If you're old enough, you'll have seen the changes that video game consoles have undergone over the last half century. With increasingly immersive gaming experiences and high-fidelity graphics, it's hard to imagine how the industry has evolved over the years.
From having a single, coveted, cutting-edge device to the present day where every gamer has their favorite gaming console, as the decades passed, each company specialized in improving its own factory designs. With models that were surpassed and game catalogs that were increasingly rich, gamers were spending more and more hours in front of the screen in exciting games shared in real time and space or even playing remotely in any city on the planet.
Thus, the evolution of consoles can be analysed not only from their technical side but also from the social changes they generated. Each of the new generations serves to mark the time and technological progress of each console and to show the cultural changes in societies.
How have video game consoles evolved?
In 1972, the Magnavox Odyssey created by pioneer Ralph Baer was presented to the press and marked the beginning of a new era in home entertainment. This first generation did not yet know color or sound, but only three moving dots on the screen controlled by basic keys connected to the television. The games were complemented by cards, dice and cards as a support for what was being shown.
Even in its rudimentary form, this console surprised everyone. The second generation soon saw Atari as the first company to lead the creation of iconic machines, with the Atari Pong in 1975 as the first commercially successful video game console and the Atari 2600 in 1977 with its interchangeable cartridges and games like Space Invaders that marked an era.
Alongside the Fairchild Channel F and the Bally Astrocade, the world of video games began to take shape with the appearance of joysticks . From then on, growth would be unstoppable, adding new fun for the little ones in each family.
What were the most popular console generations?
Just as a way of creating categories, each generation allows us to historicize what happened in the world of consoles since their emergence during the eighties. Names that made history around the world such as Sega or Nintendo with their consoles imported from Japan or models such as the Commodore 64 had 1985 as the fundamental year to mark a milestone in the entertainment industry after the crisis that put it in check.
The future had arrived with the third generation of consoles and video games like Mario Bros.
and the “Button Mashing” genre, that is, pressing buttons to move forward, backward and generate the commands necessary for movement. Immediately after, the fourth generation brought color and more advanced graphics with 16 bits when they dominated the market in 1987.
With the Sega Genesis already on the market, very popular in Europe and South America and the Super Nintendo with great sales in North America and Japan, the fourth generation brought the mass distribution across all homes of consoles that allowed runner and shooting games with characters that crossed the screen with more captivating soundtracks and effects.
How have video games changed or evolved?
By 1990, with more than 30 million units sold worldwide and games like Sonic the Hedgehog and Mortal Kombat dominating the market, Sega had changed habits and free time. The fifth generation brought three-dimensional graphics and the first CD ROMs as major innovations. The first real narrative worlds could be seen and heard in games like Final Fantasy and Resident Evil and on consoles like the Play Station, launched in 1994 with unprecedented impact, and the Nintendo 64 with 3D games and an analogue stick controller.
Meanwhile, the sixth generation brought the novelty of 128 bits . This made games cheaper and more accessible, achieving unthinkable sales figures. There seemed to be no limit to the constant improvement of advances and tools within reach regardless of age.
Between 1998 and 2005, the first Xbox, the Dreamcast, the PS2 and the GameCube seemed like they were going to leave behind the reign of Sega and Nintendo. However, the seventh generation, in addition to the ephemeral nature and the dizzying change in the industry, brought new things like the Nintendo Wii and DS portable consoles that detected movement through the controls, forcing up-and-coming companies like Microsoft to launch products with the latest technology.
What are the latest generation consoles?
With increasingly realistic and specific games and features, the last two known generations expanded video games and forged the gamer culture that occupies and gains more and more followers. Launched in 2012 with the Xbox One and the PS4, the blockbuster game brought games like GTA V or Red Dead Redemption 2 that were on par with any movie made in Hollywood.
The next step, the ninth generation, aims to incorporate graphics never seen before, as well as power and memory capacity to unfathomable limits. With hyper-realistic and immersive gaming experiences to the extreme, online and multi-platform games allow the senses to be expanded in a way never before known.
It is still in the exploration stage, but it remains to be seen how far the capacity of Artificial Intelligence, virtual reality with viewing glasses and blockchain gaming will go to continue perfecting each of the known games and those yet to be developed.
Why do consoles never go out of style?
From the simplest and most precarious to the most ambitious and overwhelming, no one yet knows for sure what the next steps will be in the video game industry. There is always room for wonder and artificial intelligence seems to leave no corner unexplored. Will senses such as touch and smell be added to the gaming experience?
Meanwhile, good sales, market trends and favourable opinions from users all over the world mean that consoles are not slowing down.
“We knew we had something that would break records and make history. What we didn’t realize was that we were building an industry that was taking over the entertainment world.” Engineer Ralph Baer’s quote sums up the incredible growth from a simple brown box to homes around the world with arcades that evolved like society itself.