Computer And Video Games - The Past Two Decades:

In 1989, Nintendo released the Game Boy, the first popular Handheld game console|handheld console. Included with the system was Tetris, which became a popular puzzle game. Several rival handhelds also made their debut around that time, including the Sega Game Gear and Atari Lynx. While some of the other systems remained in production until the mid-90s, the Game Boy remained at the top spot in sales throughout its lifespan.The North American market was dominated by the Sega, Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis|Genesis early on after its debut in 1989, with the Nintendo SNES|Super NES proving a strong, roughly equal rival in 1991. The NEC Corporation|NEC TurboGrafx 16 was the first 16-bit system to be marketed in the region, but did not achieve a large following, partly due to a limited library of English games and effective marketing from Sega. In Japan, the PC Engine's (Turbografx 16) 1987 success against the Famicom and CD drive peripheral allowed it to fend off the Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis|Mega Drive (Genesis) in 1988, which never really caught on to the same degree as outside Japan. The PC Engine eventually lost out to the Super Famicom, but retained enough of a user base to support new games well into the late 1990s. CD-ROM drives were first seen in this generation, as add-ons for the PC Engine in 1988 and the Megadrive in 1991. Basic 3D graphics entered the mainstream with flat-shaded polygons enabled by additional processors in game cartridges like Virtua Racing and Starfox.In 1994-1995, Sega released Sega Saturn and Sony made its debut to the video gaming scene with the PlayStation. Both consoles used 32-bit technology; the door was open for 3D games. After many delays, Nintendo released its 64-bit console, the Nintendo 64 in 1996, selling more than 1.5 million units in only three months. The flagship title, ''Super Mario 64'', became a defining title for 3D platform games. Nintendo's choice to use Cartridge (electronics)|cartridges instead of CD-ROMs for the Nintendo 64, unique among the consoles of this period, proved to have negative consequences. In particular, Square Co., Ltd.|SquareSoft, which had released all previous games in its ''Final Fantasy'' series for Nintendo consoles, now turned to the PlayStation; ''Final Fantasy VII'' (1997) was a huge success, establishing the popularity of role-playing games in the west and making the PlayStation the primary console for the genre. By the end of this period, Sony had dethroned Nintendo, the PlayStation outselling the Nintendo 64. The Saturn was successful in Japan but a failure in North America, leaving Sega outside of the main competition.1998 saw the releases of the Sega Dreamcast in Japan (1999 in the US) and the Game Boy Color from Nintendo. In 2001 Sony released the widely anticipated PlayStation 2. In 2001 Microsoft entered the videogame console industry by releasing its new home console, the Xbox. Its flagship game, ''Halo: Combat Evolved'', being available at the system's launch. Nintendo released their successor to the Nintendo 64, the GameCube, and the first all-new Game Boy since the console's inception, the Game Boy Advance. Sega realized they could no longer compete especially with Sony's new PS2, and announced they would discontinue the Dreamcast and no longer manufacture hardware, becoming a third-party developer in 2002.Nokia entered the handheld market with its N-Gage game-phone hybrid in 2003. It was criticised for being poorly designed, and flopped. In 2004 Nokia released a re-designed N-Gage, called the N-Gage QD, which didn't fare much better. The other two more technically advanced handhelds to be released in 2004, the Nintendo DS and the PlayStation Portable (PSP), didn't help the N-Gage. The Nintendo DS is a highly innovative handheld, the PSP is much more powerful and also includes limited media capabilities. In Western countries the consoles have had similar levels of success but in Japan the DS has been a huge hit, vastly outselling the PSP.The end of 2005 saw the release of the Xbox 360 - the first of the seventh generation of video game consoles.Microsoft has released future plans for its own handheld platform, although details are not clear yet.

Comments? Questions? Email Here

© HowtoAdvice.com

How to Advice .com