Jump to content

Handheld game console

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 69.209.179.217 (talk) at 17:48, 30 September 2005 (→List of handheld game consoles, notable features, and industry firsts). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

A handheld game console is a lightweight, portable, electronic device for playing video games. Unlike video game consoles, however, the controls, screen and speakers are all part of a single unit. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, several companies – including Coleco and Milton-Bradley – made lightweight table-top or handheld electronic game devices. Today, these machines aren't considered strictly consoles, since they often would only play a single game. The first true handheld game console with interchangeable cartridges was the Milton Bradley Microvision in 1979. Nintendo has dominated the handheld market since the release of the Game Boy in 1989, and is often credited as popularizing the handheld console concept.

History

First Generation

The first handheld game console to use interchangeable game cartridges was the Microvision, designed by Smith Engineering, and distributed and sold by Milton-Bradley in 1979. A small screen, a small selection of games (only thirteen) led to its demise only two years later. Today, working Microvisions are quite rare. The keypad could be easily damaged and the LCD technology of the late 1970s was poor, leading to liquid crystal leaking and darkening. In 1984, Japanese company Epoch released their Game Pocket Computer. Despite decent reviews, the system failed.

Second Generation

Nintendo Game Boy

The original Game Boy's design set the standard for handheld gaming consoles.

It wasn't until five years later that Nintendo released the Game Boy. The design team headed by Gumpei Yokoi had also been responsible for the Game & Watch system, as well as the Nintendo Entertainment System games Metroid and Kid Icarus. The Game Boy came under scrutiny by some industry critics, saying that the monochrome screen was too small, and the processing power was inadequate. The design team had felt that low initial cost and battery economy were more important concerns, and when compared to the Microvision, the Game Boy was a huge leap forward.

Yokoi recognized that the Game Boy needed a killer app – at least one game that would define the console, and persuade customers to buy it. In June 1988, Minoru Arakawa, CEO of Nintendo of America saw a demonstration of the game Tetris at a trade show. Nintendo purchased the rights for the game, and packaged it with the Game Boy system. It was almost an immediate hit. By the end of the year more than a million units were sold, and 25 million were sold by 1992. The original Game Boy (along with the Game Boy Pocket, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance) is the best selling game console ever, having sold more than 190 million units [1].

Atari Lynx

Atari Lynx

In 1987, Epyx created the Handy; a device that would turn into the Atari Lynx in 1989. It was definitely the most power and capable handheld of the generation. It was the first color portable ever released. It featured a color LCD screen with backlight, networking support with up to 17 other players, and advanced hardware that allowed the zooming and scaling of sprites. The Lynx could be turned upside down to accommodate left-handed players, and also could connect to Atari's Jaguar console. However, all these features came at a very high price point, which drove consumers to seek cheaper alternatives. The Lynx was also very unwieldy (due to focus groups requesting the machine be bigger so it felt like they "got their money's worth"), consumed batteries very quickly and lacked the third-party support of the alternatives.. Although the Game Boy is by far the most successful handheld game console, there were a number of other systems made throughout the 1990s. Due to a high price, short battery life, production shortages, a dearth of compelling games, and Nintendo's aggressive marketing campaign, and despite a redesign in 1991, the Lynx became a commercial failure

Sega Game Gear

In response to the Game Boy's success, work began on several handhelds that aimed to capitalize on what was seen to be the Game Boy's main weakness: inadequate graphic quality. The Sega Game Gear was released in late 1990, and featured a backlit color display, like the Lynx's. The Game Gear's internal architecture was almost identical to the Sega Master System console (the Game Gear had 4096 possible colors versus the Master System's 256), which allowed Sega to quickly release a large number of games that had originally been written for the older system. The Game Gear had the same drawbacks as the Lynx, however, and although it fared a bit better, it also failed to impact the Game Boy's dominance.


