neo Geo Pocket and the Wonderswan, though the Game Boy Colour outsold these by a huge margin. The Game Boy
and Game Boy Colour combined have sold 118.69 million units worldwide.
Dreamcast 1998
The Dreamcast is a video game console that was released by Sega in
November 1998 in Japan and later in 1999 in other territories. It was the first
entry in the sixth generation of
gaming consoles, preceding its rivals, the Playstation
2, Xbox and GameCube. The Dreamcast was Sega's
last home console to date.
Sega
intended to launch the console as part of a comeback after its previous efforts
with the Sega Saturn failed. With a strong marketing
campaign and reformed studios to develop new creative content, the Dreamcast
was initially well received with a very successful launch and strong sales.
However when Sony announced the eagerly awaited PlayStation 2, sales of the
Dreamcast plummeted and it lost its momentum. Sega later came to the
realization that it did not have the resources to compete as it was in dire
financial straits. The company discontinued the Dreamcast in North America
early in March 2001, withdrawing from the console hardware
business altogether and restructuring itself as a third-party developers. Support of the
system continued in Europe and Oceania until the end of 2002, while in Japan, consoles were still sold until 2007 and
new licensed games continued to be released. 10.6
million units were sold worldwide, as of 2002.
Despite its short lifespan, the
Dreamcast was widely hailed as ahead of its time. It saw the release of many
new game series which have been considered creative and innovative, such as Crazy Taxi, Set Radio, and Shenmue, the most expensive
game ever produced upon release. Ports of games from other platforms were also
praised for the system and the console introduced many aesthetic and software
design features to be later emulated. It was the first games console to render full frames
(as opposed to interlaced only) in VGA mode at 640x480 and it continues to be
held in high regard for pioneering online console gaming; it was the first
console to include a built-in modem and Internet support for online play The Dreamcast is still highly regarded
and remembered, and its influence can be greatly seen in Microsoft's Xbox, as
Sega worked with the company before the Xbox's release. As of 2013, the Dreamcast is still
supported via small independent companies such as Redspot Games and the GOAT store. The Dreamcast was chosen
as the best console ever by PC
Magazine
GameCube 2001
The GameCube is a video game console released by Nintendo on September 14, 2001, in Japan and November 18, 2001, in North America. It was later released worldwide in 2002. The sixth-generation console was the successor to the Nintendo 64 and competed with Sony's Playstations 2, Microsoft's Xbox, and Sega's Dreamcast.
The GameCube was the first Nintendo console to use optical discs for its primary storage medium. The discs are similar to the miniDVD format, and as a result of their smaller size, the system was not designed to play standard DVDs or audio CDs. Nintendo also introduced a variety of connectivity options for the GameCube. It was the first Nintendo console to support online gaming, which relied on the use of an add-on broadband or modem adaptor that was sold separately. Game support and availability of the adapter was, however, very limited. The GameCube also supported connectivity to the Game Boy Advanced, allowing players to access exclusive in-game features using the handheld as a second screen and controller.
Reception of the GameCube was generally mixed. Some praised the extensive software library and high-quality games, while others criticized the console's exterior design and lack of features. The GameCube sold approximately 22 million units worldwide before being discontinued in 2007. Its successor, the Wii, was released in November 2006.
Xbox 2002
The original Xbox was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console market. As part of the sixth-generation of gaming, the Xbox competed with Sony's Playstation, Nintendo's Gamecube which stopped American sales before the Xbox went on sale), and Nintendo's Gamecube. The Xbox was the first console offered by an American company after the Atari Jaguar stopped sales in 1996. The name Xbox was derived from a contraction of DirectX Box, a reference to Microsoft's graphics API, DirectX.
The integrated Xbox Live service launched in November 2002 allowed players to play games online with a broadband connection. It first competed with Dreamcast's online service but later primarily competed with Playstation 2's online service. Although these two are free while Xbox Live required a subscription, as well as broadband-only connection which was not completely adopted yet, Xbox Live was a success due to better servers, features such as a buddy list, and milestone titles like Halo 2 released in November 2004, which is the best-selling Xbox video game and was by far the most popular online game for years.
N-Gage 2003
The N-Gage is a mobile phone and handheld game system by Nokia, based on the Nokia series 60 platform, released on 7 October 2003. The N-Gage QD replaced the original N-Gage in 2004.
N-Gage attempted to lure gamers away from the Game Boy Advance by including mobile phone functionality. This was unsuccessful, partly because the buttons, designed for a phone, were not well-suited for gaming and when used as a phone the original N-Gage was described as resembling a "taco".
