The History of the Console - Part 2

In part one, we saw how the Atari VCS system was a major success and games consoles appeared to be the way forward. However, the expected explosion in the market failed to materialise and very soon, console sales were plummeting. This era became known as the 'dark ages' of the games console.

The Dark Ages
Colecovision launched their console in 1982, promising better quality games than the Atari VCS. Atari in turn produced their 5200 system whose games were improved versions of existing titles. Both machines, however, failed to set the world alight. Not only were there too many games manufacturers producing inferior quality games, the consoles faced stiff competition from the burgeoning microcomputer market. In late '82, Atari saw a third of its share value wiped off when sales figures slumped. The games console looked like it was set for the skip.

Microcomputers
In 1982, Sinclair released the ZX Spectrum and Commodore launched the C64 microcomputers. Both machines were intended to bring computing into the home and serve a variety of uses. In reality, they proved far more popular as games machines than work stations. Games of console system quality could be developed, and made far cheaper for microcomputers than for consoles. It also gave more people access to programming which led to many innovations in the style of games. The programmable nature of the microcomputer meant that gamers could also develop their own hacks and cheats for games.



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