A Handheld console is portable electronic equipment for playing computer games. Differently than with stationary play consoles are firmly inserted control elements, screen and loudspeakers. In the process of the 1970er and 1980er years brought for the first time different manufacturers, among them Coleco and Milton Bradley, portable Tabletop consoles and LCD plays on the market. Today these systems do not apply however any longer than consoles, since they offered usually only the possibility of playing a firmly inserted play. The first genuine Handheld console with exchangeable play modules was Milton Bradley Microvision, which appeared 1979. With the introduction on the market of the Game Boy 1989 Nintendo conquered the market leader shank on the Handheld sector and contributed to the popularization of the Handheld concept.

History

Origin

The first Handheld console with exchangeable play modules, which became Microvision, 1979 by Smith engineering developed and by Milton Bradley driven out. Due to the small screen and a selection of only 13 plays, however no durable success adjusted itself and it already two years later was not any longer manufactured. Today still functioning Microvision devices are a rarity. The control elements could be easily damaged and the LCDs of the late seventies were by unsatisfactory quality, so that they became often leaky or dark.

Later Nintendo published ten years the Game Boy. The developer team under the direction of Gunpei Yokoi had responsibility itself already for Nintendo Game & wading CH row, Nintendo Entertainment system as well as the plays Metroid and Kid Icarus. Critics from the play industry faced the equipment due to his monochrome screen and the small processor achievement first sceptically. The designer team was however the opinion that small manufacturing costs and economical battery consumption were more important. Compared to the Microvision the Game Boy was particularly in this regard a large step forward.

Yokoi recognized that the Game Boy needed a "“killer application"”, at least one play that on behalf for the console to stand and would convince the customers to buy her. In June 1988 Minoru Arakawa, CEO von Nintendo OF America saw, a demonstration of the play Tetris on a commercial fair. Nintendo acquired the rights at the play and sold it in the package with the Game Boy. Success was long in coming not. Toward end years one had sold over one million units, 1992 amounted to the number of 25 million. Also over 150 million sold units (Game Boy pocket and Game Boy Color taken into consideration) is the Game Boy the usually-sold console of all times.

The 1990er

In the process of the nineties different manufacturer tried in vain to contest with the publication of new Handheld consoles of Nintendo market leader shank. The Atari Lynx appeared in the same year as the Game Boy as the first Handheld with color screen. The equipment had background lighting and could be turned for left-handed people. Due to its high price, and of Nintendo of aggressive campaign itself the the Atari Lynx sell to immense consumption, bottleneck, a a lack to bind play despite the the publication a of an improve version in the year 1991 to no time particularly good.

When reaction to the continuous success of the Game Boy became several Handhelds developed, which its largest weakness, which should use small diagram achievement. The Sega Game Gear appeared toward at the end of of 1990 and had like the Lynx behind shining width unit a color display. The internal architecture of the Game Gear resembled that the Sega master system home console, so that Sega could offer a large selection of plays, which had been originally developed for the master system within short time. However the Game Gear possessed the same weaknesses as the Lynx, and although it was somewhat more successful than these, it did not succeed also to Sega to contest the supremacy of the Game Boy.

Further Handheld consoles appeared such as NECs PC engine GT, the Watara supervision and the Neo geo pocket. Despite the technical superiority of most of these consoles none from them became to a serious competition for the Game Boy.

The Game Boy received nine years after its appearance 1998 with the Game Boy Color its first genuine successor. It corresponded in its dimensions in for instance the smaller and easier Game Boy pocket, had however in addition color screen and infrared interface. The equipment was downward compatible and could be used both with special Game Boy Color plays and with all old Game Boy plays, whereby the additional arithmetic performance was only small.

Modern Handhelds

2001 published Nintendo the Game Boy Advance with additional shoulder keys, larger screen and clearly more arithmetic performance. While its predecessors had only made a playing possible of two players at the same time over link cables, were now multi-player portion with four players possible. Appeared approximately two years later with the Game Boy Advance FR a compactly fold upable version with rear-illuminated display and inserted lithium ion Akku. Despite the publication N-fee held Nintendo further its Handheld market share of approximately 99%.

