The History of the Console - Part 1 cont'd

Pong
It was Atari's Pong that really launched the console market. Released in 1975 after the success of an arcade version, it had sold well over 400,000 units by Christmas - and with that, home gaming had truly arrived. It wasn't long before clones were available on other consoles which enjoyed similar success off the back of this rudimentary black and white game of pixel tennis. At this time, games were still very basic by today's standards and remained physically integrated into the hardware of the console.

The birth of the cartridge
The Channel F Video Entertainment System hit the shelves in 1976 and was the world's first cartridge console. Games programmed into the cartridge could be played on the 16 colour, 8 bit system. Once again, the public were put off by the high price as there were much cheaper integrated gaming systems still available.

Studio 3
Even more of a failure was RCA's Studio 3. Despite using an 8-bit system, the games consisted of clunky black and white graphics inferior to the Channel F. Keyboard based controls were integrated onto the main unit, adding diversity, but it wasn't enough to avert another early demise in a rapidly growing market.

Atari VCS
The first real success for cartridge consoles came when Atari released their Video Computer System in 1977. Graphics, sound and playability were a marked improvement on what had previously been on offer, but sales didn't really take off until 1980 when the arcade classic Space Invaders was transferred onto cartridge.

And the rest, as they say, is history. Production of the VCS and its updated consoles continued until 1990, by which time 200 games had been released and over 25 million units sold.

Gaming had finally come of age.

Read Part 2 of the history of the console here



PAGE 1 OF 2