The Most Industry-Changing Consoles/Handhelds?

[BurningDoom]

The 10 most industry changing console, IMO:

1. Magnavox Odyssey - It's the one that started it all. The first ever home video game anything. Basically it was the first home Pong system.



2. Fairchild Channel F - The first gaming console to play different games on different cartridges. Very strange controllers.



3. Atari 2600 - This is the console that a LOT of gamers started out on. It's the first popular console to play different games on different cartridges (Fairchild Channel F did this first, to be fair, but it wasn't nearly as popular). Unfortunately, it's also the console that nearly killed the gaming industry in 1983-1985; glutting the market with way too much crap on a cartridge.



4. NES - It saved the entire video game industry during a time when only PC gaming was doing well, and not even as well as the console-gaming market had done just a few years earlier. Without NES, the gaming world might look a lot different today.



5. Playstation - While there had been 3D-oriented consoles before it (Jaguar, 3DO, Saturn), it really was the Playstation that pushed through to the mainstream public and a brought the general public from 2D to 3D gaming.



6. Sega Dreamcast - This was the fist console to really embrace online gaming in a way no other console had before it. SegaNET was the precursor to XBox Live and Playstation Network.



7. Nintendo Wii - Love it or hate it, this is the console that first embraced motion controls as a main focus. PS2 Eye Toy did before Wii, but it wasn't a huge focus and not nearly as precise. Nintendo Wii paved the way for Playstation Move and XBox Kinnect.



8. Milton-Bradley MicroVision - Not exactly a huge hit, but it should have a place here for being the first true handheld gaming system.



9. Nintendo Game Boy - There were handhelds before it: Nintendo Game & Watch, Tiger Electronics Handhelds, & the only true console SYSTEM that came before Game Boy The MicroVision. But despite all these contenders, it wasn't until Game Boy came out that handheld gaming really got big with the general public. And such a vast library of games to choose from on the original brick.



10. Nintendo DS - The first handheld system to embrace a touch-screen, allowing for entirely new ways to play handheld games.



What do you think about it? What are the most influential console/handhelds, in your opinion?

[ATARI800XLfan]

While I do agree with most of those I would also add the Sega Genesis as it was the console that finally ended Nintendo corrupt evil, illegal monopoly on video game publishers

[BurningDoom]

While I do agree with most of those I would also add the Sega Genesis as it was the console that finally ended Nintendo corrupt evil, illegal monopoly on video game publishers

Great point.

[kebark]

I'd have Gameboy a bit high personally, it not only revolutionised video game but also brought us the likes of Tetris and Pokémon which are two of the biggest sellers. The N64 might be worth a shout as well, it killed off cartridge gaming, showed the world how 3D gaming should be done (analogue stick) though it could be just outside of the top 10

[neilencio]

Nice list, but personally, I wouldn't include the Dreamcast in the list. I love the console, it sold a lot of units, but I don't think it had any Industry-changing effect (except maybe if you consider it as the console that took Sega out of the console race). It's not the first gaming machine with online capabilities, and I don't think the dreamcast's online capabilities pushed any other console manufacturers to copy or improve on theirs (if we're going that route, I'd probably replace the Dreamcast with the Xbox360).

[kebark]

Nice list, but personally, I wouldn't include the Dreamcast in the list. I love the console, it sold a lot of units, but I don't think it had any Industry-changing effect (except maybe if you consider it as the console that took Sega out of the console race). It's not the first gaming machine with online capabilities, and I don't think the dreamcast's online capabilities pushed any other console manufacturers to copy or improve on theirs (if we're going that route, I'd probably replace the Dreamcast with the Xbox360).

Surely if you just want to look towards online the original Xbox should be the one pointed out as that did really flip online console gaming on it's head...and also it showed how hard drives should work in a games console.

[neilencio]

Nice list, but personally, I wouldn't include the Dreamcast in the list. I love the console, it sold a lot of units, but I don't think it had any Industry-changing effect (except maybe if you consider it as the console that took Sega out of the console race). It's not the first gaming machine with online capabilities, and I don't think the dreamcast's online capabilities pushed any other console manufacturers to copy or improve on theirs (if we're going that route, I'd probably replace the Dreamcast with the Xbox360).

Surely if you just want to look towards online the original Xbox should be the one pointed out as that did really flip online console gaming on it's head...and also it showed how hard drives should work in a games console.

Yup, nice point. My example was off, but my original gripe still stands. We all love the Dreamcast here, but it's hardly in the top ten gaming devices that changed the industry.

[CD AGES]

Nope. Gotta disagree. Not only did the system show the industry the importance of online multiplayer, it had many industry first. 1st console online RPG in the incredible PSO, 480p Enhanced Def capabilities, Motion controls thru various peripherals like the Fishing controller and the Samba Maracas. More importantly it sparked creativity in game design development which at the time was getting very stale. The system belongs on the list in my opinion...

[YoshiEgg25]

The DS wasn't the first game system to introduce a touch screen. That honor would go to the Game.com.

Seriously.

[CD AGES]

Other innovations that wasn't seen on a console until the DC, cross platform online multiplayer. (4X4 Evo and Quake 3 can be played together on DC and PC's) and online voice chat, that has become a standard today. I rest my case lol!