Game console timeline

• Atari Lynx:

The Atari Lynx was released on September 1989. It is a 16-bit handheld game console that was released by Atari Corporation in September 1989. The Lynx holds the distinction of being the world's first handheld electronic game with a color LCD. The system is also notable for its forward-looking features, advanced graphics, and ambidextrous layout. As part of the fourth generation of gaming, the Lynx competed with Nintendo's Game Boy (released just a month earlier), the Sega Game Gear and NEC's TurboExpress, both released the following year. However, the Game Boy in particular, as well as the Sega Game Gear, outsold the Lynx. Atari failed to achieve the sale numbers required to attract quality third party developers and the Lynx was eventually abandoned. 

The Atari Lynx has several innovative features including it being the first color handheld, with a backlit display, a switchable right-handed/left-handed (upside down) configuration, and the ability to network with up to 17 other units via its "Comlynx" system (though most games would network eight or fewer players). Comlynx was originally developed to run over infrared links (and was codenamed RedEye). This was changed to a cable-based networking system before the final release.

The Lynx was also the first gaming console with hardware support for zooming/distortion of sprites, allowing fast pseudo-3D games and a capacity for drawing filled polygons with limited CPU intervention. Blue Lightning, a game with After Burner-like graphics, was featured in TV advertising for the console.

The Atari Lynx was the first console to feature integrated math and graphics co-processors (including a Blitter unit) which aided in hardware scaling and rotation of graphical elements, over a year before the Super Nintendo, which was unable to scale sprites and confined to the limits of Mode 7.

The games were originally meant to be loaded from tape, but were later changed to load from ROM. The game data still needed to be copied from ROM to RAM before it could be used, so less memory was available and the games loaded relatively slowly.

Information from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Lynx

• ·         Sega Game Gear:
  
  
  Released on October 6, 1990 in Japan, 1991 in North America and Europe, and Australia in 1992, the Sega Game Gear is an 8bit handled game console.
  
  
  Though the Game Gear was rushed to market, its unique game library and price point gave it an edge over the Atari Lynx and TurboExpress. However, due to issues with its short battery life, lack of original titles, and weak support from Sega, the Game Gear was unable to beat the Game Boy, selling approximately 11 million units. The Game Gear was succeeded by the Sega Nomad in 1995, and was discontinued in 1997.
  
  
  The console contains an 8-bit 3.5MHz Zilog Z80 chip for a central processing unit, the same as the Sega Master System. Its screen was 3.2 square inches in size, and is able to display up to 32 colors at a time, at a display resolution of 160 x 144 pixels, and is capable of displaying 4096 different colors in total. The screen is backlit in order to allow gamers to play in low-lighting situations. Powered by 6 AA batteries, the Game Gear has an approximate battery life of 3 to 5 hours. In order to lengthen this duration and to save money for consumers, Sega also released two types of external rechargeable battery packs for the Game Gear. The system contains 8KB of RAM and an additional 16KB of video RAM. Audio is supplied through a mono speaker in the handheld, but stereo sound is able to be supplied through an output for headphones. Physically, the Game Gear measures 209mm across, 111mm high, and 37mm deep.
  
  
  Information from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_Game_Gear
  
  
   
   
• ·         SegaSaturn:
  
  
  Released on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 11, 1995 in North America and July 8, 1995 in Europe. The SegaSaturn is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console. The Saturn had impressive hardware at the time of its release, but its design, with two CPUs and six other processors, made harnessing this power extremely difficult for developers used to conventional programming. Also, many of the ancillary chips in the system were "off the shelf" components, increasing the complexity of the system because the components were not specifically designed to work together. The hardware also lacked hardware video decompression support, the latter being a major disadvantage during a time when full-motion video was quite popular.
  
  
  Information from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SegaSaturn
  
  
   
   
• ·         Playstaion:
  
  
  Released on December 3, 1994. The playstation is a 32-bit video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, 1994, with Western releases in September 1995. The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. As part of the fifth-generation of gaming, it primarily competed with the Nintendo 64 and the Sega Saturn. In 2000, a re-designed, "slim" version was released, called the PSone, replacing the original grey console, and also being renamed to avoid confusion with its successor, the PlayStation 2.
  
