The History of Gaming and Xbox 360
The History of Gaming and Xbox 360
Console gaming didn't start with PlayStation or Xbox/Xbox 360. Console gaming goes back to the '70s, with the Magnavox Odyssy 100 credited as the very first game console ever. This was in 1972. The year 1975 and 1976 saw the release of Atari Pong and Coleco Telestar respectively. Both were single game systems, only letting you play their respective versions of the game Pong. Atari is a major player in the console wars. Early 1986, saw the birth of Nintendo, the console giant. The 7800 was the next console Atari released - in an effort to revive flagging sales but it was beaten by the Sega Master System which was released in 1986.
Then there was Sega Genesis with their hit game Sonic the Hedgehog. Nintendo followed up with Super NES in 1991. The Jaguar, a cartridge based console was one of the last consoles to be released by Atari (1993). The Sega Saturn was released in 1995 and paved the way for Sony PlayStation, which by the way became the phenomenal success.
This history similar to other history is very long but contrary to other history, it is very interesting. I've given above a very short version of it. If I'd write the full version of the console history, it would resemble a short novel.
In 2000, PlayStation was re-released as PlayStation One. Fall of 2001 saw the release of one of the current giants of console gaming, and perhaps the only console that could topple the PlayStation 2 - Microsoft's Xbox. Microsoft has been involved in gaming for some time, with games such as Age of Empires and Microsoft Flight Simulator. So it wasn't really a surprise when Mr. Bill Gates announced that Microsoft would be releasing there own console. What was more interesting was whether Microsoft would be able to dethrone Sony as the top dogs of the console business.
There were fears that Microsoft might dominate the market like they did with Windows. At first the Xbox didn't do too well and lack of good games damaged it's reputation. It was an accepted fact that the Xbox was superior to the competition in terms of hardware, but many feared that there might be too much emphasis on performance rather than good gameplay. After a torrid first year though, things started to pick up. Better games and the Xbox Live! Online gaming service helped it overcome initial criticism to win over customers.
Neither the Xbox nor the PlayStation have control over the market, although the PlayStation was a little ahead of Xbox. Then Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 was released and Xbox 360 is in my opinion much better and more successful than PlayStation 3. The price also affected the market sales - PlayStation 3 is more costly than Xbox 360.