Console Gaming
Console gaming shortly followed arcade gaming; a lot of the systems arcade games were designed for can be considered to be gaming consoles, as they are the hardware that actually runs the game. Console gaming was, inevitably, what brought along the downfall of Arcade Gaming, as people consoles became a lot more accessible to a larger audience, so people didn’t have to visit their local arcades to play video games, as they could easily just do it at home now.
The History of Console Gaming
The First Generation
The first system released to be called a console is Baer’s console (partnered with Magnavox) the Odyssey. It operated on a cartridge system, switching cartridges to play different games on the console. Although it was a major innovation in terms of gaming, the Odyssey didn’t have as big of a reception as you’d expect, since video games only became largely popular when Pong was released and became a 
massive hit. Pandering to the Pong fans, Magnavox released a ‘dumbed down’ version of the Odyssey that ran only Pong and Hockey, it was called the Odyssey 100. A higher-end version of this console was released soon after, the Odyssey 200, which added features such as on-screen scoring, 4 player mode and a new game – Smash. Atari released a Pong system for homes too at almost the exact same time.
Seeing the opportunistic values of the business, a lot of other companies jumped to the chance to make video games consoles and make business out of it, and so came The Second Generation.
The Second Generation
A company named Fairchild released a console called the Fairchild Video Entertainment System (VES) and it was the first system to have cartridges that only needed a single ROM chip; to store microprocessor instructions from the VES.
RCA and Atari followed soon after.
The Video Game Crash of 1977
In 1977, many of the manufacturers of the older Pong systems sold their consoles due to lack of money being made for them, the only two companies who managed to survive this crash, even though they did lose a lot of money, were Atari and Magnavox.
The industry was then revived with the introduction of Space Invaders by Atari. Space Invaders’ popularity and success meant that large companies were trying to get the rights to have the game on their console so that their console would sell; meaning that a boom in the console industry had been made, this lasted around six years; until another video game crash occurred, the Video Game Crash of 1983; which was caused in a loss of faith from the video games community due to disappointing game releases from certain video games companies.
The Third Generation
In 1983, Nintendo release the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System), which supported higher graphics and better resolutions than the previous generations. It also used a front loading cartridge system. During it’s generation, the NES was the best selling video games console in North America
After the NES was released, Sega entered the market with their console the Sega Master System to try and compete in the video games market; however it never gained as much attention as Nintendo’s system, however due to Brazil’s import laws, Sega’s system sold a lot more than Nintendo’s.
The Fourth Generation
A company called NEC brought the first fourth generation console to the market with their PC engine when a man called Hudson Soft approached them with an advanced graphics chip. The graphics chip used an usual HuCard format to store games. The small size of these cards allowed NEC to rerelease the console as a handheld console.
Sega scaled down and adapted their Sega System 16 into the Megadrive/Genesis and released it with a near arcade-perfect port of Altered Beast.
Arcade company SNK developed the high end Neo Geo MVS arcade system which used interchangeable cartridges similar to home consoles.
The fourth generation graphics chips allowed these consoles to reproduce the art styles that were particularly popular in arcades, which in turn made this generation of consoles very popular amongst users.
The Fifth Generation
The first fifth generation consoles were the 3DO and Atari Jaguare. Both consoles were both more powerful than any fourth generation systems, neither became serious threats to Sega or Nintendo.
Sega released the Sega 32x, an add-on for the Sega Genesis, while their Sega Saturn was in development. The hardware was popular for the first year it was released, and the 32x port of Star Wars was well-received, but sales for a lot of the other titles were not as impressive, and so Sega announced that the Sega Neptune, a combination of the x32 and the Genesis, would be sold as a budget console alongside their upcoming console, the Sega Saturn. The Sega Saturn did not succeed at all. The console had many interesting releases that did attract lots of audiences; however the console itself was hard to program for, and this was the console’s downfall.
A failed attempt from Sony to make a console with Nintendo led to the start of a whole new generation itself; the Playstation. The playstation went on to dominate every other competitor in it’s generation, and became the first console to sell over 100,000,000 units by expanding the video game market. Sony actively courted third parties and provided them with convenient c libraries to write their games.
Nintendo was the last to release a fifth generation console, the Nintendo 64, and when they finally released it, it came with a mere two launch titles. This console used cartridges for their console, and the higher cost of these drove many third party developers to choose the playstation’s disc based system over Nintendo’s more expensive option.
The Sixth Generation
The sixth generation saw a few more consoles move towards PC-like architectures in gaming consoles, as well as a shift towards using DVDs for game media.
Sega’s released their console, the Dreamcast. It was the company’s last video game console, and the first of the generation’s consoles to be discontinued. Sega implemented a special type of optical media called the GD-ROM. These discs were created in order to prevent software piracy, which had previously been a lot easier with the last generations of consoles, however it did not take long for this optical type to be cracked too.
Sony released another extremely successful console, the Playstation 2, the follow up to their extremely successful Playstation, and it was also the first console that was able to play DVDs. As was done with the original Playstation in 2000, Sony redesigned the PS2 in 2004 into a smaller, slimmer version. The Playstation 2 is the best selling video games console ever.
Nintendo released their console, the Gamecube, which was also relatively successful. It employed the use of smaller optical discs, but also allowed cartridges from their Gameboy mobile games console to be played on the platfrom too.
Microsoft released their first games console, The Xbox, and it was the first console to employ the use of a HDD straight out of the box to save games onto. It was also the first to include an ethernet port for broadband internet connection, and was also the beginning of Microsoft’s online service Xbox LIVE.
Conclusion
Consoles paved the way for modern day gaming, stemming and advancing through different technologies and softwares, sometimes colliding with Arcade systems, and sometimes learning from them too. Consoles have come a long way with each generation leap, and the future looks to even further increase the capabilities of consoles, improvising better graphics, sounds, interfaces and uses. Consoles have come a lot further than just gaming and will continue to progress throughout the ages.
In the modern world, Consoles are constantly adapting, evolving and upgrading, with new hardware and software being released frequently. Consoles are the most popular gaming platform in the world, due to their simplicity and, much like the old days of arcade gaming, the social aspect of sitting down on your couch and being able to play games with eachother from across town, or even across the world.
Declan 