Atari Lynx - October 1989:
-16 bit handheld device that was released by Atari
-World's first handheld gaming device with a color LCD screen.
-Praised for forward looking features, advanced graphics and ambidextrous layout.
-Competed with Nintendo's Game Boy, Sega's Game Gear and NEC's Turbo Express
-The Atari Lynx was outsold however by both the gameboy and the game gear
-The Atari Lynx had a switchable right-handed/left-handed (upside down) configuration
-Atari Lynx also had the ability to network with up to 17 other units via its "Comlynx" system (though most games would network eight or fewer players).
-The lynx was the first console to feature zooming and distortion of sprites
-The lynx also was the first console to feature intergrated math and graphics co-processors. Which meant that the console aided its hardware scaling and rotation of graphical elements.
-The games were loaded from ROM.
-Sold between 1 and 3 million copies of Atari Lynx.
SegaGameGear - October 6, 1990:
-8bit handheld game console
-Sega Game Gear mainly competed with Atari Lynx, Nintendo's Game Boy and NECs Turbo Express
-This handheld had shared much of its hardware with the Sega Master System (and therefore was able to play its own titles as well as the ones from Sega Master System - with the use of an adapter)
-Full-color backlit screen with a landscape format.
-Its low price and unique library of games gave it an edge over the competitors, however, it ultimately failed due to short battery life, lack of original titles and weak support from Sega.
-The Game Gear was sold in 11 million copies
-The Game Gear was succeeded by the Sega Nomad (sold 1 million copies of the hardware)
-Several accessories were released for the Sega Game Gear, including a TV Tuner accessory plugged into the system's cartridge slot, and allowed one to watch TV on the Game Gear's screen. .Another accessory, the "Super Wide Gear", was an accessory that magnified the Game Gear screen to compensate for its relatively small size. Also released was an adaptor that plugged into car cigarette lighters to power the system while traveling, and the "Gear-to-Gear Cable", an accessory that established a data connection between two Game Gear systems using the same multiplayer game and let users play against each other.
Sega Saturn - November 22, 1994:
-32 bit fifth generation game console
-Sold in 9.5 million copies
-While popular in Japan, the console failed to grasp the market in North America and Europe.
-At the start of the development, the console was supposed to only have one central processor, but upon hearing what the Sony's Playstation is capable of, a second processor was added to the console to improve its chances against its competitors
-One of the first consoles to use double CPU's to improve its power
-While the Sega Saturn hardware was very advanced for its time in some parts, in others it lacked and the general console was very complex, which made it hard for the developers to create good games on it with efficiency they needed, this was eventually the dawnfall of Sega Saturn.
-The hardware also lacked hardware video decompression support, the latter being a major disadvantage during a time when full-motion video was quite popular.
Playstation - December 3, 1994:
-Sometimes refeered to as the PSX
-32 bit video game console
-The Playstation was the first of the Sony's series of game consoles and handhelds
-It primarly competed with Nintendo 64 and Sega Saturn
-A slimmer version of the Playstation was launched, in 2000 the PSone was shipped out, a much smaller and better looking version of the console, the PSone was named this way to avoid the confusion when Playstation 2 was released.
-The Playstation was the first computer entertainment system to be shipped out in over 100 million units (which it had reached after 9 years and 6 months after its release)
-The last PSone units were sold on Christmas 2004 before it was finally discontinued, for a total of 102 million units shipped since its launch 10 years earlier. Games continued to sell until Sony ceased production of PlayStation games on March 23, 2006; over 11 years after it was released, and just over half a year before the release of the PlayStation 3.
-The Playstation introduced revolutionary joypad called the Dual Shock which to this day is a base for any controller.
-Originally, the Playstation was supposed to be Nintendo's product while Sony produced only the disc technology, but after some disagreements, Nintendo discontinued the project and left Sony. Later, Sony developed their own Playstation.
-The Console had the ability to not only play the games, but also to watch videos and listen music from it as well.
-As of September 30, 2007, a total of 7,918 software titles have been released worldwide (counting games released in multiple regions as separate titles). As of March 31, 2007, the cumulative software shipment was at 962 million units. The very last game for the system released in the United States was FIFA Football 2005.
-With the early units, many gamers experienced skipping full-motion video or physical "ticking" noises coming from their PlayStations. The problem appears to have come from poorly placed vents leading to overheating in some environments—the plastic moldings inside the console would warp very slightly and create knock-on effects with the laser assembly. The solution was to ensure the console sat on a surface which dissipated heat efficiently in a well vented area, or raise the unit up slightly by propping something at its edges. A common fix for already affected consoles was to turn the PlayStation sideways or upside-down (thereby using gravity to cancel the effects of the warped interior).
Gameboy Colour - October 21, 1998:
-118 units sold throughout the world (counting in the original Game Boy)
-Sometimes refereed to as the GBC, the Game Boy Color was a handheld game console, a successor to the Game Boy and at that, a much thinner and taller version of it.
-The main competitors of the Game Boy were The Neo Geo Pocket and WonderSwan (only in Japan), which the Game Boy both beat in sales by a large margin.
-Game Boy Color - as the name suggests, came in with a color screen as well as with better graphics.
-Game Boy Color was created because the market demanded a new version of the original Game Boy, the Game Boy Color was the answer, it was also back compatible which enlarged its game library greatly.
-The Game Boy Color has 3 times as much memory as the original GB
Dreamcast - 27th November 1998:
-The Sega Dreamcast was the first to become the console of the sixth generation of video game consoles, preceding its rivals, Xbox, Playstation 2 and Game Cube.
