The First Ever Console

ShiverinEskimo

Hello folks, doin a project and having trouble tracking down the following information:

The first ever console
If it wasn't the NES - How many between it and the NES.
The first multiplayer console game. as in 2 players on one console. split screen or whatever (although i doubt system link was an option back then).

Really appreciate it.

Shiv.

Placebo

very first was pong, but that wouldnt class as a console would it ?
atari ? comodore 64 ?

Jetpilot

1) Chase - First game to be played on a tv, by Ralph Baer
2) Maganavox' Odyssey
3) Pong (kinda, it was a home video game)
4) Coleco Telstar
5) Atari 2600
6) Nintendo TV Game 6
7) Bally Professional Arcade
8) Astrocade (it was a renamed Bally Professional Arcade)
9) GCE Vectrex
10) Coleco ColecoVision
11) Atari 5200
12) Emerson Arcadia 2001
13) NES

This does not include home comps, such as atari ST, commodore 64 etc. And yes I did a project on video game history for college, hence the list

ShiverinEskimo

I did wonder JetPilot until your last line...thanks man. More than I ever hoped for. The history is just one chapter of mine so i wont need much detail. Cheers.

Shiv.

Retr0gamer

1) C64
2) Gameboy
3) Mega Drive
4) PS1
5) PS2
6) Gamecube
7) Xbox
8) Japanese Saturn

CiDeRmAn

I think the first multiplayer games in the home were on the Commodore PET, Atari would have saturated the market with the first real massmarket pong machines, licensing them to various other dealers in the States like Sears.
But a console to play a variety of games for the massmarket would have to be the 2600.
Radio Shack and their ilk would have sold build it yourself kits before all that but it would have been enthusiast only stuff.
Its crazy the amount of kids who think it all started with the playstation though! makes you kinda cold inside!

Retr0gamer

I should read these things before I post.

First 2-player console game was probably pong. First system link might have been zero tolerance on mega drive. First on-line console was the Sega Saturn and its first online game was the netlink version of Bomberman.

Giblet

I remember getting a 2600 when no-one had even heard of computers.

Funny, because before that I got an ORIC!

ixoy

Wasn't there an earlier online console? This came up on C4's Game Central just a few weeks ago. Apparently, in Japan, some console in the '80s came equipped with a modem that enabled you to download extra content for games. I can't for the life of me remember what it was called though...

Retr0gamer

You could be right. I used the example of the saturn because it was used as an argument that the dreamcast wasn't the first console on-line (I think the dreamcast was the first console to be on-line enabled out of the box).

hoolio

Wasn't there an earlier online console?

The NES was online definitely but there could well have been an earlier one,i'm not too sure.Anyway the Nes one allowed online banking and horse race betting and not much else as far as i know.

I've no idea what the first online console that you could actually play games over was though.

Google threw up this pic:



Edit: Just a quick word on Pong,i remember seeing a documentary about Pong (or early consoles anyway) and apparently there are some claims that pong was a blatant rip off of a machine that someone else made.Apparently this guy made it,then showed it as a trade show or something similar.People who saw it signed there name in this book thing and one of the signatures is that of one of the people who soon after went on to invent Pong.

Edit #2: Couple of interesting links,one on pong,another giving some good info about very early video games (not sure would any really count as console though).
Early games
'Pong' Lawsuit

steviec

There was a modem for the Commodore 64 too although I don't know of any games that used it, it may have been used for other purposes because the commodore was meant to be a micro-computer rather than a console.

Zombrex

ShiverinEskimo wrote:

The first ever console

It all kinda depends on what you mean by "console" DO you mean the first video game played on a standard television. Do you mean the first dedicated games machine. Do you mean the first games machine that could play different games on the same hardware.

Sorry to get technical about terms and stuff, but I did my masters on computer games and it is important to remember when writing a paper on them that terms like "video game" "console" etc are not specifically defined terms. Asking "what was the first console" or "what was the first video game" opens up multiple answers depending on what you actually mean.

