A Salute To Atari, Part III: Atari 5200

The Atari 5200, released in 1982, was amazing for its time. The system had four controller ports, and also featured a new controller with a joystick, number buttons, two buttons on each side of the controller and buttons for Start, Pause, and Reset. The Atari 5200 was originally called the Atari Video System X and was codenamed Pam after a woman working at Atari. The Atari 5200 did poorly because of its inability to games for the Atari 2600, although an adapter was later released in 1983 allowing it to play all Atari 2600 games.
Another problem was that Atari mostly focused on the Atari 2600. The 5200 had a lot of design mistakes, and the system is generally considered to have been poor.

Next Up, the Atari 7800!

A Satute to Atari: Part II: VCS/ 2600

Who couldn't like the Atari 2600? The joystick, lots of fun games....Although the 2600 isn't all glitz and glamor. One game, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, was so bad that it is blamed for the market crash and thousands of copies were buried in a New Mexico landfill. Although others, like Pitfall, have had sequels and became successful.

The joystick is simple, with one button only. It plugs into the back of the system.

The four switches next to the cartridge turn the power on, reset the game, choose between a black and white or color TV, and select the game. Complex!

Atari also made the 2600 Jr., which made the cartridges look huge.

Cool, huh? For a system from the '70's I mean. Would you rather have a 360 or PS3 or 2600?

It was one of Atari's best and most famous systems, and it still lives on, because people make homebrew for it and play it. I have an old one in my garage. Maybe I should play it?

Up next, A Salute to Atari: Part III: Atari 5200!

A Salute to Atari: Part I: Pong

Pong, the simple tennis game. In 1972, it was popular, one of the most popular games in that time. Now, Mario is more popular than everything, so Atari can just barf in a gym sock.

Pong was the first game developed by Atari, founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and some other guy. Bushnell decided to form a company to produce more games. Prior to working at Atari, Allan Alcorn, a colleague of Bushnell's, had no experience with video games. Bushnell told Alcorn that he had a contract from General Electric for a product, and asked Alcorn to create a simple game with one moving spot, two paddles, and digits for score keeping. The project was inspired by a game included in the Magnavox Odyssey—the first video game console. In May 1972, Bushnell visited the Magnavox Profit Caravan where he played the Magnavox Odyssey demonstration, specifically the table tennis game.

Then, Alcorn did something, and Pong came out. It was popular, but the 2600 killed it off. Oh, well. Then that console version came out in 1973, so you didn't have to waste quarters to play Pong. But you did have to spend money on it, so...aw, forget this.

It is in lots of references, like in Wall-E, when he plays Pong with EVE but she is in standby mode, or in an episode of King of the Hill where Peggy and Bobby get obsessed with the game. So, Atari succeeded, but Nintendo had a far more dangerous weapon... the Color TV game. It wasn't successful, but it provided Atari's first competition. But, when Sega and PlayStation came out, Atari had to have a little funeral for making game systems. Serves 'em right for messing with the powerful, cool people, which they were not. Anyway, Pong is still cool...in a lame way.

The History of Home Consoles

The history of home consoles... how could I refuse?

It was kicked off in 1972 by the Magnavox Odyssey. It was the world's first home console, and even though it didn't do very good, it still encouraged others to make consoles. Nolan Bushnell founded Atari and soon made Pong, a legend today. In 1976, the Fairchild VES was released. It was the first console where the games weren't just "inside" the system; you had to buy them seperately. This made Atari start making the 2600, or VCS. It outsold the Fairchild soon. In 1979, some Atari employees broke away from the company to form Activision, which was the first third party game company. Mattel's Intellivision was tough competition for Atari, but it kicked Mattel's butts. Then, the game crash in 1983 occured. After that, Nintendo, an arcade games only company, made their first console, the Famicom, aka NES. Super Mario Bros. came out for it, and side-scrolling games became popular. It soon went on to become the best selling game of all time. Some harsh competition came from Sega's Master System, and even though it was successful, it couldn't beat Nintendo. In 1987, the NEC TurboGrafx 16 was released, the first 16 bit console. But Sega and Nintendo's bitter rivalry, known as the Console Wars, knocked NEC out of the market, due to the popularity of the two companies. Franchises, like Mortal Kombat and Sonic the Hedgehog, were popular on Sega's consoles. Sonic was an offer for a cooler mascot than Mario. The Game Boy was released in 1989, and Nintendo entered the handheld market. In 1993, PCs were becoming powerful enough to be game consoles. But in 1994, Nintendo and Sega were threatened by the newcomer: The PlayStation. Sony had stolen the game console market from Sega and Nintendo. Nintendo's N64 still used cartridges, which seemed "old" and out of style, and discs were becoming the primary storage method for game consoles. The N64 was the last console to use cartridges. Atari's Jaguar, released in 1993, was supposedly the first 64-bit console, but it wasn't popular and turned out to be Atari's last console. In 1998, the Sega Dreamcast was released, starting the 128-bit era. But Sega couldn't beat the PlayStation 2. Most [normal] people would rather have a PlayStation than a Sega console. The little console sold just enough units to stay in the market, but that changed when the Xbox and GameCube were released. It was too much for Sega , and they discontinued it later that year. The Dreamcast was Sega's last console. The Xbox, made by Microsoft, a major computer company, was their first console. A notable launch title was Halo: Combat Evolved, which was considered the "killer app" for the console. It was impressive with great graphics, sound, and controls. Later that year, Nintendo released the GameCube. It wasn't as successful as the Xbox or PS2, but it was powerful, compact, and played Game Boy games, which were popular at the time. The DS and PSP were released in 2004, starting a new era. It's just called "generation seven." What happened to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6? Oh well. Then, in 2005, the Xbox 360 was released, making it the first generation seven console. Then, in 2006, the PS3 came out, followed by the Wii. The Wii is beating both in sales, so Nintendo must be pretty happy up there in their diamond tower.

