After rampant rumors, Sony announced a new, slim PlayStation 3 at GamesCom Tuesday. Available the first week of September and retailing for $300, it’s smaller (32 percent less space), lighter (3.2 kg), has a 120 GB HDD, consumes less power, yet has all the same features of the regular PS3. Existing PS3s have had their prices dropped $100, but why pay for the 80 GB version, when you can wait a few weeks and get the 120 for the same price.
Gaming consoles have changed a lot over the last 40 years. Prepare for a trip down memory lane as we look at how they’ve gone from 3 moving objects on a simple black and white display, to full immersive high definition gaming. We’ll look at innovation and failures as we explore every major game console ever made.
The first video game console could hardly be called one by today’s standards. Released in 1972, the Magnavox Odyssey had no microchips, had black and white graphics, had no sound, nor did it have anyway to keep score. Games were programmed directly into the console and plastic overlays were placed on the television which were used to simulate color and graphics such as baseball fields. It was priced at $100 and sold only 2 million units.
The first major console of the so-called “second generation,” because they were the first to be CPU-based, was released in 1977. The Atari 2600 has sold 30 million units (as of 2004) and had an initial price of $199.
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A major competitor to the Atari was the Intellivision. Released in 1980 by Mattel for $299, the system was marketed as more powerful than the Atari. It featured a 16 color palette and an ahead-of-its-time 16-bit processor. However, because of the price difference and Atari’s exclusive rights to games, the Intellivision never gained much of a market share selling only 3 million units.
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1983 began the start of the “third-generation,” or 8-bit era, when the Nintendo Entertainment System was released. Priced at $199.99, the NES featured a 53 color palette, though only 13 could be displayed simultaneously. Worldwide, almost 62 million units have been sold.
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What else would you need when purchasing the most anticipated video game of the year? Easy, a fully functional set of night-vision goggles of course! By plopping down $149.99 dollars ( $90 more than just buying the game ) for the ‘prestige edition’ of Modern Warfare 2 you too can wear these infinity ward branded Night Vision Goggles. Â (more…)
It was in 1976 when Mattel first introduced a handheld gaming console with Auto Race. However, it was in 1989 that this device reached mainstream popularity with Nintendo’s release of the Game Boy. Since then, manufacturers have released a wide variety of handheld game consoles which have captured the attention of gamers and the interest of non-gamers.
Twenty Five years ago, Tetris was finished by Alexey Pajitnov. A widely-respected and adored game that is also credited to have had catapulted the popularity of handheld game consoles. With this celebration, let us take a comprehensive look at handheld game consoles since they were first release.
Mattel Electronics released the Auto Race in 1976. It is credited as the first handheld game manufactured and made available to the public. The console used about 512 bytes in memory. A smaller version for this console was also manufactured later. This was followed by Mattel Football, which was a huge success in the market and thus thought of by the public as the first Mattel game. Mattel Auto Race and Football are now sought after by gaming enthusiasts and are considered as collectors’ items.
This handheld game console was released in Japan by Epoch in 1984. Epoch has released a total of 5 games for its Game Pocket Computer: Astro Bomber, Block Maze, Mahjong, Reversi and Store Keepers. It also has a puzzle game and a paint program built into the system. It had a 75 x 64 resolution for its LCD screen and powered by 4 AA batteries. The screen’s brightness could be dimmed and adjusted accordingly by the user. But Epoch Game Pocket Computer was not a success in Japan and due to this failure, it was never released for the North America market. Also, no other successors were release afterwards.
Introduced in 1979 by Milton Bradley Company, Microvision included cartridge interchangeability into handheld game consoles. It was designed by Jay Smith who later will design the Vectrex gaming console. It has enjoyed moderate success in its first year, with sales grossing $8 million in the first year of release. However, poor support for the handheld console by the manufacturer has rendered this a not so successful game as no more successors were manufactured. Microvison met its demise in 1981.
