Читать книгу The Ultimate Guide to Classic Game Consoles - Kevin Baker - Страница 6

The first generation of video game consoles or the Pong Generation as many gamers have come to call it, brings me to the conclusion that 'Pong Generation' is the perfect subtitle for this era as that is really all we had.

Not that I am complaining. At the time these Pong systems were huge and a great source of entertainment. Hey, if the only entertainment you had before a Pong console was chasing a wheel with a stick then they would have blown your mind. Maybe that is going a little far, but I am sure you can see why this first generation of consoles, despite being so basic, was such a hit.

Of course, you had Pong as well as a multitude of regular Pong clone systems. It seemed that in the late 1970s nearly anyone in the world who was tech savvy and had the capital could create a Pong system and put it on store shelves. As a matter of fact I think that may have been what happened, as the market was incredibly over-saturated with more than 100 different Pong consoles released in such a short time.

So it is very important to note that while some Pong consoles did shift an incredible amount it is fair to say that the majority that made it to store shelves bombed big time. It's crazy to think that some companies who had no experience in electronics, let alone games, thought they could put a Pong system on store shelves and make a million dollars.

What I find very interesting about the first generation of video game consoles is that yes the market was flooded, and well into the three figures with random Pong clones, is that it did not take long for a few companies to stand out and start what I guess you could call the first video game competitive war or Pong war if you prefer.

Magnavox with their Odyssey consoles, Atari and their never-ending different Pong game designs, Coleco with their Telestar, and of course in Japan you had Nintendo with their Color TV Game consoles. So you really had three main companies in the west who were fighting it out, all with hardware that was pretty much the same when you really get into it.

The first generation of video game consoles is very basic, make no mistake about that, but it is also a very interesting one.

I will stress again that there were over 100 Pong consoles produced, and a majority of them are pretty much the same. So it was impossible to write a review for every single one without turning this book into a full length Pong tribute catalogue. Therefore, I have listed the main first generation consoles that are popular with collectors, together with a few obscure ones.