In 2000 the Sony 'Playstation 2' was produced and was said to have better graphics capability than a PC, which enabled games with aesthetically pleasing graphics to be produced, such as 'The Sims'. Sony's 'PlayStation 2' was released in Japan as the follow up to its highly successful younger brother the PlayStation 1, and was also the first home game console to be able to play DVDs, which was a massive leap forward in the games industry, and put it at the forefront of video gaming. Which makes it understandable why it was the best selling home console of all time to date. Sony redesigned the console in 2004 into a smaller version, because if it can do the same thing but in a smaller box, then why not. The smaller anything is in household technology the better.
In 2001 Microsoft entered the game console market with it’s 'Xbox'. Microsoft's 'Xbox', released in North America, was the company's first video game console. The first console to employ a hard drive right out of the box to save games, and had similar hardware specifications to a low-end desktop computer at the time of its release. Though criticized for its bulky size and the awkwardness toward operating its controller, it eventually gained popularity subsequent to the success of the Halo franchise, which because of the vastly improved specifications of consoles such as the Xbox was allowed to blossom. Significantly 'Xbox' was also the first console to include an Ethernet port and offered high speed online gaming through the newly see 'Xbox LIVE' service. Which in itself opened a whole new world of possibilities in gaming and inspired many generations of consoles.
The Nintendo GameCube, released in 2001, again in North America, was Nintendo's fourth home video game console and the first console by the company to use optical media instead of cartridges. The Nintendo GameCube did not play standard 12 cm DVDs, instead employing smaller 8 cm optical discs. With the release of the Gamecube Game Boy Player, all Game Boy cartridge's could be played on the same platform. Which in terms of profit probably wasn't the best move as it meant people didn't buy many more games as they already owned them on their GameBoy. The Nintendo Gamecube was discontinued in 2007 with the release of Wii.
In 2003 even Nokia were trying to benefit from worlds obsessions with video games by introducing the first console / mobile hybrid,the 'N-Gage' series, which allows for a portable gaming experience such as that of the Nintendo GameBoy.
Microsoft kicked off the seventh generation with the release of the Xbox 360 - 2005 in the United States. It featured market leading processing power until the Sony PlayStation 3 was released one year later. You can have up to four controllers connected to the console wirelessly. They caught onto the Wii's secret weapon of motion gaming, and cleverly went one step further by fitting the Xbox with motion gaming that doesn't require a controller, which they named the 'Kinect'.Sony's PlayStation 3 was released in Japan in 2006. All PlayStation 3s come with a hard drive and are able to play Blu-ray Disc games and Blu-ray Disc movies out of the box. The PlayStation 3 was the first video game console to support HDMI output out of the box, utilizing full 1080p resolution. Yet again Sony did one better than their rival by allowing for seven controllers to be connected at the same time to the console using Bluetooth. In the same manner Microsoft and Nintendo did, Sony enabled their machines to have motion capabilities, which they called the 'PlayStation Move'. Also to keep up with the ever growing technological world the PlayStation 3 can play 3D Blu-ray movies and 3D games. Also before this in 2005 the Sony 'PSP' was released, which meant Sony could compete against the handheld console market.
The Nintendo Wii was released in North America in 2006, It is bundled with Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort. Unlike the other systems of the seventh generation, the Wii does not support an internal hard drive, which places it behind its rivals. It also has a maximum resolution output of 480p, making it the only seventh generation console not able to output high-definition graphics. However the Wii defeats its rivals in the unique way that it is backwards compatible with previous Nintendo consoles, as it is capable of playing Nintendo GameCube games and supports up to four Nintendo GameCube controllers. Which means if you feel like playing your retro classics from years ago you can. It also includes Virtual Console, which allows the purchase and downloading of games from older systems.
With the current stage we're in, in the games industry everything a games company does has to conform to and match the modern world of technology, if a console doesn't support the latest technology it will start to lose money against the rivaling games companies who's consoles do. However, to me its seems that now due to this rivalry between consoles to quickly obtain and take on board everything modern, for example 3d gaming, Blu-ray and motion gaming, there isn't a lot of places left to go with consoles, at the minute all they can do is tweak their consoles for performance and graphics but nothing sensational or innovative is left to be included into a console.
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