Nintendo DS a little later appeared on 21 November 2004 in North America, in Japan and 2005 also in Australia and Europe. The DS meant the break with of Nintendo past proceeding to develop the existing Game Boy further. The equipment has two LCD monitors, of which the lower reacted to contacts and for which player makes possible so a more intuitive control of menus and play figures. The DS had in addition language control, is compatible with Game Boy Advance plays and makes slack playing possible over a WiFi connection for up to 16 players. This is possible with some plays also over Internet.

Sony PlayStation portable one appeared in Japan at the end of of 2004, in North America at the beginning of of 2005, in Europe on 1 September 2005. The PSP had likewise slack multi-player support and is the first Handheld console, whose software title on optical data media, UMDs so mentioned is stored, which permits large data sets, and thus similarly a DVD permits a playing of films. can be stored on the enclosed MEMORY stick. Nintendo the DS in sceen size and diagram achievement superior, makes possible the PSP also playing music and films or regarding pictures. However it is more expensively than the DS and had a smaller Akkulaufzeit.

Chronology

• Milton Bradley Microvision (1979)
• Atari Cosmos (Holografi Tabletop, 1979-1981 developed, not published)
• Nintendo Game Boy (1989) - first world-wide successful Handheld console
• Atari Lynx (1989) - first Handheld console with rear-illuminated color display
• NEC PC engine GT (1990, Japan; 1991, North America) - compatibly with PC engine (/TurboGrafx) - plays
• Sega Game Gear (1991) - technically the Sega master system similarly, with TV-Tuner as televisions usable
• Watara supervision (1992)
• Sega mega jet (1992) - without screen, air develops LINEs for Japan
• Nintendo Virtual Boy (1994) - mono chrome (red tones) 3D-Brille, only semi portably
• Sega Nomad (1995) - compatibly with Sega mega drive plays, which are represented however in lower dissolution
• SNK Neo geo pocket (1996) - refrained from names no thing in common with Neo geo console and Arcade hardware
• Game Boy pocket (1996) - slimmer and easier Game Boy with clearer display
• Tiger Game.com (1997) - with Touchscreen; Modem as accessories available
• Nintendo Game Boy Color (1998) - with infrared interface
• Cybiko (1998)
• SNK Neo geo pocket Color (1999)
• Bandai WonderSwan (1999) - from Gunpei Yokoi after leaving Nintendo develops
• Bandai WonderSwan Color (2000)
• Game park GP32 (2001) - open SOURCE Handheld with Multimediafunktionen
• Nintendo Game Boy Advance (2001) - multi-player support for up to four players with only one play module
• Bandai Swan Crystal (2002) - easily improved WonderSwan Color
• Nokia N-fee (2003) - Handheld console and GSM Mobiltelefon inclusive MP3-Player and radio; uses Multimedia Cards as data medium for plays and medium files, Bluetooth for slack multi-player portions, GPRS for on-line plays
• Nintendo Game Boy Advance FR (2003) - Game Boy Advance in fold upable compact Design with insertable background lighting and inserted lithium ion Akku
• Tapwave Zodiac (2004) - Palm OS PDA with games functions
• Nokia N-fee QD (2004) - revised, cheaper N-fee without MP3-Player and radio
• Nintendo DS (2004/2005) - with two screens inclusive Touchscreen, inserted microphone as well as connection for external Headset and Wi-Fi for slack multi-player functions off-lines and on-line; Download of Multimediainhalten e.g. in cinemas possible
• Sony PSP (2004/2005) - with optical data media, playing and storage on MEMORY stick and Multimediafunktionen
• Tiger Gizmondo (2005) - with GPRS inclusive government inspection departments for location-based playing and camera.
• GPH GP2X - the successor of the GP32

See also

• Play console
• LCD play

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