Top 25 consoles ranked IGN

I'd be curious about that myself. Didn't MS partner with or announce they were partnering with some content provider in the UK at least?

Regards,
SB

 

While it's true that firmware updates and/or accessories can vastly expand system's functionality, I don't think it's MS or 360 that made expected console lifecycles can be much longer than they used to be. I think Nintendo and Wii take the credit for that, because they showed us (and more importantly their compatition) that you don't need new and powerful hardware every 5-6 years to have a (more than) viable platform that can attract new users. If it wasn't for that, I'm sure Microsoft would be preparing a new console for 2010-11 launch.

 

Actually it's more the extremely high R&D costs of the HD consoles combined with the worldwide economic recession that's basically forcing MS and even more so Sony to go with a relatively long console cycle.

Both of them are still in the process of recovering the costs of launching their respective HD consoles. MS has the added burden of also still recouping costs from launching their console efforts starting with the Xbox while Sony has an even greater hurdle in that their entire company's financials went into the toilet with the economic downturn.

Regards,
SB

 

Because I'm a jackass - I'd like to make some simple clarifications for the masses:

The Turbo-Graffix-CD was the first console to introlduce CD as media

The Dreamcast was the first console to offer HD gaming (Had a VGA adapter that could put out a whopping 640*480...which I think technically counts as HD) - Soul Calibur looked purddy!

Sega's Genesis had a little known internet adapter which allowed download of games/demo's and some limited online play - can remember playing MK2 over a 36.6k modem

The Atari 2600 was the first console to introduce "home console" gaming - but it wasn't until the (I believe) 5900 that they actually delivered what they promised - which was "Arcade games in the home"

The Xbox was the first console to offer both HDD's and eternet connectivty standard - so I'd dub that the first "online console" - but the first media box console award is going to have to go to the PS2 - for offering DVD playback out of the box with NO adapter and remote necessary

Very well..I'm done, fight amongst yourselves



Jack

 

The only "industry defining change" they can take credit for is making the "hardcore" shut up about how dumb motion controls are and how expanded market titles are ruining gaming. All of the sudden, they're acceptable...it's nice to not have to hear the whining any more. But that's about as industry-defining a change as Sega having a guy scream at you in their commercials.

The PS1 and N64 could both output 640x480. Not all that well, but still, there were a couple of games.

No it wasn't. That was the Magnavox Odyssey. The first cartridge-based system was the Fairchild Channel F, which released a year before the Atari VCS. And there were a number of arcade games available in the home right from the start. The quality of the port, of course, depended on how recent the arcade game was (as it has always been).

 

Sure those could claim first to market. But neither of those really introduced console gaming to the masses as they never really had mass market penetration.

The Atari 2600 was the first to actually have significant mass market penetration. And thus introduced console gaming to the masses. As well as reach iconic levels. And bring about holiday buying frenzies with attendant console out of stock signs.

Although I daresay it didn't introduce the whole stealing a console from a kid on launch day phenomenon that we saw is some later console launches.

Regards,
SB

 

HD is 720 vertical lines of resolution. 640*480 is SD, actually lower resolution than a full NTSC frame (720x480), and significantly lower resoltuion than a full PAL frame (720x576).

 

I don't know if it's a first console to offer 720p and 1080i, but the original XBox had a few titles that output 720p and 1080i signals:

http://www.hdtvpub.com/productdb/ga...solution&daStartRow=1&showRows=25&searched=do

 

I don't know. I seem to recall early marketing prose from Microsoft claiming the modularity of the 360 design will keep it relevant for a longer period of time than previous consoles.

This new Wireless N adapter that seems to be on the boards would indicate so:

http://gizmodo.com/5359628/official-xbox-360-80211n-wi+fi-adapter-coming-soon

It seems to me that really only the CPU, GPU, and memory are the only fixed aspects of the 360 design.

 

Right. "First" means "first," not "not actually first, but more popular." Likewise, "introduce" means "introduce," not "didn't introduce, but was very popular."

Is this like the definition of "third-party game" where you have a secret, private definition that somehow includes the vast majority of 1st and 2nd party games? You said the 2600 was "the first console to introduce 'home console' gaming," when it simply was not. Home console gaming had already been introduced. The 2600 was simply far more popular than any previous home video game systems for a variety of reason. If you want to say that it was the first to sell over 20m units, or the first system to have more Pac-Man games manufactured than consoles sold, fine, but that doesn't make it the first home console, nor the first to introduce home console gaming. By the way, it didn't introduce home video games to the mass market. Credit for that goes to home Pong consoles, which sold millions of units in aggregate.

If we're going to go by your standard of "I get to add as many qualifiers as I want for something to be 'first,'" then we might as well jump all the way forward and say that the PS3 introduced home console gaming, since it was the first home console with a Blu-Ray drive to have any kind of mass market success.

 

Wow, someone forget to take their laxatives this morning?

You'll note in my very first post in this thread, I said...

And at some point you have to account when "first" becomes meaningful.

The first car was introduced in 1671, but that's rather meaningless... As it was a one off for the Chinese Emperor. Most of the civilized world would probably go with a vehicle much later than that, which was more commercially successful or more well known ot the public at large.

Sure you can use whatever qualifiers or non-qualifiers you wish. The whole point of this whole thread, is that it's all a matter of opinions. And people form those opinions by coming up with their own reasons. So, yes if you wanted to put forth your opinion that PS3 is the start of home consoling, then by all means do. Just don't be surprised if not many share your opinion.

If enough people share the same opinions then it becomes a concensus.

Pong certainly seeded the idea of a home console and got the ball rolling. Magnavox and Fairchild expanded on that idea but with less success.

And as always, this being my opinion, the Atari 2600 took the ideas that came before it and truly launched the home console craze to the world.

I grew up with all these machines. And it was interesting to go through it first hand. Also interesting to see the same phenomenon with the Atari 2600 being repeated with a few other consoles.

There is no right or wrong here. I'm sure quite a few people would disagree with my opinions (as you obviously do), but that's the glory of opinions you get a different view from different people all the time.

Regards,
SB