Nintendo

Nintendo


A Japanese company called Nintendo rekindled the electronic-game business in 1985 when it introduced its Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in the United States. With more powerful computer chips allowing for advanced graphics and faster game play—exhibited in games such as Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda—Nintendo brought new excitement to the market. Nintendo would go on to sell more than 30 million NES machines in the United States and more than 90 million worldwide.

Xbox Video-Game System Microsoft launched the Xbox video-game console in 2001 to compete with industry giants Sony and Nintendo. The Xbox system features a hard drive to save games and other information and a port to connect to the Internet.Kathleen Green

Nintendo also brought new market savvy to the industry. Realizing that game hardware soon becomes obsolete, Nintendo pioneered the practice of releasing new consoles every five to six years. The NES, for example, was followed by the Super NES and then by the Nintendo 64. Nintendo further expanded the video-game market in 1989 by launching its Game Boy handheld system. Nintendo sold an astonishing 120 million Game Boys from 1989 to 2001.

Nintendo faced serious rivals for the home market, however. In the late 1980s the Japanese company Sega introduced a popular system known as Genesis. In 1995 Japanese electronics giant Sony Corporation launched its PlayStation line of game consoles. Sony dominated the console market after 1995, selling more than 90 million PlayStations worldwide by 2002. In 2001 Nintendo released the GameCube platform and software giant Microsoft Corporation entered the fray with Xbox. These systems featured a variety of advanced capabilities such as a hard drive for saving games and the ability to connect to the Internet or local area networks (LANs). Such connections enabled players to download more advanced levels of play and additional characters, and to play with other users. Some systems even sell additional equipment so online players can speak to each other and verbally help (or taunt) other players during play. The three major console manufacturers used such technological advances to try to gain market share in this fast-paced, lucrative business