Revolution In Gaming
Before the Atari, most home videogames were either "one game, one console" purchases like Pong, or run off of PCs, which at the time required long load times, learning a new computer-based language (load "*",8,1), and tons other inconveniences. This gave home console gaming quite the bad name, especially compared to the allure and convenience of the arcade.The biggest attempt at gaming on a TV prior to that was the Magnavox Odyssey, a console that tried, and quickly failed, to make home console gaming a financial success. Before Atari came along, it looked like videogames for the mainstream crowd would be an arcade only affair for years to come.
Nintendo knocks Atari out of the home console game. Atari was riding high with the 2600, but with the release of their next console, the Atari 5200, the company started to fall. Though the console offered much improved graphics, the gameplay found on most 5200 games remained pretty much the same as those on the 2600. Also, the 5200's controller was intimidatingly complicated, with four shoulder buttons and a dial-pad on the bottom that made it look like a portable phone. These controllers were also extremely easy to break. As a young lad, I personally broke at least three of them in as many months, while my old 2600 joystick still worked great with my Commodore 64 for years.
Atari tried to save face with the simplified controls and backwards compatibility of their next console, the Atari 7800, but by then it was too late. The Atari name had been permanently tarnished. Once again, home console gaming was in danger of dying out.
Long time 3rd party and arcade game developer Nintendo used this opportunity to sweep in and take over. With the Nintendo Entertainment System, they brought simplified controls, a toy-like robot for non-gamer appeal, arcade-perfect graphics, and most importantly, a diverse library of games that worked to push the medium in new directions.
Atari wouldn't give up completely. A few years later, they came out with the Atari Jaguar, a console that used pure power (and again, a controller that had a weird looking dial-pad on the bottom) to try to muscle their way back into the home console arena. Not surprisingly, it failed, mostly because the games just weren't there. Sadly, this is almost exactly what happened to Atari with it's home portable console a few years earlier.
This one isn't a revolution for the majority of gamers, but it's certainly meaningful for millions of people today, especially game developers. Largely because of Xbox Live and it's streamlined online interface and matchmaking systems, online play has gone from an anomaly to a must-have feature for most high-profile home console releases. Everything from the competition-inspiring achievement/gamer score system, to the communication-inspiring cross-game chat, to the option for DLC, to the freedom to play with friends and total strangers; everything about XBL just clicks with what modern online-gaming enthusiasts want. It would take something as big as XBL to make online gaming on home consoles work. Other developers and publishers have tried online gaming on consoles for years, without ever coming close to the success that XBL has found. Sure, the advent of the cheap, high-capacity hard drive and widespread use of of cable internet did a lot to help as well, but there is no denying that XBL made home console online gaming what it is today. That's probably why it remains the dominant force in its market (which never was released officially) and NFL Fever to beta test. Once beta testing concluded, Microsoft sent these beta testers a translucent orange memory card, a headset carrying case, and a beta tester tshirt with the slogan "I have great hands". When the service debuted, it lacked much of the functionality that later titles included, but Xbox Live grew and evolved on the Xbox and many aspects of the service were included with the Xbox 360 console out of the box, rather than through a later update. Microsoft's 5000th patent was Live-related and gave Xbox 360 users access to watch other gamers compete against each other over Xbox Live
Online gaming and home consoles make nice Combination