Video game console

A video game console is a dedicated electronic device designed to play video
games. Often the output device is a separate television. Once, video game
consoles were easily distinguishable from personal computers: consoles used
a standard television for display, and did not support standard PC
accessories such as keyboards or modems. However, as consoles have become
more powerful, the distinction has blurred: some consoles can have have full
Linux OS's running with hard drives and keyboards, and Microsoft's Xbox is
basically a stripped down PC running a version of Microsoft Windows.

The console market has steadily developed from simple one-off games (Pong)
to fully featured general purpose games systems.

Older game consoles and their software now live on in emulators as they are
no longer supported by their manufacturers; however, console makers try to
prevent legitimate console and software buyers from playing games on
emulators, using a special mask work copyright and a special copyright on
encrypted media created by the United States' Digital Millennium Copyright
Act and foreign counterparts, especially for the newer game consoles. The
emulation of ancient video game consoles, such as the NES and SNES have
gradually settled down.

Note that the "bit" names of generations were in large part created by the
console makers' marketing departments and may have little to do with the
actual architecture of the systems.

List of game consoles

This includes stand-alone game consoles, see also hand held consoles for
portable devices with integrated displays.

Future systems

   * Sony PlayStation 3 (Sony has plans to release such a system around
     2005)
   * Nintendo GameCube 2 (Nintendo plans to release such a system at the
     same time as or before the predecent above)
   * Microsoft [[Xbox 2] (Microsoft has plans to release such a gaming
     system in the future. Xbox 2 is not the official name for it)

Sixth generation

   * Sega Dreamcast
   * Sony PlayStation 2
   * Nuon
   * Microsoft Xbox
   * Nintendo GameCube

Fifth generation

   * Apple Pippin (1996) (never marketed)
   * Atari Jaguar (1993) (marketed as "64-bit")
   * Playdia (1994)
   * 3DO (1993)
   * Sega Saturn (1994-1998)
   * Sony PlayStation (1994)
   * Nintendo 64 (1996-2002) (marketed as "64-bit")

Fourth generation

   * TurboGrafx 16 or PC-Engine (1989)
        o TurboGrafx-16 CD
        o TurboDuo
   * Sega Genesis or [Sega MegaDrive] (1989-1998)
        o Sega CD or [Sega Mega CD] (1991)
        o Sega 32X or [Sega Mega 32X] or [Sega Super 32X] (1993)
   * Neo-Geo (1989)
        o Neo-Geo CD (1994-1999)
   * Super Nintendo Entertainment System or Super Famicom (1991-1998)
   * Philips CD-i
   * PC-FX

Third "8-bit" generation

   * NES or Famicom (1985-1995)
   * Sega Master System (1986)
   * Atari 7800 (1986)

Second "8-bit" generation

This generation was followed by a collapse in the video game market in North
America (1984).

   * Intellivision (1980)
   * Colecovision (1982)
   * Philips_G7400 (1983) (This was to be released in the USA as the
     Odyssey3; changing market conditions prevented its release.)
   * Arcadia 2001 (1982)
   * Vectrex (1982)
   * Atari 5200 (1982)

First generation of "8-bit" programmable systems

   * Atari 2600 VCS
   * Odyssey2 (1978) (Known in Europe as the Philips_G7000)
   * Channel F (1976)
   * Astrocade (1977)

Dedicated (non-programmable) video game consoles

Consoles of this era were often inaccurately called "analog" but actually
used discrete logic.

   * Several Odyssey consoles
   * Several Pong consoles

The First commercial home video game ever

The Odyssey - discrete logic

Consoles that never made it

   * Konix Multisystem
   * Sega VR

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