  
  The first conceptions of the PlayStation date back to 1986. Nintendo had been attempting to work with disc-based technology since the Famicom, but the medium had problems. The Famicom Disk System's rewritable magnetic discs could be easily erased (thus leading to a lack of durability), and they lacked any sort of copy protection, thus were vulnerable to piracy. Consequently, when details of CD-ROM XA (which had neither of those problems) were released to the public, Nintendo was interested. Simultaneously developed by Sony and Philips, CD-ROM/XA was an extension of the CD-ROM format that combines compressed audio, visual, and computer data, allowing all to be accessed simultaneously. Nintendo approached Sony to develop a CD-ROM add-on, tentatively titled the "SNES-CD". A contract was signed, and work began. Nintendo's choice of Sony was due to a prior dealing: Ken Kutaragi, the person who would later be dubbed "The Father of the PlayStation", was the individual who had sold Nintendo on using the Sony SPC-700 processor for use as the eight-channel ADPCM sound set in the Super Famicom/SNES console through an impressive demonstration of the processor's capabilities.
  
  
  In addition to playing games, the PlayStation has the ability to read and play audio CDs or Video CDs. The CD player has the ability to shuffle the playback order, play the songs in a programmed order, and repeat one song or the entire disk. This function, as well as a memory card manager, can be accessed by starting the console either without inserting a game or keeping the CD tray open, thereby accessing a GUI for the PlayStation BIOS. The actual GUI for both PSone and PlayStation differ graphically depending on firmware versions. If the CD lid is closed with a game inside at any time while at the menu, the game will immediately start.
  
  
  Information from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playstation_1
  
  
   
   
• ·         Gameboy Colour:
  
  
  The Gameboy Colour was released on October 21, 1998 in Japan, November 18, 1998 in North America, November 23, 1998 in Europe and November 27, 1998 in Australia. The processor, which is a Z80 workalike made by Sharp with a few extra (bit manipulation) instructions, has a clock speed of approximately 8 MHz, twice as fast as that of the original Game Boy. The Game Boy Color also has three times as much memory as the original (32 kilobytes system RAM, 16 kilobytes video RAM). The screen resolution was the same as the original Game Boy, which is 160x144 pixels.
  
  
  The Game Boy Color also featured an infrared communications port for wireless linking. The feature was only supported in a few games, however, and the infrared port was dropped for the Game Boy Advance line, though it would return in the Nintendo DS line. The console was capable of showing up to 56 different colors simultaneously on screen from its palette of 32,768 (8x4 color background palettes, 8x3+transparent sprite palettes), and could add basic four-, seven- or ten-color shading to games that had been developed for the original 4-shades-of-grey Game Boy. In the 7-color modes, the sprites and backgrounds were given separate color schemes, and in the 10-color modes the sprites were further split into two differently-colored groups; however, as flat black (or white) was a shared fourth color in all but one (7-color) palette, the overall effect was that of 4, 6 or 8 colors. This novel method of upgrading the color count did result in graphic artifacts in certain games; for example, sometimes a sprite that was supposed to meld into the background would be colored separately, making it easily noticeable.
  
  
  Information from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gameboy_Color
  
  
  
  

  •  Dreamcast:

