Video Game Consoles

Home consoles are any systems that plug into your TV and allow you to play video games. The earliest systems hit the market in the late 1970's. Atari made a name in the 1980's for their systems that featured interchangeable games. Today, video game consoles offer enormous processing power and massive game libraries.

Sony entered the video game market in the mid 1990's with the small gray PlayStation. Due to the exclusive titles and large number of hit games, it was an immediate success. The PlayStation was the first mass-market home console to feature games on CDs. Its successor, the PlayStation 2, was the first to use the DVD format for games.

Microsoft just couldn't resist entering the blooming world of video games. The mid-late 90's release of the Xbox introduced many elements of PC gaming to the home market. It wasn't until games like Halo came along that the Xbox took off and became popular in the U.S. The Xbox is a rather large machine and is usually pitch black with the famous "X" logo blazoned in green over the top.

Nintendo has a long and illustrious history in the video game console market. From the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1986, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System several years later, followed by the Nintendo 64 that fought a battle with Sony's PlayStation system, to the Nintendo GameCube of today. The aptly-named GameCube is small and cubical and is the first Nintendo console to use disc media as opposed to cartridges.

Nintendo released the DS (Dual Screen) in late 2004. Featuring two screens, the lower of which is a touch pad, Nintendo promised the system would open new possibilities in video gaming. Their marketing campaign, "Touching is good", was aggressive and largely successful. The DS now has a respectable library of games and will soon be the home to Nintendo's first online service, Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.

The sleek black system with a famously wide screen was Sony's answer to the Nintendo DS. The PlayStation Portable comes packed with a lot of processing power; the beautiful games (often 3D) show its speed quite well. Utilizing UMD discs and memory sticks, the PSP can play movies and music on the go. It's steep price tag of around $250 kept initial sales lower than expected.

The name is ubiquitous with portable gaming. The Game Boy Advance (GBA) is one of the latest in a long and illustrious line of Nintendo handheld systems. Begun in 1989, the Game Boy series became immensely popular and are the most widely known systems to date. Nintendo introduced the Game Boy Advance SP in the late 90's that featured a backlit screen, rechargeable battery and new clamshell design.

Introduced in late 2005, the Game Boy Micro is compatible with all Game Boy Advance games. However, it's almost microscopic size (just a few inches long, the size of an iPOD) and bright, crisp screen make it very attractive for gamers needing a truly portable device.

There are many other video game consoles that have graced the market over the past years. Sega introduced the Genesis, the handheld GameGear, 32x, Saturn and DreamCast and was a strong competitor for Nintendo before leaving the hardware market. Lesser-known systems such as the Phillips CD-i, Commodore's CDTV, the 3DO, NeoGeo's systems and Atari's Jaguar enjoyed only limited success and a small (but often devoted) fanbase.

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