The world’s first handheld game console to have color LCD! Atari Lynx was originally design by engineers at Epyx in 1987 with the name Handy. But Epyx had some financial trouble at that time and had to find a manufacturing partner. Nintendo did not accept the invitation (they were busy with the manufacturing of another handheld console….) from Epyx while Atari hopped on into the wagon. In 1989, at the Summer CES, Portable Color Entertainment System, or what would later be called Atari Lynx.
Sold for $199, Lynx also enjoyed some moderate success in its release, with Atari manufacturing it in limited quantities. Later, Atari Lynx was relaunched with an aggressive marketing campaign, redesigned console, and improved packaging. This release is referred to as Lynx II. Atari also dropped the price for the new package, without accessories, to $99.
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During Microsoft’s 2009 E3 Press Conference event in Los Angeles, Microsoft revealed their brand new take on interactive video game controllers. Rather than match Nintendo’s Wii Motion Controller or try to retro-fit the Xbox 360 pad with an accelerometer like Sony’s PS3 Dualshock Sixaxis, Microsoft has decide to go a step forward with Project Natal.
Whether Project Natal is a glorified camera system or a brand new way to play video games is still hard to say, but if the Xbox 360 demonstration of games like Ricochet (a simple dodge ball like game) or Paint Party (a simplified version of MSPaint that uses your movements to paint a picture) are any indication, it is indeed a contender to knock down Nintendo Wii’s console as the casual gaming console. (more…)
If you’re a gadget-geek, you’ve likely got quite a few gadgets and accessories to carry around. From phones to mp3 players, chargers, cables, styluses (styli?), headphones and whatever else lying around in piles under your bed, in your car, or in your backpack.
When you travel, the last thing you want is for airport security to be rummaging around in your stuff, pulling out handfulls of wires and messing up the careful organization system you’ve got going on (try archaeological: the oldest stuff on the bottom…)
Coccoon has an answer in their GRID-IT gadget-bag system, which is basically a thick divider covered in dozens of wide elastics, sized to fit into their stylish laptop bags and cases. The grid is designed to hold all of your small stuff, neatly and securely, and the pockets are designed to fit game consoles, phones, and various media. (more…)
Nintendo has finally annouced the release date for the much anticipated Wii Motion Plus. The device, when attached to your exisiting Wiimote, will provide “1:1 motion response on screen”. But will this $20 dollar accessory really change your Wii experience?
Unfortunately for most Wii owners who already have a library of games, the answer is No. The are currently no plans for any sort of backwards compatibility so Mario Kart, Zelda, Wii Sports, and any other game released before June will rule out the need for Wii owners to upgrade their controllers.
Nintendo plans to bundle these devices with Tiger Woods 2010 and Wii Sports 2. (more…)
The PSP Go is here! Last week, we saw a leaked video footage released in the internet and it confirmed speculations of gadget lovers all world round. Today, because of a premature showing from Qore video’s June 2009 online magazine, we can finally view PSP Go’s clear publicity shots. (more…)
OnLive is debuting a new on demand service that will totally revolutionize the gaming world. OnLive, created by Steve Perlman (Atari, Apple, Quicktime) and Mike McGarve (Eidos), aims to bring high end video gaming to the home with an on demand service that will perform on par to the newest game consoles while running off any basic computer or TV.
Instead of purchasing a video game console (Wii, PS3, Xbox), OnLive servers handle the processing. All that is needed is a micro console (or basic home computer) and a broadband connection. It doesn’t matter if you prefer Windows or you are a Mac person, you too can play these processor intensive games at home and enjoy the same action your gamer friends enjoy without investing on a pricey gamer computer. (more…)
Many of you may have been impressed with the quality of games on the Apple iPhone, yet a mobile chip maker known as ARM says that we will soon be able to have Xbox quality gameplay available on cell phones. Cell phones that only cost about $100 dollars.
The new ARM Mali-200 and Mali-400 processors will be released around winter of 2009, and they should be in cell phones on the market within a few months after that. The company has already ported Project Gotham Racer to work with their new processors. According to them, “Performance-wise, it runs like the original Xbox, but feature-wise it looks like an Xbox 360 title.” (more…)
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