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Released in November 1998 in Japan and in 1999 in other countries, the Dreamcast was the first entry in the sixth generation of video game consoles, preceding its rivals, the PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube. The Dreamcast was Sega's last home console to date.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Sato and his group chose the Hitachi SH4 processor architecture and the VideoLogic PowerVR2 graphics processor for their prototype. Yamamoto and his Skunkworks group also opted for the SH4, but with 3dfx hardware. Initially, Sega decided to use Yamamoto's design and suggested to 3Dfx that they would be using their hardware in the upcoming console, but Sega later opted to use the PowerVR hardware of Sato's design.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  With Sega's machine, no operating system resides in the device until it is loaded in on a disc with each game. The advantage, Sega executives say, is that developers can always ship products that use the version of an operating system with the newest features and performance enhancements. The operating system used by some Dreamcast titles was developed by Microsoft after two years of work with Sega. It was an optimized version of Windows CE supporting DirectX. According to Richard Doherty, president of Envisioneering Group, "Microsoft had initially wanted Windows CE to be Dreamcast's main operating system. It isn't."  The Dreamcast's boot-up sequence was also composed by accomplished Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Information from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamcast

    

  
  

  •               GameCube:

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  Released on September 14, 2001, in Japan and November 18, 2001, in North America and later released worldwide in 2002. The GameCube was the first Nintendo console to use optical discs for its primary storage medium. The discs are similar to the miniDVD format, and as a result of their smaller size, the system was not designed to play standard DVDs or audio CDs. Nintendo also introduced a variety of connectivity options for the GameCube. It was the first Nintendo console to support online gaming, which relied on the use of an add-on broadband or modem adapter that was sold separately. Game support and availability of the adapter was, however, very limited. The GameCube also supported connectivity to the Game Boy Advance, allowing players to access exclusive in-game features using the handheld as a second screen and controller.

  
  

  Nintendo partnered with IBM and ATI Technologies to design their next-generation video game console. IBM designed a PowerPC-based processor for the GameCube, known as Gekko, which runs at 485 MHz and features a floating point unit (FPU) capable of 1.9 GFLOPS. Howard Cheng, technical director of Nintendo technology development, said the company's goal was to select a "simple RISC architecture" to help speed development of games by making it easier on software developers. Flipper, the console's graphics processor (GPU), was designed by ArtX – a company that was acquired by ATI soon after being contracted by Nintendo to design the processor. The GPU runs at 162 MHz and, in addition to graphics, manages other tasks through its audio and input/output (I/O) processors.

  
  

  The GameCube introduced a proprietary miniDVD optical disc format as the storage medium for the console, capable of storing up to 1.5 GB of data. The technology was designed by Matsushita Electric Industrial (now Panasonic Corporation) which utilized a high level encryption scheme – a custom form of the Content Scramble System (CSS) found in standard DVDs – to prevent unauthorized reproduction. The Famicom and Nintendo 64 experimented with other storage technologies, but the GameCube was Nintendo's first console to move away from cartridge-based media altogether.

  
  

  Nintendo developed stereoscopic 3D technology for the GameCube, and one launch title, Luigi's Mansion, supported it. However, the feature was never enabled outside of development. 3D televisions were not widespread at the time, and it was deemed that compatible displays would be too cost-prohibitive for the consumer. Another unofficial feature are two audio Easter eggs that can be invoked during the console's startup routine. When the power is activated with the "Z" button on the Player 1 controller held down, a kiddie startup sound is heard in place of the standard one. With four controllers connected, holding down the "Z" button on all four simultaneously produces a "ninja-like" tune at startup.

  
  

  Information from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GameCube

    
  
  
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  ·         Xbox:

  
  

  
  

  
  

   Released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe. The original Xbox was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console market. As part of the sixth-generation of gaming, the Xbox competed with Sony's PlayStation 2, Sega's Dreamcast (which stopped American sales before the Xbox went on sale), and Nintendo's GameCube. The Xbox was the first console offered by an American company after the Atari Jaguar stopped sales in 1996. The name Xbox was derived from a contraction of DirectX Box, a reference to Microsoft's graphics API, DirectX.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  The integrated Xbox Live service launched in November 2002 allowed players to play games online with a broadband connection. It first competed with Dreamcast's online service but later primarily competed with PlayStation 2's online service. Although these two are free while Xbox Live required a subscription, as well as broadband-only connection which was not completely adopted yet, Xbox Live was a success due to better servers, features such as a buddy list, and milestone titles like Halo 2 released in November 2004, which is the best-selling Xbox video game and was by far the most popular online game for years.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Released in 2001, the Xbox control pad was the first controller made for the original Xbox. The Xbox controller features two analog sticks, a pressure sensitive directional pad, two analog triggers, a Back button, a Start button, two accessory slots and six 8-bit analog action buttons (A/Green, B/Red, X/Blue, Y/Yellow, and Black and White buttons). The standard Xbox controller (originally nicknamed the "Fatty" and later the "Duke") was originally the controller bundled with Xbox systems for all territories except Japan.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Information from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox

