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Perspectives on game consoles

Game consoles have been around for about 34 years now, the first real game console came out in 1972 by Magnavox and was called the Magnavox Odyssey, this game console was moderately popular until Atari's PONG came out and by 1975 Magnavox overwhelmed by the popularity of PONG and at this point the general public started to become aware of the emerging industry.

In 1976 a new console came out by Fairchild which was called the Fairchild Video Entertainment System or VES for short, Fairchild's VES contained a microprocessor and cartrides which spawned Atari to follow suit.

Then in 1977 manufactures saw a video game crash this affected Fairchild's VES and they were forced to abandon the project however Atari and Magnavox survived the market crash and in 1987 Magnavox came out with the Odyssey2 which was a cartridge based console. Around the same time the Odyssey2 came out Atari released the very successful Space Invaders which boosted there market shares and they dominated the market until the early 1980's. In my opinion this event sparked a video game war amoung companies that still last's to this very day.

In 1983 Nintendo came out with the Famicom in Japan, Famicom games were longer and had more detailed graphics over Atari's consoles, then in 1985 Nintendo brought the Famicom to the USA and they changed the form to create the Nintendo Entertainment System or NES for short. Nintendo released a very successful game known as Super Mario Brothers which gave them the oppurtunity to advance in the USA.

Nintendo had a couple of rival's but nothing serious until 1989 when the Sega Genesis came out, the Sega Genesis was Nintendo's greatest competitor until 1990 when Nintendo fought back and came out with the Super Nintendo Entertainment Systems (SNES), not long after the Atari Jaguar and the 3DO hit the market they were much better then the SNES and the Genesis mainly because they could render better and were cheaper to manufacture. However Sega and Nintendo have already grown to a size outside the USA that the Atari Jaguar and the 3DO could not hurt their market shares.

The Atari Jaguar suffered several problems and the 3DO was quiet expensive to buy back then and in 1994 when the Sony Playstation and Sega's Saturn hit the market both Atari's Jaguar and the 3DO dwindled away into the darkness. A small part of history that a lot of people did not know was that Nintendo and Sony were supposed to work on a deal to create a hybrid CD based game console with the Super


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