This is a timeline to show how much systems have changed over the years. I can't believe what they started as. Post your comments and what u think they will be in the future.Look at the Xbox 720, the PS4, and the Wii 2 at the bottom, it just proves what we can do.

For part 2 on games go to the link below
Forums/p=12408024.html#12408024
For part 3 on controllers go to the link below
Forums/p=12464016.html#12464016

1967-
The Brown Box is released. It was a German product made by Ralph Baer. It was the first video game console to work on a standard television. After drawing up schematics for what he called "the chase game" he built a vacuum-tube circuit that connected to the T.V. and allowed players to play as two squares and chase each other on the T.V. It made 12 games.

1972-
The Odyssey also made by Baer was the first commercial video game console. It was sold in Magnavox T.V. dealerships. It had six cartridges and could play up to 12 games featuring dots and lines. It fell when rumors began that it only worked on Magnavox T.V.'s.

1975-
The Pong (home version) was created from the idea of Atari that started in 1972. Atari sold its home version of Pong in Sears stores and it featured a single chip that made a on screen score and sound when the ball and paddle met. It introduced at home video games.

1977-
The Atari 2600 VCS was made because Atari realized that a single system would not last. They began to work on a cartridge based system that was known as project Stella and could play multiple games. It was sold to Warner and then released and became a huge hit with games like space invaders.

1980-
The Intellivision was introduced by Mattel who was Atari's first competition. It provided slightly better graphics and synthesized voices in games. Both consoles attracted game developers like Activision and Coleco, but companies like Coleco went bankrupt.

1983-
The SG-1000 which stands for the Sega Game 1000 was released in Japan. This system was never released in North America though. It was a cartridge based system and was Sega's first home video game.

1985-
The Nintendo Entertainment System was released. Nintendo was originally a Japanese playing-card company that released this system in the US. It was almost not released cause of the companies crashing in 1980, but it was and became the best selling console with games like Mario and Baseball.

1986-
The Sega Master System was released. It could play both cartridges and the credit card sized "Sega Cards". It also featured accessories such as the light gun and 3D glasses which were designed to work with a range of specially coded games.

1989-
The Game Boy was introduced and was Nintendo's second hit. It was the first major handheld game console. It featured an 8-bit CPU like it's parent system, the NES, and a black and white LCD screen. It went through the roof because of Tetris and had many makeovers.

1989-
The Atari Lynx was released. It was a 16-bit console and the world's first hand held system with a color LCD screen. It is also know for it's graphics, forward looking features and its ambidextrous layout.

1989-
The Genesis had a 16-bit that made it's significant gains. It reached it's high point with the release of Sonic the Hedgehog.

1989-
The Turbo Grafx was released in Japan in 1987 and in North America in 1989. It had a 8-bit CPU and a dual 16-bit GPU. It could display 482 colors simultaneously out of 512. The NEC PC engine holds the record for the smallest gaming console ever made.(Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition(2008))

1990-
The Neo-Geo was a system that was way more advanced because of it's 24-bit technology that allowed detailed 2D graphics. It was not popular though beacause at launch it costed $650 and games were $200.

1990-
The Turbo Express or the hand held version of the Turbo Grafx was released. It began selling for $250, raised to $300, then dropped back to $250 and by 1992 it was $200. It could display 64 sprites at once and could play all of the Turbo Grafx 16 credit card sized games. It was also a T.V. tuner.

1991-
The Super NES was beat by the Genesis but released anyway and caught up because of it's slight technological superiority and the strength of Nintendo brands like Mario.

1992-
The Sega Game Gear was released which was Sega's first hand held console, but the third of all time. It was considered the hand held Sega Master System.

1993-
The Atari Jaguar was released it played cartridges but also could have a CD ROM add-on.

1995-
The Sega Saturn was released in Japan in 1994 and in North America in 1995. It was a 32-bit console. It was discontinued in 1998 because it couldn't beat the PlayStation and the Nintendo 64.