  
  

  
  

  • ·         NGage:

  
  

  
  

  Released on 7 October 2003. The NGage is both a mobile phone and a handheld game system. In the late 1990s, gamers increasingly carried both mobile phones and handheld game consoles. Nokia spotted an opportunity to combine these devices into one unit. Nokia announced in November 2002 that they will develop the N-Gage, a device that integrated these two devices. Instead of using cables, multiplayer gaming was accomplished with Bluetooth or the Internet (via the N-Gage Arena service). The N-Gage also included MP3 and Real Audio/Video playback and PDA-like features into the system.

  
  

  Information from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGage

    
  

  
  

  
  

  • NintendoDS:

  
  

  
  

  Released on November 21, 2004. The DS, short for "dual screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld gaming: an LCD screen working in tandem with a touchscreen, a built-in microphone, and support for wireless connectivity. Both screens are encompassed within a clamshell design similar to the Game Boy Advance SP. The Nintendo DS also features the ability for multiple DS consoles to directly interact with each other over Wi-Fi within a short range without the need to connect to an existing wireless network. Alternatively, they can interact online using the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  The lower display of the Nintendo DS is overlaid with a touchscreen designed to accept input from the included stylus, the user's fingers, or a curved plastic tab attached to the optional wrist strap. The touchscreen allows users to interact with in-game elements more directly than by pressing buttons; for example, in the included chatting software, PictoChat, the stylus is used to write messages or to draw.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Information from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_DS

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  • Playstation Portable:

  
  

  
  

   Released on December 12, 2004 in Japan, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in the PAL region on September 1, 2005. The PSP is the only handheld video game console to use an optical disc format, Universal Media Disc (UMD), as its primary storage medium. Other distinguishing features of the console include its large viewing screen, robust multi-media capabilities, and connectivity with the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, other PSPs and the Internet.

  
  

  Information from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_Portable

  
  

  
  

  
  

  • Nintendo Wii:

  
  

  
  

  Released on November 19, 2006. The Wii introduced the Wii Remote controller, which can be used as a handheld pointing device and which detects movement in three dimensions. Another notable feature of the console is WiiConnect24, which enables it to receive messages and updates over the Internet while in standby mode. Like other seventh-generation consoles, it features a game download service, called "Virtual Console", which features emulated games from past systems.It succeeds the Nintendo GameCube, with early models being fully backward-compatible with all GameCube games and most accessories.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Information from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_wii

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  • WiiU:

  
  

  
  

  Released on November 18, 2012, in North America; November 30, 2012, in the PAL regions; and on December 8, 2012, in Japan. The Wii U is the first Nintendo console to support high-definition graphics, capable of producing video output up to 1080p, and has 2 GB of RAM with half dedicated to the console's operating system. The console was released in two versions: a "Basic" white-colored version with 8 GB of internal Flash storage; and a "Deluxe"/"Premium" black-colored version with 32 GB of Flash storage. The Deluxe package additionally includes stands for the console and for the GamePad, a charging dock for the GamePad, and a pack-in game. An HDMI cable is included with both versions. The Wii U's primary controller is the Wii U GamePad, which features an embedded touchscreen. The touchscreen is used to supplement the main gameplay shown on the television or, with games supporting Off-TV Play, can allow the player to continue playing games by displaying the main gameplay even when the television is off. In addition to the Wii U GamePad, a more traditional controller, called the Wii U Pro Controller, may be used.

  
  

  Information from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WiiU