Entertainment takes its brand-new type. With the development of technology and its integration to various aspects of our lives, standard entertainment such as theatrical plays and cultural shows is replaced by so-called "electronic entertainment". There you have numerous digital and animated films that you can enjoy on movie houses or on your home entertainment system, cable television system (CTS), and the video game system, which is popular not simply to young and old gamers alike however likewise to video game designers, merely because of the development of innovative innovations that they can use to enhance existing video game systems.
The video game system is intended for playing computer game, though there are contemporary game systems that allows you to have a gain access to over other types of entertainment utilizing such game systems (like watching DVD films, listening to MP3 music files, or surfing the Internet). Therefore, it is typically referred to as "interactive entertainment computer" to differentiate the video game system from a maker that is utilized for various functions (such as personal computer and arcade games).
The very first generation of video game system started when Magnavox (an electronics company which produces televisions, radios, and gramophones or record players) released its first video game system, which is the Magnavox Odyssey created by Ralph Baer. Odyssey's appeal lasted till the release of Atari's PONG computer game. Magnavox understood that they can not compete with the popularity of PONG video games, therefore in 1975 they created the Odyssey 100 video game system that will play Atari-produced PONG video games.
The second generation of computer game system came a year after the release of Odyssey 100. In 1976, Fairchild released the FVES (Fairchild Video Entertainment System), which made use of a programmable microprocessor so that a game cartridge can hold a single ROM chip to save microprocessor directions. Nevertheless, because of the "computer game crash" in 1977, Fairchild deserted the computer game system market. Magnavox and Atari stayed in the computer game market.
The rebirth of the computer game system began when Atari released the popular arcade Area Invaders. The market was suddenly restored, with lots of gamers made purchase of an Atari computer game system just for Space Intruders. In other words, with the appeal of Space Invaders, Atari controlled the video game market throughout the 80s.
Video game system's third generation entered into being after the release of Nintendo's Famicon in 1983. It supported full color, high resolution, and tiled background gaming system. It was at first launched in Japan and it was later on given the United States in the form of Nintendo Home entertainment System (NES) in 1985. And similar to Atari's Space Intruders, the release of Nintendo's well-known Super Mario Brothers was a big success, which totally revived the suffering video game system market in the early months of 1983.
Sega intended to compete with Nintendo, however they stopped working to develop considerable market share. It was till 1988 when Sega launched the Sega Genesis in Japan on October 29 of the very same year and on September 1, 1989 in the United States and Europe territories. Two years later, Nintendo launched 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 could display more onscreen colors and the latter made use of a CD instead of video game cartridges, making it more effective compared to Genesis and SNES. Nintendo, on the other hand, decided to launch brand-new video games such as Donkey Kong Country instead of producing new computer game systems. Sega's Vectorman and Virtua Racing did the same. Numerous years later on, Sony, Sega, and Nintendo released the fifth generation of computer game systems (PlayStation, Saturn, and N64, respectively).
The 6th generation of video game systems followed, involving Sega (Dreamcast, which was their last video game system and the very first Internet-ready video game system), Sony (PlayStation 2), Nintendo (Video Game Cube which is their first system to utilize video game CDs), and the newcomer Microsoft (Xbox).
The latest generation of gamesread video game systems is now slowly getting in the game industry. These are as follows:
- Microsoft's Xbox, which was launched on November 22, 2005;
- Sony's PlayStation 3, which is schedule to be released on November 11, 2006 (Japan), November 17 of the very same year (North America), and March 2007 (Europe); and
- Nintendo's Wii, which is arranged to be launched on November 19, 2006 (North America), December 2 of the very 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 since this minute, which will defy the way we define "entertainment".