Console

Console may refer to:

Computing and video games

Virtual Console

Virtual Console (バーチャルコンソール, Bācharu Konsōru), sometimes abbreviated as VC, is a specialized section of the Wii Shop Channel and Nintendo eShop online services that allow players to purchase and download games and other software for Nintendo's Wii and Wii U home gaming consoles and the Nintendo 3DS portable gaming console.

The Virtual Console lineup consists of titles originally released on past home and handheld consoles. These titles are run in their original forms through software emulation (excluding GBA titles on 3DS), and can be purchased for between 500 and 1200 Wii Points (Wii), US$2.99 and US$6.99 (3DS) and US$4.99 and US$9.99 (Wii U) depending on system, rarity, and/or demand. Virtual Console's library of past games currently consists of titles originating from the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Nintendo 64, as well as Sega's Master System and Mega Drive/Genesis, NEC's TurboGrafx-16 and SNK's Neo Geo AES. The service for the Wii also includes games for systems that were known only in select regions, such as the Commodore 64 (Europe and North America only) and MSX (Japan only), as well as Virtual Console Arcade, which allows players to download video arcade games. Virtual Console titles have been downloaded over ten million times. The distribution of past games through the Virtual Console is one of Nintendo's attempts at preventing software piracy.

Video game console

A video game console is a device that outputs a video signal or visual image to display a video game. The term "video game console" is used to distinguish a console machine primarily designed for consumers to use for playing video games in contrast to arcade machines or home computers. It includes home video game consoles, handheld game consoles, microconsoles and dedicated consoles.

Although Ralph Baer had built working game consoles by 1966, it was nearly a decade before Pong made them commonplace in home theaters. Through evolution over the years, game consoles have expanded to function as CD players, DVD players, web browsers, set-top boxes and more.

History

Overview of Timeline

First generation

The first video games appeared in the 1960s. They were played on massive computers connected to vector displays, not analog televisions. Ralph H. Baer conceived the idea of a home video game in 1951. In the late 1960s, while working for Sanders Associates, Baer created a series of video game console designs. One of these designs, which gained the nickname of the 1966 "Brown Box", featured changeable game modes and was demonstrated to several TV manufacturers, ultimately leading to an agreement between Sanders Associates and Magnavox.

Xbox One

The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced on May 21, 2013, it is the successor to the Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox family. It directly competes with Sony's PlayStation 4 and Nintendo's Wii U as part of the eighth generation of video game consoles. The Xbox One was released in North America, several European markets, Australia, and New Zealand on November 22, 2013, and in 26 other markets, including Japan, the remaining European markets, and the Middle East, in September 2014. It is also the first Xbox game console to be released in China, specifically in the Shanghai Free-Trade Zone. Microsoft also marketed the device as an "all-in-one entertainment system", also making it a competitor to other digital media players, such as the Apple TV and Google TV platforms.

Moving away from the Xbox 360's PowerPC-based architecture—back to the x86 architecture used in the original Xbox—the console features an AMD Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) built around the x86-64 instruction set. The Xbox One places an increased emphasis on cloud computing and entertainment integration, offering the ability to overlay live television programming from an existing set-top box with an enhanced program guide, split-screen multitasking of applications, and improved second-screen support. The console optionally includes an upgraded Kinect sensor, providing richer motion tracking and voice recognition for use in its graphical user interface (GUI) and games. The Xbox One also offers the ability for users to record and share highlights from or live-stream gameplay. The console's controller was refined over that of the Xbox 360, with a redesigned D-pad and triggers capable of delivering directional haptic feedback.

Pokémon Gold and Silver

Pokémon Gold Version and Silver Version (ポケットモンスター 金・銀, Poketto Monsutā Kin Gin, "Pocket Monsters: Gold & Silver") are the second installments of the Pokémon series of role-playing video games, developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Color. They were released in Japan in 1999, Australia and North America in 2000, and Europe in 2001. Pokémon Crystal, a special edition, was released roughly a year later in each region. In 2009, Nintendo remade Gold and Silver for the Nintendo DS as Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver.

The games introduce 100 new species of Pokémon, and follow the progress of the central character, whose name the player may choose, in his quest to master Pokémon battling. Both games are independent of each other but feature largely the same plot and, while both can be played separately, it is necessary to trade between them and their backward compatible predecessors in order to fully complete the games' Pokédexes. The Johto Saga of the Pokémon anime is based on the new region introduced in the games.