It has been suggested that Home video game console generations be merged into this article. (Discuss) Proposed since November 2023.
Part of a series on the
History of video games
Early history
Early history of video games
Early mainframe games
Consoles
History of video game consoles
Console war
1st generation (1972–1983)
2nd generation (1976–1992)
Video game crash of 1983
3rd generation (1983–2003)
4th generation (1987–2004)
5th generation (1993–2005)
6th generation (1998–2013)
7th generation (2005–2017)
8th generation (2012–present)
9th generation (2020–present)
Impact of COVID-19 (2023-24 layoffs)
Arcade video games
History of arcade video games
Golden age of arcade video games
Timeline of arcade video game history
Personal computer
History of personal computer games
Mobile games
History of mobile games
Virtual reality
History of virtual reality games
Cloud gaming
History of cloud gaming
Other platforms
Browser game
Emulation
Genres
List of genres
History of East Asian role-playing video games
History of Western role-playing video games
History of online games
History of real-time strategy games
History of tactical role-playing games
History of single-player video games
History of multiplayer video games
History of massively multiplayer online games
Lists
List of video games in development
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The history of video game consoles, both home and handheld, began in the 1970s. The first console that played games on a television set was the 1972 Magnavox Odyssey, first conceived by Ralph H. Baer in 1966. Handheld consoles originated from electro-mechanical games that used mechanical controls and light-emitting diodes (LED) as visual indicators. Handheld electronic games had replaced the mechanical controls with electronic and digital components, and with the introduction of Liquid-crystal display (LCD) to create video-like screens with programmable pixels, systems like the Microvision and the Game & Watch became the first handheld video game consoles.
Since then, home game consoles have progressed through technology cycles typically referred to as generations. Each generation has lasted approximately five years, during which the major console manufacturers have released console with broadly similar specifications. Handheld consoles have seen similar advances, and are usually grouped into the same generations as home consoles.
While early generations were led by manufacturers like Atari and Sega, the modern home console industry is dominated by three companies: Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft. The handheld market has waned since the introduction of mobile gaming in the mid-2000s, and today, the only major manufacturer in handheld gaming is Nintendo.
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