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Once upon a time, disco ruled the airwaves, Rocky packed unmatched movie theater punch, and the Atari - Corporation dominated the family room. The year was 1976 and Atari had just released the Atari 2600 home video game console, a four-bit system that promised to bring the arcade experience to the home. Riding the strength of hit titles such as Asteroids and Space Invaders, Atari dominated the video game market, moving millions of 2600 units in its heady heyday.
In 1996, one finds a vastly different video game console landscape. Atari is gone, having merged with disk drive manufacturer JTS Corporation in July 1996, and today's video game console manufacturers enjoy technological advances that far surpass the Atari machines of the 1970s and 1980s, including, with some exceptions, the use of CD-ROM as a game publishing medium. Moreover, many of today's companies are beginning to move beyond the standalone console to surf the wave of the World Wide Web.
Today, video game consoles manufactured by Nintendo Company Ltd., Sega Enterprises Ltd., and Sony Corporation dominate an interactive entertainment market that is valued at more than $12 billion worldwide. According to the Interactive Digital Software Association, the interactive entertainment/edutainment software industry alone will generate approximately $7.7 billion in sales in 1996, including an estimated $4.4 billion in retail sales and $3.3 billion in indirect sales. Moreover, this interactive entertainment industry of today employs more than 90,000 people, with a growth rate of 26 percent annually.
THE BIG THREE: CONSOLE GAMING AND BEYOND
There's never a shortage of hype about the "next generation" in video game systems. Every manufacturer who enters the video game marketplace promises game systems that are faster, better, and cheaper than today's consoles-offering dramatic special effects and greater realism and interactivity. It's a constant, cut-throat format war. But where does the hype leave off and reality begin? The reality is that the video game console market has matured to the point where three companies-Nintendo, Sega, and Sony-vie for market share in the under$200 console business and all with their sights set on cyberspace.
Nintendo 64, the Non-CD
On September 29, 1996, Nintendo Corporation of America Inc. made its leap from 16-bit technology to 64-bit technology, with the U.S. launch of the Nintendo 64...