Whenever you're playing your PS2, Xbox, or your Gamecube, have you ever wondered: when did all this begin anyway?  You ask: who made the first home console or system and when?  Well, as you go through this website you will read and find out who created what and when.  You will also see when the console was released to the public and what technology they use or are using today.

After joining with the Magnavox Company in 1970, Ralph Baer had created the first home video game system (or console) in 1972:  The Magnavox Odyssey sold 100,000 units at $100 each, which was quite impressive at the time.  The Odyssey had 300 separate parts and it came with controls, play money, dice and some playing cards.  The Odyssey already came with 12 pre-programmed games and used plastic overlays for the player to place on the screen.  All the Odyssey really had was low cost LSI (Large Scale Integrated) circuits.  Although the Odyssey would not compete with the populary of Pong, the Odyssey was still (and is still) considered a success.  

The creation of Atari's Al Alcorn, the home version of  Pong first named as project "Darlene" during development of the system that played Pong.  In 1974 Atari had released Pong to the people.  Pong was only a game of passing a ball back and forth, but it achieved tremendous results.  Home Pong (as it was called) had 3 LSI's, some transistors, capacitors, and conductors; it also had a higher resolution than the Magnavox Odyssey.

Atari had dominated the video game market during the early 70's but the Atari VCS/2600 had captured the attention of the american public in the late 70's.    The bright minds from Atari headed by Nolan Bushnell (at the time came) up with the idea of the 2600 when Atari was in need of money.  The 2600 would sell for $200 and its games would sell for about $20 to $40 and would eventually become a major success when Space Invaders would be released.  Within the next five years the 2600 would make up to 5 billion dollars in profit and begin a revolution in video game technology.

As systems had come and gone (such as the Atari 7800, and the ColecoVision), none made more impact than the Nintendo Entertainment System (or NES for short).  Released in America in 1985 the NES would have some moderate sales, but as years went on the NES would gain more sales than the Atari 2600 when it was at its peak.  The NES had a 6502 processor, 1.79 MHz processing speed, had a 160 x 192 resolution, 52 colors available, 16 colors on-screen, 64 maximum sprites and had a 8 x 16 sprite size.  The NES contained some of the classic games that some have said have inspired the gaming industry, such as: The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros. 1, 2, and 3 and Duck Hunt.

As time had gone by new systems would arise using 16-bit graphics.  Systems like the Sega Genesis, the Super Nintendo, the Neo-Geo,  the Game Gear, etc.  The systems and their games would have better sound quality, higher resolution, and improved graphics.  Many consumers prefered either type of system and continued to buy any game or adapter the video game industry made.  These systems only lasted 6 years before they became obsolete because of some new model that the companies created.  

The Sony Playstation was one of the systems that was created during what the gaming industry calls the 32-bit era.  The Playstation (or PSone) was released in the US in 1995 and over time reached tremendous popularity with consumers.  Some of the most popular games created that were and still are played were released on the Playstation (games like Metal Gear Solid, Crash Bandicoot, Tomb Raider, Tekken, Grand Turismo, Final Fantasy, and even the controversial Grand Theft Auto series).  The PSone had a 32-bit RISC chip that ran at 33.8688 MHz and could display 16.7 Million Colors.