Gaming Consoles 1980's.

   The 1980 through to the 1990’s were a big year for the generation of computers. These were the times where computers really began to take off, and in essence, the gaming industry with it.

     In 1981 the “Play Cable” system was created which allowed audiences to play games on there regular TV, by adding a converter created specially to allow downloads of games onto their gaming consoles. The down side of this console was that it had very small memory, and with the ever changing games that would be downloadable each month which starting being produced as 8K/16K of RAM which the 4K of RAM that the “Play Cable” had couldn’t adapt too ment that this system starting becoming unattractive to customers as it could only support older games. It was later discontinued in 1983 as audiences wanted the newer games. However, it is a rare collectable for Console collectors.

         In 1982 Atari produced it’s next console known as the “Atari 5200”. It was a more popular version of the “Atari 2600”. This console featured an analogue joystick with a keypad and buttons. This offered more control than it’s predecessor as the “Atari 2600” only offered a four-poisition joystick whereas the “5200” offers a fully movable stick. This moved on the gaming revelation as it began to offer a more versatile and stimulating gameplay.

      1983 was the year that the North American video game crash happened. This was a consequential event that devastated the gaming industries. It wiped out the Second Generation type console gaming which lead to a downfall for the business that produced them resulting in many companies becoming bankrupt. There were many factors which helped produce the downfall of the industry but it is believed that the main cause was supersaturation of the market with multiple low quality games which made the audiences loose confidence and interest in them. Many consoles such as the Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Coleco Vision and the Magnavox Odyssey2 were produced at the time of the crash. One of the most famous  games to help the downfall of the games industry was “E.T the Extra Terrestrial” based on the well known film was hastily made for Atari resulting in it being very poor.

      Nintendo nowadays is a very popular gaming console. It began in 1983 with the realise of the “Nintendo Entertainment System”. It was orginially realised in Japan and later throughout the years realised in Europe and Australia. It was produced my the manufacturers for an audience of a “family unit”.  They made it a Family Computer  and helped revitalize the US gaming industry after the video game crash.

    Sega then went on to produce consoles throughout the years of 1983 -1985 starting with the “Sega SG 1000” which was the first entry from Sega into the home video game hardware business. It was a catradge based console which provided a potential basis for the more successful models yet to come. The “Sega SG 1000 II” was created next, it was very similar to the “SG 1000” except the shell had been restyled and the plug in keyboard socket had been moved to the front instead of the back. The “Sega Master system” then continued the Sega console in 1985.

   In 1990 the Commodore 64 Games System was another cartridge based console similar to the Commodore 64, this meant that the cartridges from 64 were compatible with the 64GS.

     In conclusion, the 1980’s were a very important era for the gaming industry, as they learnt a valuable lesson about over-producing poor games which ended in the games console crash, from this they managed to move on and produce better quality games which lead to a thriving industry for games.