Well, that's the history of game consoles. Next up, see A Salute to Atari: Part I: Pong! Now you go bye bye goo goo ga ga--zip.

A Salute to Nintendo: Part VIII: Other Miscellaneous Nintendos that Nintendo never Bothered to tell anyone About!

Who hasn't heard of Nintendo? But there are two of Nintendo's lesser consoles: the iQue and the Virtual Boy! First, the Virtual Boy...

To play the Virtual Boy, (takeoff on Game Boy? No idea.) the user looks into an eyepiece on the front, and then a projector allows viewing of the red image. Only red? Hey, it was old, virtual reality sucked! It was released 1995 in Japan and 1995 in North America at a price of around $180. It had a negative reception that was unaffected by continued price drops, which means that it didn't stink, but it didn't suck. Nintendo discontinued it the following year. The Virtual Boy is considered Nintendo's only failure in the video game market.

The controller is cool in a lame way. It's like a big M, like the Nintendo 64's controller. It has two D-pads, Select and Start buttons, and A and B buttons, along with L and R buttons, more like triggers.

It was like looking into 3D glasses and watching a movie: one eye got red, the other blue. If you look at the picture next to you, (left, idiot), you'd see that some parts are red, and some are blue. With both eyes in the goggle things, it appears to be 3D. But it was not successful, because of the competition. Wolud you rather have a Virtual Boy, or a Genesis or Super NES? I know the answer already.



Now, let's learn about the iQue...

It's like a controller, pretty much. It is a controller. It plugs into the TV. It is only available in China.
Games are stored on a flash card that plugs directly into controller. Games are purchased at a special "iQue depot" that can be at convenience stores or supermarkets where games cany be downloaded onto your cartridge and played later.
Only 14 games were ever realeased for the iQue, but that was on purpose. There are 14 classic N64 games for it:

Wave Race 64
Star Fox 64

Super Mario 64
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Mario Kart 64
F-Zero X
Yoshi's Story
Paper Mario
Excite Bike 64
Super Smash Bros.

Sin and Punishment: Successor of the Earth
Animal Crossing
Dr. Mario 64
Custom Robo

If you had all of those for the iQue, you'd get sick of it pretty fast, especially if some of the games are cruddy. I guess that's why it didn't do very well.

Well, there is another two consoles! The Game and Watch and the Color TV Game. Click on the names to see the Wikipedia page for them.

Well, that's it for A Salute to Nintendo.

But still read my blog! Please! That will be all. Siegel out.

A Salute to Nintendo: Part VII: Wii

WHO-HOO!!! The Wii! Since I have one, I know all about it! It is so awesome, and here's why!

Well, it also plays GameCube games, if you have a controller and memory card. Along with Wii and GameCube games, it can also play Genesis, NES, Nintendo 64, Super Nintendo, Turbo Grafx 16, and Master System games via the Wii Shop Channel, an online service that lets you play certain games. The true way to enjoy the Wii is with its 3 main controllers: The Wiimote, the Nunchuk, and the Classic controller. Let us learn more about these...

The Wii remote (left) is one of the most vital of the Wii's controllers. Its motion sensing and pointer function is one of the major functions of the Wiimote. On the top left is a Power button, which lets you (obviously) turn the console on and off. Below that is a 4-way D-pad. On the front below that, an A button, and on the back of the controller, a B button, or trigger. Below A are 3 buttons: the minus button, the Home Menu button, then the plus button. Below that, a 1 and 2 button, followed by the Player LED and the controller port. And, of course, there's a wrist strap.

Now, for playing Virtual Console (below) and some WiiWare (belower than Virtual Console) games, with some Wii games, you gotta have this. It can let you...uh, do stuff. In the bottom, there are 2 control sticks. Above those are the Select, Start, and Home buttons. To the left of that is the D-pad. To the right is the a, b, x, and y buttons. On the top are the L, ZL, R, and ZR buttons. The middle button doesn't do anything.

The Nunchuk is another attachment to the Wiimote. It features a control stick, and the C (top) and Z (bottom) buttons. It also has motion-sensing, but to a leeser extent than the Wiimote. It is mainly used so that a control stick can be used in games, because today most games are 3D. It's not the Nunchuk that you kill people with, but it's just called that, go ask Nintendo, not me.

