Entertainment takes its new type. With the development of innovation and its combination to various elements of our lives, standard home entertainment such as theatrical plays and cultural shows is replaced by so-called "electronic entertainment". There you have different digital and animated movies that you can enjoy on movie houses or on your house entertainment system, cable system (CTS), and the computer game system, which is popular not simply to young and old players alike but likewise to video game designers, merely because of the advancement of innovative technologies that they can utilize to enhance existing video game systems.
The computer game system is intended for playing computer game, though there are contemporary video game systems that enables you to have an access over other forms of home entertainment utilizing such video game systems (like enjoying DVD movies, listening to MP3 music files, or surfing the Internet). Hence, it is typically referred to as "interactive home entertainment computer system" to differentiate the video game system from a device that is utilized for various functions (such as computer and arcade video games).
The first generation of video game system started when Magnavox (an electronic devices business which makes tvs, radios, and gramophones or record players) launched its very first computer game system, which is the Magnavox Odyssey designed by Ralph Baer. Odyssey's popularity lasted until the release of Atari's PONG video games. Magnavox understood that they can not compete with the appeal of PONG video games, thus in 1975 they developed the Odyssey 100 computer game system that will play Atari-produced PONG games.
The 2nd generation of video game system came a year after the release of Odyssey 100. In 1976, Fairchild released the FVES (Fairchild Video Entertainment System), which made use of a programmable microprocessor so that a game cartridge can hold a single ROM chip to save microprocessor directions. Nevertheless, because of the "computer game crash" in 1977, Fairchild deserted the computer game system industry. Magnavox and Atari remained in the video game industry.
The renewal of the computer game system started when Atari launched the popular arcade Space Invaders. The market was all of a sudden restored, with lots of gamers made purchase of an Atari computer game system just for Area Intruders. To put it simply, with the appeal of Space Intruders, Atari dominated the video game market throughout the 80s.
Computer game system's 3rd generation entered being after the release of Nintendo's Famicon in 1983. It supported full color, high resolution, and tiled background gaming system. It was initially launched in Japan and it was later brought to the United States in the form of Nintendo Home entertainment System (NES) in 1985. And similar to Atari's Area Invaders, the release of Nintendo's well-known Super Mario Brothers was a big success, which completely restored the suffering video game system market in the early months of 1983.
Sega meant to compete with Nintendo, but they stopped working to develop substantial market share. It was till 1988 when Sega launched the Sega Genesis in Japan on October 29 of the same year and on September 1, 1989 in the United States and Europe areas. 2 years later, Nintendo launched the Super Nintendo Home Entertainment System (SNES) in 1990.
Atari returned with their new video game system, which is the Jaguar and 3DO. Both systems could show more onscreen colors and the latter utilized a CD instead of game cartridges, making it more powerful compared to Genesis and SNES. Nintendo, on the other hand, chose to release new video games such as Donkey Kong Nation instead of producing new video game systems. Sega's Vectorman and Virtua Racing did the same. Numerous years later on, Sony, Sega, and Nintendo launched the fifth generation of video game systems (PlayStation, Saturn, and N64, respectively).
The 6th generation of game systems followed, including Sega (Dreamcast, which was their last video game system and the first Internet-ready video game system), Sony (PlayStation 2), Nintendo (Video Game Cube which is their first system to utilize game CDs), and the game reviews beginner Microsoft (Xbox).
The latest generation of computer game systems is now gradually entering the game industry. These are as follows:
- Microsoft's Xbox, which was launched on November 22, 2005;
- Sony's PlayStation 3, which is schedule to be launched on November 11, 2006 (Japan), November 17 of the very same year (North America), and March 2007 (Europe); and
- Nintendo's Wii, which is arranged to be launched on November 19, 2006 (North America), December 2 of the same year (Japan), December 7 (Australia), and December 8 (Europe).
The development of video game system does not end here. There will be future generations of video game system being established as of this minute, which will defy the way we define "home entertainment".