Hardware

The cathode ray tube amusement device was the earliest known video game made by Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann in 1947.     The player used a knob to aim at an airplane and fire at the airplane with a button.

Computer Space was an arcade game made in 1971 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney that was sold through Nutting Associates.     It was the first commercially sold coin-operated video game.

Pong was a two dimensional tennis arcade game made in 1972 by Atari.     It was the first commercially successful video game.

Space invaders was an arcade game made in 1978.     It was a shooting game with stages that a player could move their ship around to fire when they wanted to.     The computer ran faster with fewer enemy ships so the game was made to add another row of ships after 1 row was defeated.

The Magnavox Odyssey was the first commercial video game console made in 1972 because it could play more than 1 game on the Odyssey.     It had digital video that was compatible with analog televisions of the time.     It used printed circuit board cards on game cartridges so multiple games could be played on the console.     It used 2 paddles for controllers and had a light gun for an extra controller.

The Fairchild Video Entertainment System was made in 1976 that had programmable ROM cartridges and was the first console to use a microprocessor.     It had a hold button to pause the game so players could come back after a break.     It used 2 joystick/paddles that could twist, be used as a button, and be pulled up for multiple game functions.     It was also called the Fairchild Channel F.

The Atari 2600 was made in 1977 used a microprocessor and ROM cartridges like the Fairchild Channel F.     It had 2 joysticks with paddles and a button.     It was succeded by the Atari 5200.

The ColecoVision was made in 1982 that was popular with the Donkey Kong game pack.     It used rectangular controlers with keypads and buttons.     It had a steering wheel, joysticks, and rollers for extra controllers.

The Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES, was made in 1983 used rectangular controllers with d-pads and buttons.     Accessories included a ROB, power pad, and a NES Zapper.     It had a front loading cartridge slot so it would fit better in entertainment centers.

The Game Boy was made in 1989 as a handheld video game system.     It had the same d-pad, and buttons as the NES controller with a screen so it didn't need a television to play it.     It was succeded by the game Game Boy Pocket, Light, and Color.

The Sega Saturn was made in 1994 used 2 cpu's and had 6 other processors.     It had a d-pad controller with 6 buttons for most game functions.     It used quadrilaterals instead of triangles for its texture mapping which was not compatible with some game developers.

The Sony PlayStation was also made in 1994 was the first computer entertainment platform that used cd's instead of game cartridges.     It used controllers with d-pads and analog sticks for movement with many buttons for game controls.     The cd functionality allowed players to play games, listen to music cd's, and watch cd movies.     It was succeeded by the PlayStation 2, 3, and 4.

The Nintendo 64 was made in 1996 and it was the last console to use game cartridges.     It used a controller with a d-pad, analog stick, and many buttons for game functions.     It was succeeded by the GameCube.

The Sega Dreamcast was was released in 1998 that used a VGA adapter for multiple accessories.     It was preceded by Sega to an attempt to reboot their place in the video game market.

The PlayStation 2 was made in 2000 used their dual shock controller to continue the PlayStation franchise.     It was backwards compatible with PlayStation 1 games so players could still play their older games.     It allowed players to play games over the internet and with other players.

The Nintendo GameCube was made in 2001 used optical discs or mini cd's instead of normal sized cds.     It used a handlebar design with a d-pad, analog sticks, and buttons.     It had a Game Boy attachment to play Game Boy games on the GameCube and a modem adapter to play games over the internet.     It was succeeded by the Nintendo Wii.

The Xbox was made in 2001 came with Xbox Live that allowed on online service for players over the internet.     Xbox Live also allowed players to purchase and download games over the internet.     It was succeeded by the Xbox 360 and Xbox 1.

The PlayStation Portable, or PSP, was made in 2004 as Sony's handheld video game console.     It is the only handheld console to use an Universal Media Disc, or UMD, for its games.     It had USB ports, a headphone jack, and a memory stick port.     It was succeeded by the PlayStation Vita.

The Nintendo Wii was made in 2006 which was the first movement consoles.     It used controllers that detected movement of the users to play games.     It even had a virtual console to emulate older games.     It was backwards compatible with GameCube games.     The Wii remote and nunchuk were cordless and had wrist straps because of the motion involved with the games.     It had many specific attachments for the controllers like a tennis racket for the tennis Wii game.

The PlayStation Move was made in 2009 as Sony's motion console.     It came with a wand and navigation controller for users to play motion based games.     It had shooting and racing atachments to play more specific motion games.

The Xbox Kinect was an add-on for the Xbox 360.     The Xbox 360 was made in 2006 while the Kinect was made in 2010.     It used a motion sensor to allow players to be the controller.

The PlayStation 3 was released in 2006 and the PlayStation 4 was released in 2013.     The PlayStation 3 and 4 had updates installed on the console just by playing the game.     The PlayStation Netowrk allowed users to purchase and download more games.     PlayStation Home allowed users to make an avatar and home for themselves.     The PlayStation 4 allows players to share gameplay so other players can watch them play and voice controls allow certain functions with the user's voice.

The Xbox 1 was made in 2013.     It has system updates with their games, an online store, avatars, sharing, and voice controls added to compete with PlayStation.