So firstly define for yourself what exactly you mean by "console"

HomesickAlien

ahh the nes... such memories...

first 2p game = tetris (probably best too)

Retr0gamer

Wasn't there a 2 player version of space wars?

Absolam

The first 'console'; tv games machine with non onboard games was the NES; the initial pack included a robot which 'interacted' with one of the bundled games...

calhob_ie

Wasn't Space Wars only two player?

Shrimp

The Amiga for me

Zombrex

Absolam wrote:

The first 'console'; tv games machine with non onboard games was the NES; the initial pack included a robot which 'interacted' with one of the bundled games...

The NES arrived nearly ten years after the first games machines that could play multiple games on inter-changeable cartriges appeared. Ironically, considering that most people seem to believe the NES was the first console, the NES (released in the USA in 1985) was actually that start of a 2nd golden age of video games, following from the 1983 "crash" that nearly destroyed video gaming as we know it. That golden age is still with us (thank god)

The Atari 2600 was not the first machine to use cartiges but it certainly was the most successful. Released in 1977 it pretty much secured Atari at the head of video games until the industry imploded in on itself in the early 1980s.

calhob_ie wrote:

Wasn't Space Wars only two player?

SW was two player an so was Tennis for Two. People argue over which was the first actual computer game, but both were multiplayer.

rubadub

we had a console in the early 80's may have been got in the 70's had 2 controllers which only had dials on them, no buttons AFAIK. It had a light gun too. Played tennis (pong) I cant remember the gun working, which is why I think it was got in the 70's. I remember thinking it was ancient as I played on my state of the art speccy 16k!

penetrator on the spectrum was an amazing game, a side scrolling shootemup like rtype, you could create your own levels, track it down if you are into retro. My mate had it on tape, don't know where he got it, never saw anybody else with it.

I remember neighbours having "dragon" computers. and vectrex and several others you never hear of these days. bbc micros. There were many, many machines out in the 80's

penetrator on ebay
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=50224&item=8168124331&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

rubadub

ShiverinEskimo wrote:

If it wasn't the NES - How many between it and the NES.

NES came very late in the game. I would seriously say there were at least 100 consoles before the NES, defining a console as a machine with a controller which allowed games to be played on a TV or dedicated monitor.
I find it odd that so many are forgotten that were big at the time. Like the vectrex, sega master system, amstrads, pc engine, atari lynx,

SirLemonhead

The Lynx was the handheld console, similar to the GameGear. The Atari Jaguar was the console that goes into the tv one

CiDeRmAn

I know that this is an old thread but just having a look,
I love my vectrex, brother built me a multi cart with all the available games on it, Sweet!
Online stuff in Europe I remember.
I got my first ZX Spectrum in '84 and picked up a couple of magazines, in it were various ads for modems for the computer including various games most of which were multiuser dungeon type affairs. very exciing. Interesting to find out if there are any players still out there who remember what it was all about!
I also know that the Genesis was online in the states, Xband I think it was called. The Snes was online in Japan, Sattellaview. It used to download new gaming content didn't it?
I think that it was text based Multi User Dungeons that were the first games on computers, not including random number generators used as electronic dice in various pen and paper role playing games.

po0k

The first electronic gaming device was a 2-player tennis game.

The first computer game was Spacewar! on the PDP-1 in MIT.

rubadub

MasterOfSolos wrote:

The Lynx was the handheld console, similar to the GameGear. The Atari Jaguar was the console that goes into the tv one

Yeah, there was a handheld pc-engine that hardly anybody knew about, serious kit at the time. It had a tv tuner for it too.
Jaguar came before the PS yet sony still called it the first 32bit console, even though I think the PS was actually 2 16-bits rather than a true 32.

Retr0gamer

I also know that the Genesis was online in the states, Xband I think it was called. The Snes was online in Japan, Sattellaview. It used to download new gaming content didn't it?

You're right it was used to download some terrible stuff never took off and no online games that I know off.

Yeah, there was a handheld pc-engine that hardly anybody knew about, serious kit at the time. It had a tv tuner for it too.