-The Sega Dreamcast was the last console that Sega produced to this date
-The Sega Dreamcast was expected to be a big comeback for Sega after the fail of Sega Saturn
-Originally, the Dreamcast was received very well on the market, but once Sony annaunced the coming of long awaited Playstation 2, the Dreamcast's sales quickly plummeted, Sega realising that they didn't have enough resources and money to compete with Sony, then they have shut their hardware production down.
-10.6 million units of Sega Dreamcast were sold worldwide, while Sega Dreamcast was shutdown in North America in 2001, the production of the consoles continued in Japan and other continents up to about 2005-2007
-The Sega Dreamcast was the first games console to render full frames (as opposed to interlaced only) in VGA mode at 640×480, and it continues to be held in high regard for pioneering online console gaming; it was the first console to include a built-in modem and Internet support for online play. The Dreamcast is still highly regarded and remembered, and its influence can be greatly seen in Microsoft's Xbox, as Sega worked with the company before the Xbox's release.
-As of 2013, the Dreamcast is still supported via small independent companies such as RedSpotGames and the GOAT Store.
-The Dreamcast was chosen as the best console ever by PC Magazine
GameCube - September 14, 2001:
-21.74 million units sold world wide
-Successor to the Playstation 64
-Mainly competed with Playstation 2, Xbox and the Sega Dreamcast
-The GameCube was the first Nintendo console to use optical discs for its primary storage medium.
-The GameCube 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.
-Some praise the GameCube for its software and good library of games, others hated it because of it looks and inacessibility.
Xbox - November 15, 2001:
-The Xbox was the first try of Microsoft to get into the console market, they have suceeded
-The Xbox mainly competed with Sony's Playstation 2, Sega Dreamcast and Nintendo's Game Cube
-Over 24 million units of Xbox were sold
-In November 2002, Microsoft launched Xbox Live, a fee-based online gaming service that enabled subscribers to download new content and connect with other players through a broadband connection. Unlike other online services from Sega and Sony, Xbox Live had support in the original console design through an integrated Ethernet port. The service gave Microsoft an early foothold in online gaming and would help the Xbox become a relevant competitor to other sixth-generation consoles.
-The Xbox was the first video game console to feature a built-in hard disk drive, used primarily for storing game saves and content downloaded from Xbox Live. This eliminated the need for separate memory cards (although some older consoles, such as the Amiga CD32 used internal flash memory and others like the TurboGrafx-CD, Sega CD and Sega Saturn had featured built-in battery backup memory prior to 2001). An Xbox user could rip music from standard audio CDs to the hard drive, and these songs were used for the custom soundtracks in some games.
-The Xbox was the first gaming product to feature Dolby Interactive Content-Encoding Technology, which allows real-time Dolby Digital encoding in game consoles. Previous game consoles could only use Dolby Digital 5.1 during non-interactive "cut scene" playback.
NGage - 7 October 2003:
-3 million units sold world wide
-The N-gage was a mobile phone as well as a handheld gaming device that was designed and produced by Nokia.
-The Ngage tried to lure away the gamers by adding in the mobile phone ability to a gaming handheld console. This was unsuccessful, partly because the buttons, designed for a phone, were not well-suited for gaming and when used as a phone the original N-Gage was described as resembling a "taco"
-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.
Nintendo DS - 21st November 2004:
-A dual-screen handheld gaming console developed by Nintendo
-Sold around 153 million units world wide
-The DS was short for Dual Screen
-The DS 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.[5] 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.
-Originally the Nintendo DS was supposed to only 'support' the already established Game Cube and the Game Boy, however, ultimately, the DS became a successor to the gameboy because of its great backward compability which resulted in amazing sales for the new handheld
-On March 2, 2006, Nintendo launched the Nintendo DS Lite, a slimmer and lighter redesign of the original Nintendo DS with brighter screens. On November 1, 2008, Nintendo released the Nintendo DSi, another redesign with several hardware improvements and new features.
Playstation Portable (PSP) - 12th December 2004:
-A handheld game console designed and produced by Sony
-The PlayStation Portable 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.
-After the release of a slimmer, lighter, remodeled version of the PlayStation Portable (the PSP-2000/"Slim & Lite") in early September 2007, sales quadrupled in the United Kingdom the following week and increased by nearly 200% in North America for the month of October. This model was later replaced by another remodeling, the PSP-3000, which included a new screen and an inbuilt microphone. Since then, a complete redesign called the PSP Go has been released, which was sold alongside the PSP-3000. In 2011 a budget model, the PSP-E1000, was released. The PSP line was succeeded by the PlayStation Vita
-76.3 million units of all the versions of PSP were sold world-wide
Nintendo Wii - November 19, 2006:-
-A home video console produced by Nintendo that revolutionized the gaming industry
-The Wii competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's Playstation 3
-As of the first quarter of 2012, the Wii leads the generation over PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in worldwide sales; in December 2009, the console broke the sales record for a single month in the United States.
-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.
Wii U - November 18, 2012:
-As for now, 3.61 million units of Wii U were sold
-A video game console created by Nintendo
-A successor to the Wii Console
-It is the first console of the eight generation of consoles, it will compete with Sony's Playstation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One
-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 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
-The System is backward compatibile with the Wii
Sources:
Text:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Lynx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_Game_Gear
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_Saturn
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_(console)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Boy_Color
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamcast
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GameCube
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_(console)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-Gage_(device)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_DS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_Portable
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii_U