1995-
PlayStation was launched to represent the most popular console of the 32-bit era. It introduced 3D game play and prices were dropped because of CD-ROM.

1996-
The GB pocket was released and was smaller,lighter and required less batteries. It could be played for about 10 hours before needing new batteries which were 2 AAA.

1996-
The Nintendo 64 was the last mass marketing system to use cartridges. The cartridges loaded faster than CD-Rom though. Also PlayStation's load screens and the need of memory cards made Nintendo 64 better except for the amount of games that each console had.

1998-
The GB light was only released in Japan and is considered the rarest Game Boy. It could be played for about 20 hours and regularly sell online in the triple figures.

1998-
The Sega Dreamcast was released and was discontinued in March of 2001 making it Sega's last console, but it was still sold until 2006.

1998-
The Game Boy Color was released, it featured a color screen and was slightly thicker and taller then the GB pocket. It had a 8-bit processor. The GB and GB color sold 118.69 million units worldwide.

2000-
The PlayStation 2 a 128-bit console was released. It featured backwards compatibility, it could play PlayStation 1 games, and could play DVD's. It also marked the rise of playing over high speed internet connections.

2000-
The Play Station 2 slim was just a slimmer, lighter version of the PS2.

2001-
The Xbox was Microsoft's first console. It allowed greater performance because of the use of PC technology, but it still trailed behind PlayStation besides its release of Halo.

2001-
The GameCube was released. It was a 128-bit system and featured smaller disks.

2002-
The Game Boy Advance played all game boy games from the passed and was backwards compatible. It had more than 32,000 colors on the screen and had a folding case.

2003-
The Game Boy Advance SP was released as the next advance. The SP stood for special. It started at the price of $99.99 but was lowered to $79.99.

2004-
The Nintendo DS was an attempt to integrate more computing functions. It had duel screens and was touch.

2005-
The Game Boy Micro was released as the last Game Boy from Nintendo.

2005-
The PSP was released to mimic computer technology. It was wireless and had high-quality graphics.

2005-
The Xbox 360 was made by Microsoft.

2006-
The Retro Duo is released. This is just a cheaper console that was made. IT could play 16-bit console cartridges or 8-bit cartridges. It plays old NES or SNES games. It features two SNES style controllers.

2006-
The DS Lite was released and was a slimmer,lighter,dual screen product. It sold for $130 in many colors.

2006-
The Nintendo Wii

2006-
PlayStation 3

2009-
The PSP Go was released and was significantly different from previous sony products. It featured 16 GB of flash memory. It was also 43% lighter and 56% smaller than the original PSP. It had a sliding screen that was 3.8" and a resolution of 480x272.

2009-
The Nintendo DSi was released and was a slimmer console with 2 cameras included on it

2010-
The Nintendo DSi XL was released and had the features of external and internal content storage, connected to an online store called the Nintendo DSi Shop, and had dual cameras.Its screens were also 93% larger than the DS lite.

2010-
The Xbox360 Slim was released and featured built in WI-Fi.

2011-
Nintendo 3DS

2011-
Sony NGP (PSP2)

2012-
Nintendo Wii U, will not be able to play GameCube games like the Wii but will have a place to download them and play. It is causing the 720 and PS4 to rush their release.

2012 to 2016(not official)-
Xbox 720, it was announced that it will have graphics like the movie Avatar. It will also have very advanced physics and AI capabilities, meaning in a game like Grand Theft Auto every character in a crowd will have there own mentality and individual response to a situation.
2012 to 2016(not official)-
PlayStation 4, I have just read that it could be at the end of 2012 that this is released because the PS2 was released 6 years after the Japan release and the PS3 6 years after the PS2, so you would think 6 years for the PS3 also, till the PS4. Also I have read but don't know if it is true that the PS5 and PS6 are in the very early stages of planning.
2012 to 2016(not official)-
The Wii 2 will be released around the same time as the 720 and PS4. It will not play DVD's or Blu-Ray though. They believe people will already have something capable of playing these discs.

Please post your comments!