Hello #Hivers here I present the continuation of the interesting and informative history of video games I hope you like it :D
THE FIRST CONSOLES
The first console to see the light of day was the Magnavox Odyssey (right) which was released in 1972. All of its components were analog and its games were very, very primitive (and then some). The console included plastic covers for the TV screen in an attempt to make the games more interesting (as much as possible). The console was so primitive that players had to keep score on paper, as "the thing" had no memory.
Shortly after, in 1975, after the release of Pong in arcade, Atari created its first console: Atari Pong, which only allowed playing Pong but helped greatly to the flourishing of video games as it was like taking an arcade machine home. This caused a great enthusiasm, but it did not take off because having only one game without the possibility of alternating it was not very profitable, so it was preferred to continue with the arcades (which after all was the same thing).
Finally, two years later, in 1977, Atari launched the console that propelled it to success: the Atari 2600 (left). Among its novelties was the innovation of being able to change games by exchanging cartridges. It only had 8 bits of power, but it was more than enough for that time and to fight the competition. It remained at the foot of the cannon leading its rivals for many years thanks to its wide catalog of games. A few years after its release it brought out a new junior version that finished off the game (right). With its success, Atari was allowed to buy the licenses of movies such as E.T or Indiana Jones, which secured its position. It remained on the market until 1990 (that is 13 years, which is already years...), making it the console that has remained active on the market for the longest time. Dethroned by the Nes (Nintendo).
Just a year after the release of the Atari 2600 the second generation Odyssey console was set to go head to head with the aforementioned Atari. It was their strongest rival, but the Magnavox-Odyssey2 (below) never reached the popularity of the 2600. The great novelty of this console, unique in the 8-bit generation, was the inclusion of a keyboard (emulating a computer).
Among Atari's competitors it was the best seller, below the Bally Astrocade (left) and the Fairchild Channel F (right), which used the same basic technology as the 2600 (but Atari was a lot of Atari...).
In 1980 the best console of the first generation was released: Mattel Intellivision (right), with a 16-bit graphics engine. It competed with the Atari 2600 without much success despite having far superior graphics. It also had a voice synthesizer module that was included separately and was the first to replace the old joysticks with button controls, a model to be followed by the rest of the consoles from then on.
THE DECADE OF THE CLASSICS
(1978-1988)
The decade 78-88 was undoubtedly the time of release of games that have had more conversions (except Pong) and from which more ideas and arguments have been extracted. We can say that it was the golden age of videogames:
In 1978 Space Invaders (left) appeared, a milestone without a doubt. Created by Taito, this game was a revolution in the video game industry because for the first time in history, high scores could be saved (but not the player's initials, that was too much to ask...).
A year later, Atari developed Lunar Lander, a game that in principle was not intended to be. It was programmed as information about the distance and speed that a spacecraft could have on the lunar surface, depending on gravity, but again Atari (which I still don't understand how after so many years of success, this company has fallen apart) took advantage of this idea, added graphics and sound and managed to create the first flight simulator in history. Also in 1979, Atari launched another classic that also obtained a great acceptance: Asteroids, thanks to which video games were admitted as a form of fun capable of removing the stress and accumulated tension of work, thus attributing them, for the first time to adults, by Newsweek magazine. The video game was different from anything seen before.
Asteroids was also capable of storing the player's initials along with the high scores. This year saw the release of many other classics such as Namco's Galaxian or Sega's Monaco GP.
Thank you for reading ®
Part III for next week, stay tuned friends ✎
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