Plies
GAF's Nicest Lunch Thief and Nosiest Dildo Archeologist
I'd be interested to hear what people felt were the most important console's of all time.
Obviously this isn't meant to be a "what's the best console" thread, but is looking at which machines have been the most influential in developing gaming, bringing it to new markets etc.
My top 5 are ....
1 - Pong machines (and copies) released in 1975 - really the 1st TV games that most people played! Loads of people bought these as they were somehow before and separate from the "geeky" side of computer games that was to soon develop. The official units sold out straight away and people went on waiting lists for the machines!! Many people still have one of these (albeit copies such as the grandstand version) tucked
away in their attics! Only problem with it was that you couldn't change the games....
2 - Atari VCS 2600- released in 1977 - The first successful cartridge based machine which allowed the changing of games! Although Magnavox released the Odyssey in 1972 it was only to moderate success. The Atari became a runaway hit right from release! Saw off challenges from Intellevision and Colecovision to maintain it's position as top console specially in the US. Classic games such as Combat (contained multiple 2 player games such as the superb Tank), Breakout, Centipede, missile command, Asteroids, Pacman and of course Space Invaders were released for this system.
3 - NES/Famicom - Released in 1983 in Japan - Low price games console which instantly did well in Japan but couldn't get it released in the US due to the Video games crash of 1984. The crash came about through loads of rubbish 3rd party games coming out on the Atari. Shops couldn't shift them and lost loads of cash. Nintendo brought in the "seal of Quality" with the NES. Nintendo searched for a US distributor (even approaching Atari) and eventually found one in 1985. Got a trial release in New York in '85 and went on to revitalise the games industry! Sega and other companies jumped on the bandwagon with consoles but the NES must take the credit for the gaming revival.
4 - Sega Megadrive - released 1988 Japan - Computers (such as the Amiga and Atari ST) seemed to have the gaming market fairly well sewed up until this great console emerged! More powerful and cheaper than it's computer counterparts, it became an instant hit and brought gaming back to consoles in a big way! Sega's most successful console continued to be top of the popularity stakes until games such as Street Fighter 2 and Mario Kart on the later released SNES evened up the balance. Still this machine must get the initial credit for the revitalisation of console gaming after the 16 bit Computer boom.
5 - Sony Playstation - released in 1994 - This machine is pretty much responsible for bringing video games to the true mass market! Through brilliant marketing (and a lot of money!) from the electronics giant Sony the machine became the first console that people thought of as cool! They popped up in night clubs, had ads galore on TV and in print, had games such as wipeout (with tracks from House bands of the time Future Sound of London, chemical Brothers etc) and Tomb Raider (the first heroine based 3d adventure game). The machine blew the Sega Saturn out of the water (essentially setting up the demise of Sega as a hardware manufacturer) and couldn't be touched by the more powerful Nintendo 64.
So those are my top 5 most important console's. I've focused on machines that can be connected to the TV. Obviously if looking further a field the Nintendo Gameboy should well be included, but then again what do you leave out??
There are also machines such as the SNES, PC Engine (first 16 bit machine), Neo Geo, PS2, X-Box, Game Cube, N64, Master system, Gameboy Advance, Atari 7800, FM Towns Marty(first 32 bit console), Atari Jaguar, Sega Saturn, Sega Dreamcast or even the Sony PSP.
Obviously this isn't meant to be a "what's the best console" thread, but is looking at which machines have been the most influential in developing gaming, bringing it to new markets etc.
My top 5 are ....
1 - Pong machines (and copies) released in 1975 - really the 1st TV games that most people played! Loads of people bought these as they were somehow before and separate from the "geeky" side of computer games that was to soon develop. The official units sold out straight away and people went on waiting lists for the machines!! Many people still have one of these (albeit copies such as the grandstand version) tucked
away in their attics! Only problem with it was that you couldn't change the games....
2 - Atari VCS 2600- released in 1977 - The first successful cartridge based machine which allowed the changing of games! Although Magnavox released the Odyssey in 1972 it was only to moderate success. The Atari became a runaway hit right from release! Saw off challenges from Intellevision and Colecovision to maintain it's position as top console specially in the US. Classic games such as Combat (contained multiple 2 player games such as the superb Tank), Breakout, Centipede, missile command, Asteroids, Pacman and of course Space Invaders were released for this system.
3 - NES/Famicom - Released in 1983 in Japan - Low price games console which instantly did well in Japan but couldn't get it released in the US due to the Video games crash of 1984. The crash came about through loads of rubbish 3rd party games coming out on the Atari. Shops couldn't shift them and lost loads of cash. Nintendo brought in the "seal of Quality" with the NES. Nintendo searched for a US distributor (even approaching Atari) and eventually found one in 1985. Got a trial release in New York in '85 and went on to revitalise the games industry! Sega and other companies jumped on the bandwagon with consoles but the NES must take the credit for the gaming revival.
4 - Sega Megadrive - released 1988 Japan - Computers (such as the Amiga and Atari ST) seemed to have the gaming market fairly well sewed up until this great console emerged! More powerful and cheaper than it's computer counterparts, it became an instant hit and brought gaming back to consoles in a big way! Sega's most successful console continued to be top of the popularity stakes until games such as Street Fighter 2 and Mario Kart on the later released SNES evened up the balance. Still this machine must get the initial credit for the revitalisation of console gaming after the 16 bit Computer boom.
5 - Sony Playstation - released in 1994 - This machine is pretty much responsible for bringing video games to the true mass market! Through brilliant marketing (and a lot of money!) from the electronics giant Sony the machine became the first console that people thought of as cool! They popped up in night clubs, had ads galore on TV and in print, had games such as wipeout (with tracks from House bands of the time Future Sound of London, chemical Brothers etc) and Tomb Raider (the first heroine based 3d adventure game). The machine blew the Sega Saturn out of the water (essentially setting up the demise of Sega as a hardware manufacturer) and couldn't be touched by the more powerful Nintendo 64.
So those are my top 5 most important console's. I've focused on machines that can be connected to the TV. Obviously if looking further a field the Nintendo Gameboy should well be included, but then again what do you leave out??
There are also machines such as the SNES, PC Engine (first 16 bit machine), Neo Geo, PS2, X-Box, Game Cube, N64, Master system, Gameboy Advance, Atari 7800, FM Towns Marty(first 32 bit console), Atari Jaguar, Sega Saturn, Sega Dreamcast or even the Sony PSP.
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