What Is The History Of Gaming Consoles

Some people have been asking - “What Is The History Of Gaming Consoles?”. Well the answer is that the gaming console probably goes back further than you might think.

Magnavox released the first home gaming console in 1972, it was called the Odyssey. This console was moderately successful but in 1975 Magnavox released the Odyssey 100 which only played Pong. This simple game comprising of 2 paddles and a ball was the real start of home gaming.

The Fairchild Video Entertainment System or VES was released in 1976. It was the first console to contain a programmable microprocessor, this meant that its' cartridges only needed a single ROM chip to store microprocessor instructions.

Subsequently a whole range of programmable cartridge consoles came on to the market from manufacturers such as RCA and Atari who great success with their game Space Invaders.

The next big change in the home gaming console market was the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System otherwise know as the NES. The console was originally released in Japan as the Famicom in 1983 and subsequently made its way to the US in 1985 where it took on the name of the NES.

This small grey box is the first console my friends and I can remember playing, it was where my gaming career began. Nintendo introduced to us its' range of characters who are now very well known. The most famous of these is a certain plumber named Mario. Super Mario Brothers was the game to have and was a smash success for Nintendo.

Other popular games included the multi player racer Mario Kart and Duck Hunt which made use of the NES light gun. At the time this seemed like the height of technology.

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