My biggest issues with the generations as presented in Wikipedia is multi-fold.
Firstly, handhelds shouldn't be grouped with home consoles. They were not direct competitors for the same type of gaming. Well, until the Switch and its successor, but that is almost a class unto itself. That those releases has been out of synch with the release cycle of the PS and Xbox lines also sets it apart. That said, even those do have some level of direct competition and also see ports of the same multi-platform games.
Secondly, the grouping of the Atari 2600 and 5200 as the same generation is completely illogical, as the whole purpose of the 5200 was to be the next generation (even if it was an abject failure—a fact that was a larger contributor to the company's crash in 1983 than most analyses mention). The fact that the Gallagher and Park paper, a genuine academic analysis, separates them out speaks to that.
Finally, the early units like Pong (which were based on hardwired logic circuits, not processors) could only play the built-in games and were not "systems" in the understood sense of consoles capable of being programmed for a theoretically infinite number of games. Yes, even the Atari 2600 and its peers, despite their primitive hardware limiting just how much one can do, can have new games made for them (and do, as the modern incarnation of Atari is producing new cartridges for the 2600+, which are fully compatible with vintage hardware). As such, those early units should be treated more as a "zeroth" generation than a true console generation.
That said, those are quibbles with the execution and specific numbering. The underlying idea of generations is very solid. It's definitely how the industry has acted over the last 40 years.
@MadmanMike There was an answer to a reader letter in an old EGM issue about the pirate versions coming out of Hong Kong and/or Taiwan that was illustrated with an image. That's the (in)famous Hummer Team version mentioned in the article.
@gaga64 You mean more fully featured than the the original arcade version. The ability to play as the four bosses was added with Champion Edition in the arcade.
@JayJ You get it right at the end. The biggest issue was the lack of communication between the branches, especially as to how far along the Saturn development was, and when it would be released. Had they known, SoA would never have suggested the 32X in the first place.
@tstorm The PC Engine CD-ROM did pretty well in Japan. But that's one of the things that was different between that market and western markets. Indeed, it was its success that prompted Sega of Japan to push for the CD. Add-ons were more accepted there, but never sold well in the west, outside of some controller accessories and adapters. Yet another reason why the 32X was an absolute mistake.
@Gerald The clips were required by the US Federal Communications Committee (which regulates all radio-spectrum-based communications) to act as additional shielding against interference since the 32X unit is a powered device. Aren't really necessary, to be honest.
@SegaBlueSky A Master System mini night not be as niche as you think. Sure it wasn't a major player in the US (the Atari 7800 actually outsold it in North America) but it was a significant success in Europe and huge in Brazil, to the point where Sega's Brazilian distributor, TecToy, still sells versions with built in games. A localized version of that might do well in some territories.
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Re: Is Wikipedia Really To Blame For Video Game Console Generations?
My biggest issues with the generations as presented in Wikipedia is multi-fold.
Firstly, handhelds shouldn't be grouped with home consoles. They were not direct competitors for the same type of gaming. Well, until the Switch and its successor, but that is almost a class unto itself. That those releases has been out of synch with the release cycle of the PS and Xbox lines also sets it apart. That said, even those do have some level of direct competition and also see ports of the same multi-platform games.
Secondly, the grouping of the Atari 2600 and 5200 as the same generation is completely illogical, as the whole purpose of the 5200 was to be the next generation (even if it was an abject failure—a fact that was a larger contributor to the company's crash in 1983 than most analyses mention). The fact that the Gallagher and Park paper, a genuine academic analysis, separates them out speaks to that.
Finally, the early units like Pong (which were based on hardwired logic circuits, not processors) could only play the built-in games and were not "systems" in the understood sense of consoles capable of being programmed for a theoretically infinite number of games. Yes, even the Atari 2600 and its peers, despite their primitive hardware limiting just how much one can do, can have new games made for them (and do, as the modern incarnation of Atari is producing new cartridges for the 2600+, which are fully compatible with vintage hardware). As such, those early units should be treated more as a "zeroth" generation than a true console generation.
That said, those are quibbles with the execution and specific numbering. The underlying idea of generations is very solid. It's definitely how the industry has acted over the last 40 years.
Re: Street Fighter II On The NES Looks Better Than You Might Expect
@foodmetaphors Especially since Street Fighter II wasn't released in arcades until 1991.
Re: Street Fighter II On The NES Looks Better Than You Might Expect
@MadmanMike There was an answer to a reader letter in an old EGM issue about the pirate versions coming out of Hong Kong and/or Taiwan that was illustrated with an image. That's the (in)famous Hummer Team version mentioned in the article.
Re: Street Fighter II On The NES Looks Better Than You Might Expect
@gaga64 You mean more fully featured than the the original arcade version. The ability to play as the four bosses was added with Champion Edition in the arcade.
Re: Hardware Classics: Unpacking The 32X, Sega's Most Catastrophic Console Failure
@JayJ You get it right at the end. The biggest issue was the lack of communication between the branches, especially as to how far along the Saturn development was, and when it would be released. Had they known, SoA would never have suggested the 32X in the first place.
Re: Hardware Classics: Unpacking The 32X, Sega's Most Catastrophic Console Failure
@tstorm The PC Engine CD-ROM did pretty well in Japan. But that's one of the things that was different between that market and western markets. Indeed, it was its success that prompted Sega of Japan to push for the CD. Add-ons were more accepted there, but never sold well in the west, outside of some controller accessories and adapters. Yet another reason why the 32X was an absolute mistake.
Re: Hardware Classics: Unpacking The 32X, Sega's Most Catastrophic Console Failure
@Gerald The clips were required by the US Federal Communications Committee (which regulates all radio-spectrum-based communications) to act as additional shielding against interference since the 32X unit is a powered device. Aren't really necessary, to be honest.
Re: Hardware Review: The Retro-Bit Go Retro! Portable Is A Rose-Tinted Disappointment
@Tempestryke They're Triple-A.
Re: Sega's Next Micro-Console Could Be The Dreamcast Mini, But Don't Expect It Soon
@SegaBlueSky A Master System mini night not be as niche as you think. Sure it wasn't a major player in the US (the Atari 7800 actually outsold it in North America) but it was a significant success in Europe and huge in Brazil, to the point where Sega's Brazilian distributor, TecToy, still sells versions with built in games. A localized version of that might do well in some territories.