Console Generations and Video Game Evolution

 

   Video game consoles are not so young. The first generation of these machines (that revolutionized the world) were born in 1972, one year after the arcade machines. As well as all other technologies that innovated, the first generation demonstrated the their big potential, with primitive (but fun) games. Pong is from this generation. All of us know Pong: it's an eternal game.

   I'm not too old to have lived through that time, the first game that I've played in my life belonged to the fourth generation, with the Super Nintendo (SNES). There is no way to describe how big was this console to my life. Games like Super Mario, Donkey Kong and Super Bomberman dominated my days. I remember the problem that we had to complete those games where we can't save and continue later.

   Time has passed and other generations came. The fifth (1993-2006) with Playstation, the sixth (1998-2013) with Playstation 2 and Xbox, the seventh (2005-present) with Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii and now the eighth (2012-present) with Playstation 4 and Xbox One. It's incredible how these video games have evolved in so little time. The images below are of race games of the first and eighth generations. I know, it's a big surprise to see in this way. Only thirty years between these two. Now, imagine how great will be the near future?

   There is a bad thing with all this crazy evolution: There is no time to enjoy all games, not even the top games of each generation. Yes, you can play the best games one time each, but you will not be appreciating like they need to be. Just think how many times you have played a single game in your childhood and today (I'm sure that this number is decreasing), and, in the same way, you should know more of an old game that a recent one.

   I don't know what is the solution to this, each of us that enjoy this form of art have a way to deal with this. Maybe playing just a few games, but enjoying them completely, or playing them all, and enjoying only the time you can spend in each one. There is still the question wether to explore or not the old generation of video games, because the past keeps a lot of the best works of all time.