Ah!, the PC-Engine GT. A real piece of kit for retro console collectors.

Jaguar came before the PS yet sony still called it the first 32bit console, even though I think the PS was actually 2 16-bits rather than a true 32.

You have that the wrong way. The Jaguar was advertised as a 64-bit console but was actually 2 32-bit chips.

The PS was a true 32-bit system and contained 7 or 5 32-bit proceesors I think. The Saturn was out a little bit before the PS1 and was another true 32-bit system but couldn't match the PS1 since all 3D was sofware rendered unlike the Hardware rendering of the PS1. The Saturn did however wipe the floor with the PS1 in 2D.

CiDeRmAn

Well then what was the 3DO, and no smart answers now!
I love that system, Star Control 2 is the only RPG i have ever enjoyed, Need 4 Speed on it is legendary, ok the Crystal Dynamics games can be quietly swept under the nearest carpet.
I loved Wing Commander 3 for my sins, Cannon Fodder, Burning Soldier, The Horde and Theme Park to name just a few.
Weighs about a ton.
Made by the same winning design team that came up with the Xbox casing !!Danger!! !!Danger!! !!Irony Alert!! !!Irony Alert!!
Reckon it was the first 32 gaming system, or was that the Amiga 32?
That was an Amiga 1200 with no keyboard and a CD rom, must get one of those somewhere (Donations to my museum of the gaming arts always gladly recieved!).
Didn't they make a big, goofy black pc style Amiga with all the power of a 1200 in a really expensive box?

Retr0gamer

3DO was 32-bit. The Jaguar was out before the Amiga 32 and 3DO was would be the first 32-bit system that I know of. Close Combat was the only decent game on the 3DO for the 2 player game only.

po0k

Retr0gamer wrote:

You have that the wrong way. The Jaguar was advertised as a 64-bit console but was actually 2 32-bit chips.

The PS was a true 32-bit system and contained 7 or 5 32-bit proceesors I think. The Saturn was out a little bit before the PS1 and was another true 32-bit system but couldn't match the PS1 since all 3D was sofware rendered unlike the Hardware rendering of the PS1. The Saturn did however wipe the floor with the PS1 in 2D.

The Jag was 2x 32-bit DSPs, one dedicated to graphics, one to audio and misc, along with a 68k processor for the controllers.
Lazy programmers who had prior experience coding for the Megadrive and the Amiga/AtariST just used the 68k and never really used the DSPs to their full capability. It had a 64-bit address bus, so it *is* a 64-bit machine, depending on how you look at it.

The PSX had a MIPS chip in it. Don't know where you're getting the 7 or 5 32-bit cores from.
The Saturn was a sprite-plane-blitting machine. Sega didn't see the 3D revolution happening around them. Their loss.

CiDeRmAn

Just thought of the best game on the 3DO, surprised it slipped my mind,
Return Fire, great war game, Incredible in 2 player, better than the PSone version,
Still play the 3DO editio to this day, Maps 'O Death a great one player addition.
And don't try and tell me otherwise, its the Dogs Nuts!

KTRIC

CiDeRmAn wrote:

Well then what was the 3DO, and no smart answers now!
I love that system, Star Control 2 is the only RPG i have ever enjoyed, Need 4 Speed on it is legendary, ok the Crystal Dynamics games can be quietly swept under the nearest carpet.
I loved Wing Commander 3 for my sins, Cannon Fodder, Burning Soldier, The Horde and Theme Park to name just a few.
Weighs about a ton.
Made by the same winning design team that came up with the Xbox casing !!Danger!! !!Danger!! !!Irony Alert!! !!Irony Alert!!
Reckon it was the first 32 gaming system, or was that the Amiga 32?
That was an Amiga 1200 with no keyboard and a CD rom, must get one of those somewhere (Donations to my museum of the gaming arts always gladly recieved!).
Didn't they make a big, goofy black pc style Amiga with all the power of a 1200 in a really expensive box?

It was called the Amiga CD32. Great machine.

I had a blazing argument before about what the first cd based console was and the other person tried to tell me the PS was !!!!