Video Game Consoles: A Timeline of Events
1958-Present (Key Events)
| 1958 | The earliest documented interactive video game—Tennis For Two (Pong)—is developed at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. |
| 1977 | Atari releases its most popular game console, the VCS 2600 (Atari 2600), for $199. This console supported cartridges, colors, and sounds. |
| 1986 | Nintendo releases the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System for $199.99. The NES revitalizes the gaming industry and sells 60 million units. |
| 1994 | Sony unveils its first major contribution to the gaming industry—the Sony PlayStation. The PS1 becomes the most popular 5th generation console. |
| 2006 | Nintendo releases its 7th generation home console, the Nintendo Wii. The Wii supports 3D motion-sensitive controls to allow for vast interaction. |
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1st Generation Timeline
| 1958 | The earliest documented interactive video game—Tennis For Two (Pong)—is developed at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. |
| 1962 | Steve Russell and a team of programmers develop the first distributable (via campus computer labs) video game titled, "Spacewar." |
| 1972 | The first ever commercial home video gaming system, the Magnavox Odyssey, is released across the United States. |
| 1975 | Home gaming version of Pong (Table Tennis) is developed by Atari and begins being massively distributed across the world by Sears. |
| 1975 | What is believed to be the first text-based electronic adventure game is developed and is aptly titled, "Adventure." |
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2nd Generation Timeline
| 1976 | The Fairchild Channel F home gaming console is released for $169.95. This is the first console to support interchangeable game cartridges. |
| 1977 | Atari releases its most popular game console, the VCS 2600 (Atari 2600), for $199. This console supported cartridges, colors, and sounds. |
| 1978 | Magnavox releases its Odyssey 2 game console across North America to compete (unsuccessfully) against the Atari 2600. |
| 1980 | The Intellivision game console is released by Mattel and features superior technology in many aspects to the Atari 2600, and sells several million. |
| 1982 | Many third party game consoles were released including the ColecoVision and the Vectrex. All of these releases eventually led to a gaming slump. |
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3rd Generation Timeline
| 1986 | Nintendo releases the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System for $199.99. The NES revitalizes the gaming industry and sells 60 million units. |
| 1987 | Sega globally releases the Sega Master System to complete against the Nintendo Entertainment System. It goes on to sell 13 million units. |
| 1987 | Atari releases its Atari 7800 gaming console internationally for $140. Unfortunately, poor games and Nintendo's dominance led to its failure. |
| 1988 | By this point, many classic and revolutionary games including Super Mario Brothers, Tetris, and Zelda have been released. |
| 1990 | The Nintendo Entertainment System continues to dominate the 3rd generation of game consoles, with over 800 games to choose from. |
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4th Generation Timeline
| 1987 | The TurboGrafx-16 (PC Engine) is first released in Japan and marks the beginning of the 4th generation of gaming consoles (16-bit technology). |
| 1989 | Sega releases its Sega Genesis (Mega Drive) game console to North America, one year after deploying it overseas. |
| 1990 | SNK deploys the Neo Geo across Japan (later, the USA). The Neo Geo featured richer colors and sounds than other consoles, but sold poorly. |
| 1991 | Nintendo releases its 16-bit console, Super Nintendo (Super Famicom), across the United States. 49 million consoles eventually sell. |
| 1994 | Super Metroid is released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System on an unprecedented 24 MB cartridge. |
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5th Generation Timeline
| 1993 | Atari releases its final game console, the Atari Jaguar. After a commercial failure, Atari leaves the hardware console development scene. |
| 1994 | Sega releases one of the first mainstream 5th generation consoles, the Sega Saturn. It goes on to sell some 9.5 million units worldwide. |
| 1994 | Sony unveils its first major contribution to the gaming industry—the Sony PlayStation. The PS1 becomes the most popular 5th generation console. |
| 1996 | Nintendo releases its 64-bit, 5th generation console, the Nintendo 64. The N64 features rich, colorful 3D graphics and sells 250,000 units its 1st year. |
| 2000 | Sony releases the PSOne, which is a significantly slimmed down and convertible version of the original PlayStation. It initially outsells the PS2. |
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6th Generation Timeline
| 1998 | Sega releases the first 6th generation game console, the Sega Dreamcast. This console features online capabilities and marks Sega's final console. |
| 2000 | Sony releases its follow-up to the highly successful PlayStation, the PlayStation 2. The PS2 can also play DVDs and music CDs. |
| 2001 | The Dreamcast is discontinued and Nintendo releases its own 6th generation console, the Nintendo GameCube and sells 21.6 million units. |
| 2001 | Microsoft enters the home gaming scene by releasing the Microsoft Xbox for $299. The Xbox includes an internal hard drive and online capabilities. |
| 2004 | Despite initial belief that Microsoft would take down Sony in the gaming scene due to vast funding, PlayStation remains the largest game market. |
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7th Generation Timeline
| 2004 | Nintendo releases the first 7th generation gaming device—a handheld system known as Nintendo DS (Dual Screen). It is touch-screen capable. |
| 2004 | Sony releases its own 7th generation handheld known as the PSP (PlayStation Portable). The graphics and power rivals the PlayStation 2. |
| 2005 | Microsoft unveils its follow-up to the original Xbox—the Microsoft Xbox 360 for $299-$399. The console has thus far sold 13.4 million units. |
| 2006 | Sony releases the third version of the PlayStation—the Sony PlayStation 3. The PS3 features ultra-realistic graphics and motion-sensitive controls. |
| 2006 | Nintendo releases its 7th generation home console, the Nintendo Wii. The Wii supports 3D motion-sensitive controls to allow for vast interaction. |
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