Entertainment takes its brand-new kind. With the advancement of innovation and its integration to numerous elements of our lives, conventional entertainment such as theatrical plays and cultural programs is changed by so-called "electronic entertainment". There you have different digital and animated movies that you can enjoy on movie theater or on your home entertainment system, cable system (CTS), and the computer game system, which is popular not simply to young and old gamers alike however also to game designers, merely because of the advancement of innovative technologies that they can utilize to enhance existing video game systems.
The video game system is meant for playing video games, though there are modern game systems that permits you to have an access over other types of home entertainment utilizing such video game systems (like viewing DVD films, listening to MP3 music files, or surfing the Internet). Therefore, it is often described as "interactive entertainment computer" to differentiate the game system from a maker that is used for numerous functions (such as desktop computer and arcade games).
The very first generation of computer game system began when Magnavox (an electronic devices company which manufactures tvs, radios, and gramophones or record players) released its first video game system, which is the Magnavox Odyssey developed by Ralph Baer. Odyssey's popularity lasted till the release of Atari's PONG video games. Magnavox realized that they can not compete with the popularity of PONG games, hence in 1975 they developed the Odyssey 100 video game system that will play Atari-produced PONG games.
The 2nd generation of video game system came a year after the release of Odyssey 100. In 1976, Fairchild released the FVES (Fairchild Video Home Entertainment System), which made use of a programmable microprocessor so that a game cartridge can hold a single ROM chip to conserve microprocessor directions. Nevertheless, because of the "video game crash" in 1977, Fairchild deserted the video game system industry. Magnavox and Atari stayed in the video game industry.
The renewal of the video game system started when Atari released the popular arcade Area Invaders. The market was suddenly revived, with lots of players made purchase of an Atari computer game system just for Area Intruders. Simply put, video games new with the popularity of Area Invaders, Atari dominated the computer game industry throughout the 80s.
Video game system's 3rd generation entered wanting the release of Nintendo's Famicon in 1983. It supported complete color, high resolution, and tiled background gaming system. It was at first introduced in Japan and it was later on given the United States in the form of Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1985. And much like Atari's Space Intruders, the release of Nintendo's well-known Super Mario Brothers was a huge success, which totally restored the suffering video game system market in the early months of 1983.
Sega meant to take on Nintendo, but they failed to develop significant market share. It was till 1988 when Sega released the Sega Genesis in Japan on October 29 of the very same year and on September 1, 1989 in the United States and Europe areas. 2 years later on, Nintendo released the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) in 1990.
Atari returned with their brand-new video game system, which is the Jaguar and 3DO. Both systems might display more onscreen colors and the latter made use of a CD instead of game cartridges, making it more effective compared to Genesis and SNES. Nintendo, on the other hand, opted to release brand-new games such as Donkey Kong Nation instead of producing new video game systems. Sega's Vectorman and Virtua Racing did the same. Several years later on, Sony, Sega, and Nintendo launched the fifth generation of computer game systems (PlayStation, Saturn, and N64, respectively).
The sixth generation of game systems followed, involving Sega (Dreamcast, which was their last computer game system and the very first Internet-ready game system), Sony (PlayStation 2), Nintendo (Game Cube which is their first system to utilize video game CDs), and the newcomer Microsoft (Xbox).
The current generation of computer game systems is now gradually going into the video game market. These are as follows:
- Microsoft's Xbox, which was released on November 22, 2005;
- Sony's PlayStation 3, which is schedule to be released on November 11, 2006 (Japan), November 17 of the same year (The United States and Canada), and March 2007 (Europe); and
- Nintendo's Wii, which is set up to be released on November 19, 2006 (The United States And Canada), December 2 of the exact same year (Japan), December 7 (Australia), and December 8 (Europe).
The development of computer game system does not end here. There will be future generations of game system being developed as of this moment, which will defy the way we define "home entertainment".