Handheld Consoles
Despite mobile gaming not hitting its stride until the late 80's and early 90's, handhelds where first introduced in 1977 when Mattel released a line of LED based single-game machines. though other companies tried their hand at handheld consoles making a few innovations such as interchangeable cartridges, nothing note worthy happened until 1989 when Nintendo released the Game Boy.
Even though its low price tag helped sell the Game Boy initially it was the wide range of good quality games that really cemented the Game Boy in video game history. The Game Boy's success ushered in a new wave of handheld consoles with companies like Sega and Atari developing their own portable consoles. During this new wave NEC released the most impressive handheld device for the time, The Turbo Express, a fully portable vision NEC's home console the Turbgraphx. The Turbo express used an active-matrix colour display and could even be used as a portable TV , the only downside was the price, a huge $299.99, three times as much as the Game Boy. Although Sega managed say in the Handheld market with devices like the Game Gear and the Nomad it was clear that Nintendo was top of the ladder and they weren't going to move for anybody. With newer technology at their disposal and a reputation for releasing the best portable consoles since the 80's Nintendo grew bold and released the DS a duel screen system with touch screen technology. Despite initial skepticism fans soon grew to love the DS which only made it harder for other companies to break into the market. In 2004 Sony grew a little over confident having taken the home console market by storm with the PlayStation 1 and 2 they followed up the the PlayStation Portable (PSP) but despite its advanced technology and ability to play UMD movies they where still unable to catch Sony up and quickly came to see how Sega saw the Handheld market. Phone GamingIn 1997 Nokia released it's 6110 model mobile phone, with each phone a game was pre-installed "snake" a simple addition to help sell the phone it inadvertently created a whole new method of playing video games. Snake's simple yet addictive nature soon caught on with audiences and when something like that catches an audience's attention it isn't long before developers begin to see the potential and start to capitalize on it. Within the following years phones began implementing more and more differnt games from puzzle games to shooters and even racing games.
As WAP technology grew phone based gaming grew. Now people could download games directly to their phones and it even allowed for multiplayer support. In the early 2000's phone companies began to take mobile gaming into account when developing new models which led to phones having full colour and more online capibiltys. around this time big name game compaine such as Sega, THQ and EA developing games exclusively for phones. Still hinderd by its technology phone gaming was only successful with the casual demeagraphic leading to the the release of more powerfull devices such as the BlackBerry and Nokia N5 which could both support 3D graphics. In 2007 apple release the first ever Iphone and it combination of touch screen technology and motion controles launched mobile gaming to new hights and in the following year apple implimented the app store which finally cemented mobile gaming as its own genre with microsoft and android both folloing apples example and the grwing popularity of tablet gaming. |
Melanson, D. (2006). A Brief History of Handheld Video Games. Available: http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/03/a-brief-history-of-handheld-video-games/. Last accessed 17th Feb 2016.
Langshaw, M. (2011). Feature: The History Of Mobile Gaming.Available: http://www.digitalspy.com/gaming/news/a313439/feature-the-history-of-mobile-gaming/. Last accessed 18 Feb 2016.
Langshaw, M. (2011). Feature: The History Of Mobile Gaming.Available: http://www.digitalspy.com/gaming/news/a313439/feature-the-history-of-mobile-gaming/. Last accessed 18 Feb 2016.