The Game Boy was nine years old before it got its first significant makeover. In 1998, the Game Boy Color was released. It used the smaller and lighter form-factor of the Game Boy Pocket, but featured a full color screen. It was also backwards-compatible, so that it could play not only games specifically made for the Game Boy Color, but standard Game Boy games as well. It did not have significantly more computing power than the Game Boy, however.

Third Generation

Game Boy Advance

In 2001, Nintendo revealed the Game Boy Advance, which added extra buttons (left and right "shoulder" tabs), had a much larger screen, and far more computing power. The design was further enhanced about two years later when the Game Boy Advance SP, a compact "clamshell" (folding open and closed, like a briefcase) version, was released. It also had a frontlit color display and rechargeable battery. Despite its smaller size, the screen remained the same size as that of the Game Boy Advance. The GBA also introduced the concept of "connectivity", using the Game Boy as a controller for the Nintendo GameCube. A handful of games use this feature, most notably Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. As of 2005, there are three Game Boy Advance models: Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Advance SP, and Game Boy Micro.

Nokia N-Gage

In 2003, the Nokia N-Gage was released. It was designed as a combination mp3 player, cellphone, PDA, and gaming device. The system received a lot of criticism on its physical design and layout, including its vertically oriented screen and requirement of removing the battery to change game cartridges. The most well known of these was "sidetalking", or the resultant effect of placing the phone speaker and receiver on a edge of the device instead of one of the flat sides. The N-Gage QD was later released to revise the design.

Neo-Geo Pocket

Gamepark 32

Fourth Generation

Nintendo DS

The Nintendo DS was released in November, 2004. Among its new features was the incorporation of two screens, as well as a touch screen and wireless connectivity with other devices. The Nintendo DS comes with Dual screens using LCD screening. "Two LCD screens offer one of the most groundbreaking gameplay advances ever developed." The lower screen allows touch sensitivity which helps create an interactive environment for the gamer. The Nintendo DS comes with a pen that you can use on the touch screen without damaging the screen. This device also allows the use of a microphone port. Wireless network is also another of the many features the DS has provided. The Local Wireless network can support 16 players. The wireless range can be 30 to 100 feet for some games. Gaming multiplayer requires one Multiplayer game card. Picto-Chat a way to draw and communicate with other users of the DS. The DS has a separate port for the loading of Game Boy Advance games in singleplayer.


Sony PSP

File:Official psp01.jpg
The PlayStation Portable can play music and movies as well as games.

Sony's PSP was first revealed at E³ 2003, and was released in Japan and North America in late 2004 and early 2005, respectively. Like previous competitors to the Game Boy, the PSP is also considerably superior in both processing power and screen quality, but inferior in battery life, price, and durability. Unlike previous competitors (except possibly the peripheral-happy Game Gear), the PSP includes several unusual features beyond gaming.

The PSP, as well as several other handhelds in this generation, is designed with an emphasis on convergence, partially to help differentiate themselves from Nintendo's game-focused offerings. Sony, for example, has trumpeted the PSP's ability to play movies and music from the system's UMD disks, or stored on a Memory Stick. The PSP isn't the only converged game system; Nokia's N-Gage (and its redesigned successor, the N-Gage QD), the Tapwave Zodiac, and the Tiger Telematics Gizmondo include such unusual features as GSM cell phone functionality, GPRS cellular data networking, GPS receivers, PDA functionality, built-in digital cameras, and so on. To a lesser extent, the DS's unusual, albeit game-oriented, features or the movie-playing Play-Yan accessory for the DS and GBA SP could be seen as part of this trend. It remains to be seen if this trend towards convergence is unique to this generation, or if it survives into the next.

List of handheld game consoles, notable features, and industry firsts

Main article: Comparison of handheld gaming consoles

The company Gamepark Split and became Gamepark/Gamepark Holdings, where they both are creating the "next-gen" for their handheld.

See also

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Handheld_game_console&oldid=24414897"