In 2005, Nokia announced that it would move its N-Gage games capabilities onto a series of smartphones. These Symbian devices have been available since early 2007, and a pre-release version of the N-Gage application allowing users to purchase and download games was made available for download from the official N-Gage website on 4 February 2008. The full version of the N-Gage service was released to the public on 3 April 2008. On 30 October 2009, Nokia pronounced the end of the N-Gage service at the end of 2010
PlayStation Portable 2004
The PlayStation Portable sometimes abbreviated as PSP, is a handheld game console made by Sony. Development of the console was announced during E3 2003 and it was unveiled on May 11, 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004. The system was released in Japan on December 12, 2004,in North America on March 24, 2005, and in the PAL on September 1, 2005.
Nintendo DS 2004
The Nintendo DS is a dual-screen handheld console developed and released by Nintendo. The device went on sale in North America on November 21, 2004. The DS, short for "dual screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld gaming: an LCD screen working in tandem with a touchscreen a built-in microphone, and support for wireless conectivity Both screens are encompassed within a clamshell design similar to the Game Boy Advanced SP. The Nintendo DS also features the ability for multiple DS consoles to directly interact with each other over Wi-Fi within a short range without the need to connect to an existing wireless network. Alternatively, they can interact online using the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection service.
Prior to its release, the Nintendo DS was marketed as a "third pillar" in Nintendo's console lineup, meant to complement the Game Boy Advance and GameCube. However, backward compatibility with Game Boy Advance titles and strong sales ultimately established the new handheld console as the successor to the Game Boy series. On March 2, 2006, Nintendo launched the Nintendo DS Lite, a slimmer and lighter redesign of the original Nintendo DS with brighter screens. On November 1, 2008, Nintendo released the Nintendo DSi, another redesign with several hardware improvements and new features. As of June 30, 2013, all Nintendo DS models combined have sold 153.93 million units, making it the best selling handheld game console to date, and the second best selling game console of all time.
Nintendo Wii 2006
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's Playstation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others. As of the first quarter of 2012, the Wii leads the generation over PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in worldwide sales; in December 2009, the console broke the sales record for a single month in the United States.
The Wii introduced the Wii remote controller, which can be used as a handheld pointing device and which detects movement in three dimensions. Another notable feature of the console is Wiiconnect 24, which enables it to receive messages and updates over the Internet while in standby mode Like other seventh-generation consoles, it features a game download service, called "Virtual Console", which features emulated games from past systems.
It succeeds the Nintendo Gamecube, with early models being full backward compatible with all GameCube games and most accessories. Nintendo first spoke of the console at the 2004 E3 press conference and later unveiled it at the 2005 E3. Nintendo CEO Saturo Iwata revealed a prototype of the controller at the September 2005 Tokyo Game Show at E3 2006, the console won the first of several awards. By December 8, 2006, it had completed its launch in the four key markets.
In late 2011 Nintendo released a reconfigured model, the "Wii family edition", which removed Nintendo GameCube compatibility; this model was not released in Japan. The Wii mini, Nintendo's first major console redesign since the compact SNES, succeeded the standard Wii model on December 7, 2012 in Canada. The Wii Mini can only play Wii optical dics, as it omits GameCube and online gameplay capabilities.
Wii U 2012
The Wii U is a video game console from Nintendo and the successor to the Wii. The system was released on November 18, 2012, in North America; November 30, 2012, in the PAL regions; and on December 8, 2012, in Japan. It is the first entry in the eight generation of games consoles and will compete with Sony's Playstation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One.
The Wii U is the first Nintendo console to support High-definition graphics, capable of producing video output up to 1080p, and has 2 GB of RAM with half dedicated to the console's operating system. The console was released in two versions: a "Basic" white-colored version with 8 GB of internal Flash storage; and a "Deluxe"/"Premium" black-colored version with 32 GB of Flash storage. The Deluxe package additionally includes stands for the console and for the GamePad, a charging dock for the GamePad, and a pack-in game. An HDMI cable is included with both versions. The Wii U's primary controller is the Wii U Gamepad, which features an embedded touchscreen. The touchscreen is used to supplement the main gameplay shown on the television or, with games supporting Off-TV play, can allow the player to continue playing games by displaying the main gameplay even when the television is off. In addition to the Wii U GamePad, a more traditional controller, called the Wii U Pro Controller, may be used.
The system is backward compatible with Wii, and Wii U games may support compatibility with Wii peripherals, such as the Wii Remote and the Nunchuck. While it is not backward compatible with Nintendo Gamecube discs or peripherals, Nintendo of America's director of entertainment and trend marketing indicated that select GameCube titles would become available for download, although Nintendo has since stated it has nothing to announce regarding this.
