Understanding the Video Game Console

The term console is used in different fields. We have system consoles which are physical devices for operating computers, virtual consoles which are user interfaces for connecting different computer consoles on one device, consoles in Mac OS X which are log viewers on OS X, hand held consoles which are transportable, lightweight devices for video console games, organ consoles which include the stops, keys, and foot pedals for music playing, mixing consoles which are mixing devices for combining and controlling audio signals, lighting control consoles which are devices that control dramatic lighting, centre consoles which are bucket seat set-ups for vehicles, and consoles which are types of Brit government fiscal bonds. Nonetheless the term console is generally utilised for computer game consoles.

A computer game console is largely an interactive entertainment computer or a PC system which has been changed to provide a video display signal. This can subsequently be utilised with different display devices such as monitors and Televisions. Video game consoles are dissimilar from computers in that computers can do rather more than play video console games.

The first PC games were played in the 1950s and these were on vector displays and not analog displays. The first home video game consoles were attached to TV sets and they were manufactured by Magnavox in 1972. These were the first generation video game consoles. The second generation consoles were released by Fairchild in 1976 and they were called the Fairchild Video Entertainment system (VES). These were the first video game consoles that had cartridges with all the information on the game. There had been a video game crash in 1977 following the release of outmoded consoles to clear stocks, typically at a total loss. This meant the likes of Fairchild and RCA could not continue to make profit on a video game console. Only Magnavox and Atari continued making these consoles. There was another crash in 1983 which was also occasioned by the flooding of the market with low quality Playstation game consoles. The third generation Playstation game consoles was occasioned by the rise of Nintendo and the release of its Family PC (Famicom) computer gaming console in 1983 in Japan and later in the U.S. Under the Nintendo Entertainment system (NES).

The fourth generation video gaming consoles saw the rise of SEGA. Some the most vital fifth generation video game consoles include Iron Soldier (Atari Jaguar), Virtua Racing (Super 32X), Star Fox (SNES), Gex (3DO), Donkey Kong Country Three (SNES), and Vectorman (Mega Drive). The sixth generation video card consoles include SEGA's Dreamcast, Sony's PlayStation 2, Microsoft's Xbox, and the Nintendo GameCube. The seventh generation consoles include the Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation Three, and The Nintendo Wii. The eighth generation video card consoles include Nintendo 3DS and presumably PlayStation Four and the Xbox 720.