Ah, WiiWare and Virtual Console. Let's talk about these. You buy them with Wii Points.

WiiWare is pretty much Wii games

that were put onto the Wii Shop Channel.

They sometimes use the Classic Controller,

though not always. Some use the Wiimote

and Nunchuk, or the GameCube controller.
They are usually 500-1500 Wii Points.

Virtual console games are classic games from

older consoles, like Super Mario Bros.

and Sonic the Hedgehog. They can be from the

NES, Super Nintendo, Genesis,

Turbo Grafx 16, Nintendo 64, and Master System.

They are usually 500-1000 Wii Points.

It also comes with a game, Wii Sports. It lets you play five sports: Tennis, Baseball, Bowling, Golf, and Boxing. You use the Wii remote as a tennis racquet, baseball bat, bowling ball, golf club, and the Wii Remote and Nunchuk as boxing gloves. It lets you use Miis (below) as sports players competing in events. It's pretty fun.

There are also these Avatars you can make of yourself called Miis. They are mainly used as playable characters, ex. Guitar Hero World Tour, Wii Sports, save icons, ex. Super Mario Galaxy

Well, that's about all with the Wii that I have to talk about. Coming up next the final installment in the A Salute to Nintendo series, Other Miscellaneous Consoles that Nintendo Never Bothered to tell Anyone About!

See you again next time!

A Salute to Nintendo: Part VII: Nintendo GameCube

The GameCube! A Cube...that plays games. Because of being tiny, cute, and being able to play Game Boy games, it ended up being popular, though not as popular as the PS2 or Xbox. Let's learn more about this GameCube...

The GameCube controller has a wing grip design, and is designed to fit well in the player's hands. The primary analog stick is on the left, and the Start button is next to it. Below it is the D-pad. On the right is a set of four buttons: in the middle, a green A button, to the left of that, a red B button, to the right, a gray X button, and above that, another gray button, the Y button. On the top are 3 shoulder buttons: L, R, and Z. The Z button is blue, and L and R are gray. The Z button is in front of the R button.

The console itself is, well, a cube. On the top, there are 3 buttons: On the top left is the Power button, below that is the Reset button, and on the right is the Eject button. In the back, there is a handle, which can be used to carry the console around. Not much else, unless you want to hang it off of a clothes hanger. In the front are four controller ports, indicated by dots, like this:

. .. ... ....

O O O O

Below that are the memory card slots. On the bottom of the Cube there are plugs used to plug in the Game Boy Player peripheral. What's a Game Boy Player? Let's find out!


Pretty, much, it just lets you play Game Boy games on a TV.
A special Game Boy Player for the Panasonic Q (below) was released because the Q's legs are placed differently than the original GameCube's. All Game Boy Players have screws on the bottom to secure it to the bottom of the GameCube and also have an eject button on the right side for removing Game Boy Advance games. Game Boy and Game Boy Color games stick out from the unit, so they can just be pulled out when the system is off or Change Cartridge has been selected from the menu.

Now, what the heck is a Panasonic Q? It's a GameCube that can play DVDs, CDs, MP3 as well as several other features. The system was officially released only in Japan. Since the GameCube couldn't play DVDs, a feature its competitors, the PlayStation 2 and Xbox had, the system was licensed by Nintendo and was released in December 2001 in Japan only. Nintendo's decision to license the gaming technology to Panasonic is a result of the deal broken between Matsushita (owners of Panasonic and makers of the

GameCube discs) and Nintendo. When Nintendo signed Matsushita as the producer of the optical disc drives that power the GameCube, an agreement was struck allowing Matsushita to produce a DVD system able to play GameCube games.
Other features of the Q include a backlit LCD, a front-loading slot disc tray, an optical sound output supporting Dolby Digital 5.1, and a stainless steel chassis. The Q is capable of installing all of the GameCube hardware upgrades; however, because of the legs on the bottom, it requires a special Panasonic Q Game Boy Player unit designed specifically for it.


What about the discs, they were tiny. On the picture below, on the left is a GameCube Disc, on the right a Wii disc. They were very tiny, but hey, would you rather have a giant heavy cube, or a small, compact, easy to carry one? I think I know the answer. The GameCube Game Disc was criticized for its small storage, because some games with large amounts of data have needed to be on two discs, reducing their quality. Prior to the Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo consoles usually used cartridges.










For the Wii, Nintendo extended the technology to use a full size DVD-based disc, enabling it to have the benefits of the Nintendo GameCube Game Disc, while having the standard capacity of a DVD-ROM. Although the Wii can use double-layer discs, all titles were single-layer up until the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. With the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Nintendo has admitted that some Wii systems may have trouble reading dual-layer discs due to a dirty laser lens. Nintendo is repairing systems with dual-layer problems.


Well, well, well, looks loike our time is up with the GameCube. But next, the mother of Nintendo consoles, the most popular console right now, the Wii! Keep on following my blog for the Wii post! When we meet again...I don't know.

:-)