The ‘Staggered’ nature of technology development in this

sector is cynical and strategic New consoles are introduced so regularly that the time for

which a console is ‘best’ is limited to a few months Each major player has a portable handheld version of their

consoles to accompany the fixed on at home

1st – 2nd Generation 1972 – 1984 Odyssey 100

Atari 2600 Games: Space Invaders, Donkey Kong, and Mario Brothers

3rd Generation 1983 – 1992

Videogame crash of 1983: Industry lost faith in game consoles with growing use of home computers.

Nintendo Famicon

NES Games: Dragon Quest, Super Mario Bros, Metal Gear,

MegaMan, And Final Fantasy.

4th Generation 1987 – 1992 Game Gear

Super Nintendo Sega Megadrive

GameBoy

5th Generation 1993 – 2002 Playstation 1

GameBoy Colour Sega Satin

Nintendo64 Games: Goldeneye, Mario Cart, Gran Tourismo, Metal Gear

Solid, and Legend of Zelda

6th Generation 1998 – 2006

Alternative controllers: Dance mat, guitar, and steering wheels Rise of casual games (e.g. The Sims) Playstation were seen as

increasingly complex, sophisticated and adult-orientated gameplay.

Xbox Sega Dreamcast

GameCube Playstation 2

Games: GTA 3, Halo, Resident Evil 4

7th Generation 2004 – Present HD Graphics, Interactive Gaming (Online and In the home),

Rock Band, Wii Fit, Motion control Wii

Xbox360

Playstation 3 Nintedno DS

PSP Games: Wii sports, Metal Gear Solid 4, Halo, GTA 4, Bioshock