Home entertainment takes its new form. With the development of technology and its integration to numerous elements of our lives, conventional home entertainment such as theatrical plays and cultural programs is changed by so-called "electronic home entertainment". There you have numerous digital and animated films that you can view on cinema or on your home entertainment system, cable television service system (CTS), and the video game system, which is popular not simply to young and old players alike but likewise to game developers, simply because of the advancement of innovative technologies that they can utilize to improve existing video game systems.
The video game system is planned for playing video games, though there are contemporary video game systems that permits you to have an access over other forms of entertainment using such game systems (like seeing DVD movies, listening to MP3 music files, or surfing the Web). Hence, it is frequently described as "interactive home entertainment computer" to distinguish the video game system from a maker that is utilized for various functions (such as desktop computer and game games).
The first generation of video game system started when Magnavox (an electronic devices business which produces televisions, radios, and gramophones or record players) released its very first computer game system, which is the Magnavox Odyssey created by Ralph Baer. Odyssey's popularity lasted up until the release of Atari's PONG video games. Magnavox understood that they can not compete with the popularity of PONG video games, hence in 1975 they produced the Odyssey 100 video game system that will play Atari-produced PONG games.
The second generation of computer game system came a year after the release of Odyssey 100. In 1976, Fairchild launched the FVES (Fairchild Video Entertainment System), which made use of a programmable microprocessor so that a video game cartridge can hold a single ROM chip to conserve microprocessor instructions. Nevertheless, because of the "video game crash" in 1977, Fairchild abandoned the computer game system industry. Magnavox and Atari stayed in the computer game market.
The rebirth of the video game system began when Atari released the popular game Space Invaders. The industry was suddenly revived, with lots of players made purchase of an Atari computer game system just for Space Intruders. In other words, with the appeal of Space Intruders, Atari controlled the video game market throughout the 80s.
Video game system's third generation entered into seeking the release of Nintendo's Famicon in 1983. It supported full color, high resolution, and tiled background video gaming system. It was initially video games review introduced in Japan and it was later brought to the United States in the form of Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1985. And similar to Atari's Space Invaders, the release of Nintendo's well-known Super Mario Brothers was a big success, which completely restored the suffering computer game system industry in the early months of 1983.
Sega intended to compete with Nintendo, however they failed to establish considerable market share. It was up until 1988 when Sega released the Sega Genesis in Japan on October 29 of the same year and on September 1, 1989 in the United States and Europe areas. 2 years later on, Nintendo launched the Super Nintendo Home Entertainment System (SNES) in 1990.
Atari came back 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 powerful compared to Genesis and SNES. Nintendo, on the other hand, decided to launch new video games such as Donkey Kong Country instead of producing new computer game systems. Sega's Vectorman and Virtua Racing did the same. Several years later, Sony, Sega, and Nintendo released the 5th generation of computer game systems (PlayStation, Saturn, and N64, respectively).
The 6th generation of game systems followed, including Sega (Dreamcast, which was their last computer game system and the very first Internet-ready game system), Sony (PlayStation 2), Nintendo (Video Game Cube which is their very first system to make use of video game CDs), and the beginner Microsoft (Xbox).
The latest generation of computer game systems is now gradually getting in the video game industry. 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 scheduled to be released on November 19, 2006 (The United States And Canada), December 2 of the 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 video game system being established since this minute, which will defy the method we specify "entertainment".