The History of Video Game Consoles
By: George
The 6th Gen.
In the 6th gen., the makers of the consoles wanted more PC like consoles, using disks, which make a better picture and store more Things. The developers also made these more online gaming based and able to have both hard drives and flash drives. The PlayStation 2 was released in Japan on March 4, 2000, in North America on October 26, 2000, in Europe on November 24, 2000 and in Australia on November 30, 2000. The PS2 was the follow-up to the PS, and was the first home console to take CDs. The PS2 is the best selling console history, with 115 million sold. Microsoft released their first games console, the Xbox in North America on November 15, 2001, in Japan on February 22, 2002, and in Europe and Australia on March 14, 2002. It was the first to include a hard drive. The online XBOX LIVE attracted many PC users, and the Halo franchise lifted the Xbox's popularity.
The cover of Halo 2
The 7th Gen.
Microsoft kicked off the seventh generation with the release of the Xbox 360 on November 22, 2005 in the United States, December 2, 2005 in Europe, December 10, 2005 in Japan and March 23, 2006 in Australia. The 360 had the best processing power, until the PS3 was releases. While the original Xbox 360 Core did not include an internal HDD, most Xbox 360 models since have included at least the option to have one. The PS3 also had a blue-ray disk reader, a feature the 360 didn't have. The Kenect had come out for the 360. The PlayStation 3 was released in Japan on November 11, 2006, in North America on November 17, 2006 and in Europe and Australia on March 23, 2007. It included a great processing system, and a blue ray player. Up to seven controllers can connect to the console using Bluetooth. It can also play 3D games. Nintendo's Wii was released in North America on November 19, 2006, in Japan on December 2, 2006, in Australia on December 7, 2006 and in Europe on December 8, 2006. It is bundled with Wii Sports in all places except for Japan. The Wii had a low processing system, resulting in bad graphics. The Wii remote was also a uniqe feature, along with no hard drive, but SD card storage. Another new technology in the 7thy gen. is the use of motion as input, and IR tracking. Wireless controllers, and touch screens on handheld devices, are also new.
The 8th Gen.
The PS4 was released on November 15, 2013. Microsoft announced their next generation console, the Xbox One, on May 21, 2013, and released it on November 22, 2013. This started the 8th generation. The PS4 sold 1 million consoles in a day in 2 countries and Xbox One sold 1 million consoles in a ay in 13 countries. The 8th gen. has not been out for long, so not much is known about it.