All about media!

Some might say that the video gaming industry’s a new one, some might say it’s still starting up… and they’re right. However this doesn’t change the fact that it’s been around almost half a century and over that time a lot has happened…

 Below is a time line of almost every console over the past 4 decades. The colours in the table represent the most prominent companies, and italic writing represents handheld gaming consoles. (Click  to enlarge.)

   It all started with the Magnavox Odyssey back in 1972. Being the world’s first home video game console it had a tough time starting out, no one knew what to expect and to top it off the advertising program was a failure. However when the new technology of the console was finally released, the people were stunned and expectations were surpassed, over the 3 years it was available over 300’000 units were sold. I know it doesn’t seem much today, but for an emerging industry back then that was record braking. 

  In the late 80’s and early 90’s home video game consoles were being created by just about anyone, many companies of the time were trying to take a cut of the multi-million pound industry that was growing. The All-mighty Atari became All but mighty by the late 80’s when serious competitors in the console market appeared. Sega released the Genesis in 1989, later followed by Nintendo with the SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) in 1995. The rivalry between Nintendo and Sega was considered a fierce commercial war. Huge advertising campaigns, gimmicks and silly attempts to cater for the entire market were used to boost sales, which, in turn rocketed sales in the video game market.

   Recently a new war has raged out, the war between the Sony PS3, Microsoft Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii. With many companies like Atari and Sega falling out of the console market it becomes increasingly obvious that marketing funds are of the up most importance. These three companies however are all set to battle amongst themselves. All have substantial multi-billion pound businesses backing them and all have their own niche. The Wii’s for casual and family gamers, the Xbox 360 is for casual and hardcore gamers and the PS2 is Casual, Hardcore and entertainment loving gamers. There seems to be no space left in the market for other consoles these days and it doesn’t look like there will be any time soon, even with the typical 5 year lifespan of a consoles production looming not one of them looks in trouble.    

   There are few limitations associated with Games Consoles, One of the biggest limitation concerns the portability of the console itself. Back in 2001 the Nintendo thought they had cracked this with the release of the Game Cube. The Game cube was compact and had a handle for carrying, this unfortunately (for Nintendo) didn’t increase Nintendo’s sales, people realised they weren’t bothered about transporting consoles, so after this insight, console designers knew portable wasn’t the way to go. This was a limitation that the console was to stick with. The only other limitation that’s actually considered is the price tag attached to the console, with some even costing as much as a luxury 2 piece suite sofa upon release. Sorry to say that this is another problem were going to have to deal with, since the need for new technologies in consoles are great, and obviously, these new technologies are expensive.