4th Generation
Sega Game Gear - 1990
It was released on October 6th 1990 in Japan and 1991 in North America and Europe
Competed with the Gameboy
Special as it contained a full colour backlit screen and the screen was lanscape
Atari Lynx - 1989
Released in Sept 1989
Worlds first handheld game console with a colour LCD which is why it is special
Was not as successful as the future hand held consoles as it sold 1-3 million units
5th Generation
Sega Saturn - 1994
Was released in Japan on November 22nd 1994, in North America on May 11th 1995 and in Europe on July 8th 1995
The first Sega console to use CD-ROMs
Limited third party publishers
Special as it was the companies first console to use the CD-ROM
Gameboy colour - 1998
It was released on October 21st 1998 in Japan, November 18th 1998 in North America November 23rd 1998 in Europe
First Gameboy to feature a colour screen
Special as it sold a massive 118.69 million units worldwide
6th Generation
Sega DreamCast - 1998
Was launched in Japan on Nov 27th in 1998, 9th Sept 1999 in USA and 14th Oct 1999 in Europe
It was the companies last games console
Implimented the GD-ROM which was a special type of disc to prevent piracy
Special as it was the first console to use these discs and was the first of the 6th generation
Playstation 2 - 2000
The PS2 was released in Japan on March 4th 2000, in North America on October 26th 2000, in Europe on November 24th 2000
Was the first home console that was able to play DVDs
Special as it is still the most successful console in history as it has sold over 150 million consoles
Nintendo Gamecube - 2001
It was released in Japan on September 15th 2001, in North America on November 18th 2001, in Europe on May 3rd 2002
Nintendos 4th video games console and the first console by the company to use optical discs instead of cartridges
Significant as it used smaller 8cm optical discs instead of the usual 12cm ones
Released on November 15th 2001, in Japan on February 22nd 2002, and in Europe and Australia on March 14th 2002
Quite special as it was the first console employ a hard drive right out of the box to save games, the first to have an ethernet port for broadband internet and had much more multiplayer games than the PS2 and Gamecube
Attracted many gamers in the US because of its main game, Halo 2
NGage - 2003
Released 7th Oct 2003
Significant as it included mobile phone functionality
Sold 3 million units
7th Generation
Play Station Portable
Released Dec 12th 2004
Significant as it is the only hand held console to use and optical disc format
Sold 76+ million units
Included a large viewing screen
Included internet browsing app
Xbox 360 - 2005
Released November 22nd 2005 in the United States, December 2nd 2005 in Europe and December 10th 2005 in Japan
Sold out completely everywhere except Japan on release day
Significant as it integrated Xbox live which allowed people to play online with others and it also allowed them to download tons of items such as music, videos, films and demos
78.2 million sold worldwide
Able to play Xbox 1 Games
Playstation 3 - 2006
First released on 11th Nov in Japan in 2006
Significant as it is the first console to use Blu-ray discs
Had the Playstation network, similar to Xbox Live
Not backwards compatible (Unable to play PS2 games)
75 million units sold worldwide
Playstation slim was released in 2009 which is a smaller version of the PS3
Nintendo Wii - 2006
First releases in Japan on the 19th November in 2006
Significant as it has sold more units than any other console in the 7th generation
First console to feature wireless, motion controllers that can detect movement
Has WiiConnect24 which is similar to the PS network and Xbox Live
First console to have the virtual console service where players can download old emulated games such as The Legend of Zelda or Super Mario and play it on the newer console
8th Generation
Wii U - 2012
Released November 18th 2012
First console of the company to support HD graphics
Backwards compatible with Wii games
Significant as it has a separate touchscreen tablet known as the Wii U GamePad which can be used with the Wii U games
So far it has sold 3.61 million units
Interactive TV games
Winky Dink and you:
- A TV show that aired from 1953 to 1957 on Saturday mornings at 10:30am
- Was hosted by Jack Barry and featured a cartoon character called Winky Dink
- Was the first interactive TV show
- Used a 'Magic drawing screen' which was basically a large piece of vinyl plastic that stuck to the TV screen and Winky Dink would present activities on the screen such as a dot-to-dot in which the children would draw on the piece of vinyl the dot-to-dot picture. The finished drawing would help him continue with the story
- It was important as it kept children entertained and it was the first interactive TV show which then brought about better interactive technology
Laser Disc
- This is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc.
- Sold by 'DiscoVision' in 1978
- Was not as popular in Europe and America
- Important technology as it offered higher-quality videos and audio than the VHS and betamax videocassette systems at the time
Interactive Movie
- The first interactive movie was Kinoautomat in 1967. At certain intervals, a moderator would appear and ask the audience which of two scenes they would like to see next. The chosen scene would play.
- The first LaserDisc interactive game was Astron Belt which included full-motion video footage in the story.
-This is an important technology as it got audiences to interact with what was going on in the story instead of just watching it unfold and it helped create important formats such as the DVD
DVDi
- DVD games for the TV were first created in the 1990s and were poorly received and understood as an entertainment medium. Further into the future though, consoles like the PS2 popularised DVD gaming and now most PCs have a DVD player.
- Became the biggest form of home video distribution in Japan
- People could interact with movies they had bought using the remote and the video on audio would be much better than in the past
- Important piece of technology because most movies now have some kind of interactive feature and its involvement with the PC and PS2 has made it become a great success
Visiware
Visiware is an interactive tv company which is based in France
It was founded in 1994 by Laurant Weill
Uses a special tablet pad to interact with the TV and play games. Similar to the IPad, the user can touch the screen to select items and what is chosen will change what is displayed on your TV. The pad lets users play games, take part in quizzes, look at leader boards for sports, participate in polls and votes and allows T-commerce.
It differs to games consoles such as the Xbox and PS3 as it uses a pad whereas these consoles use controllers. The Visiware product is quite similar to the Wii U as both have a pad which is used to interact with the actual thing displayed on the TV. Also, the Visiware second screen (The tablet) is unable to play big games such as the ones on the Xbox and PS3. The games it plays are quite similar to arcade games and mobile games as they are small and mainly 2D. It is able to play things such as chess, poker, action adventure games, sports games and many more.
Its limitations are that the graphics and gameplay can not be as good as the Xbox or the PS3 as it is not a large console or PC, so mainly 2D games can be played on it which means it will be quite similar to games played on your mobile or IPad. Also, it is touch screen so it will be very hard for the user to be able to play any big games due to the lack of controls.
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