The History And Evolution Of The Video Game Industry

1473 Words 6 Pages
The history of video games goes back as far as the early 1950s. A time when arcade games and gaming consoles became mainstream. Since then, video games have become a huge sensation for people all over the world. As of 2016, there have been eight generations of video game consoles. Although most people had never seen a video game until 1971, the story of video games actually begins more than a decade earlier. In 1958, a physicist named William A. Higinbotham developed the first game on an oscilloscope, a piece of equipment with a 5-inch display. Compared to the games today, Tennis for Two was very simple. This simple technology has the distinction of being the first known video game. In 1962, Steve Russell created Spacewar, the first …show more content…
Over the next couple of years, Baer and his team finally created what was called the “Brown Box.” Eventually the technology was marketed as the Magnavox Odyssey- the first home video game system.
Nolan Bushnell soon embarked on his own venture when he founded his own company- Atari. Little did he know that the first game he would produce would be the cornerstone of what would become a multibillion-dollar industry. Pong was a simple game involving just two paddles and a ball. Within a few days, there were lines of people waiting to play the game. Pong was a hit. Following the arcade success of Pong, Atari released the Atari Video Computer System (VCS) in 1977. The VCS later became known as the Atari 2600.
As the ’80s began, the popularity of arcade video games continued to soar. In the first year of the new decade, some of the most memorable arcade classics appeared. In 1980, Pac-Man swept the video game world. Then the next year, Nintendo’s corporate symbol Mario, made his first appearance in 1981 in a hit game called Donkey
…show more content…
Among its new features was a touch screen. The device sold well and Nintendo is still producing new models to this day. Then Sony’s handheld, the PlayStation Portable, was released on March 24, 2005. Sony manufactured other variations of the PlayStation Portable, and there new handheld the PS vita.
The PlayStation 4 (or PS4) is a video game console developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 during a press conference, it was launched on November 15, 2013. It competes with Microsoft 's Xbox One, as part of the eighth generation of video game consoles. Two years after its launch, Sony announced in a press that the PlayStation 4 has sold more than 30.2 million consoles. This makes it one of the best selling gaming console in this generation. As for Sony, the road ahead looks bright for PlayStation.
The Xbox One is Microsoft 's video game console. Announced on May 21, 2013, it is the third console in the Xbox family. It directly competes with Sony 's PlayStation 4 as part of the eighth generation of video game consoles. Xbox one is the next gen console for gaming and it is used for entertainment too. You can activate your xbox by the sound of voice and you control it by your hands through the power of Xbox’s Kinect. Microsoft most recently said it sold 1.4 million Xbox consoles for the three months ending

Related Documents