Video game consoles have come a long way, and as technology advances, games get better too. However, the different games took time before they could be made available to gamers, and the following is a look at the history of the game console.
One of the most common game consoles is the Marnavox Odyssey, and it was first released in the year 1972. This game is actually considered to be the first home video game console and was designed by Ralph Baer who had a working prototype completed in 1968. Suffice it to note that the prototype used is known as the “Brown Box”. Unlike most console games, Odyssey is one of the games that is analog, rather than digital, and this has made it popular with most people. In addition, it works with batteries. This is a quiet console and it lacks sound capabilities.
The other game worth mentioning is Atari PONG, which was released in the year 1975. This was released after the original PONG coin operation, by an engineer known as Harold Lee. The Magnov Odyssey 100 is another game console. In fact, you can’t talk about the history of video game consoles without talking about this console, which was an analog system that used four Texas instrument chips, as opposed to the cartridges that are commonly used. What is unique about this game console is the fact that a simple switch was used to select the games, with the system powered by 6 batteries or an AC adapter. It had fixed knobs and there was no digital display that could be used to see the score. This means that players marked their score with small plastic cursors. But as technology advanced, on-screen punctuation was added. The first Magnavox system to have a digital display was the Odyssey 300, back in 1976.
Another game console story is that of Antari Super PONG, released in 1976. The PONG franchise has gone on to release several excellent home versions, and super PONG is one example. With this version, players had the option to select 4 different variations of the games in PONG, a sure way to be entertained for endless hours. This version of Antari had striking features and colors, as well as striking sound thanks to its built-in speaker. These features, simple as they may seem, are what set the Antari apart from other common versions, some of which don’t even have sound.
Fairchild Channel F was launched in the year 1976 and was the first video game system that could be programmed. It had a plug-in cartridge that contained a ROM and microprocessor code, rather than dedicated circuitry. Although this model was not very popular, it was a big step forward and many successful systems borrowed some features from it. Fairchild released around 26 cartridges, all different, each holding four games each.
