http://www.neiu.edu/~cjhudso2/timetable.htm
1961
Steve Russell and his fellow peers at MIT create "Spacewar!", the earliest full-fledged computer game in history.[1]
1971
Based on Spacewar!, the Galaxy Game, the very first coin-operated video game, is created. Also, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney created a coin-operated arcade version of Spacewar!, calling it Computer Space. They later went on to start Atari, Inc. and created another historical game: Pong. [1]
1972-1977
The era of first generation video game consoles, which were mainly to experiment in the relationship of console video games and television (back when each video game was exclusive to each console). This was also the time when the revered company Nintendo made its first major voyage into the gaming world.
1977
The Video Game Crash of 1977: A dark period of gaming when the markets were plagued by constant "Pong clones," causing manufacturers of older, obsolete console systems to abandon their products, leaving only Atari and Magnavox in the home console business. [1]
1979
Certain employees become outraged that the heads of Atari did not allow for credits in their games and did not pay royalties. Therefore, they split off and formed their own business, Activision. Afterwards, Atari tried to sue Activision in an attempt to boycott their games, but eventually lost the case in 1982
The era of second generation video game consoles,also known as the early 8-bit era, which was started by the Fairchild VES (later named Fairchild Channel F), the world's first CPU based video game console, introducing the cartridge-based game code storage format. This trend was followed by other companies (Atari, Activision, Magnavox, etc) to produce their games,most of which were ports of arcade originals. [3]
1978-1986
The Golden Age of Video Arcade Games: The Taito Corporation's creation of and massive success due to the game Space Invaders brought about the end of the video game crash and jump started an era of innovation. In the 1980's this era marked the rise of different gaming genres (action, adventure, platform, fighting, shooter...), as well as the rise to fame for many gaming companies (Nintendo, Sega, Capcom, Namco, Konami, and SNK
1983-1984
The North American Video Game Crash of 1983: A time of even greater loss than the last crash, which mainly affected the U.S., allowing Japan to dominate the gaming industry. This event had many causes; from too many consoles on sale in markets, to competition with home computers that could plug into televisions and offered colored graphics and improved sound. However, the greatest disaster came from Atari. In 1981, Atari tried to cash in on the massive popularity of Namco's Pacman by creating a port for it on their current system at the time, Atari 2600, but its production was rushed, and Atari was left with a low-selling game that was hardly as lively or colorful as the original, ending in enormous loss for the company. In 1982, Atari tried to bounce back by heavily advertising a game based on "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," and hastily made millions of copies in time for the holiday season. This ended with the game being declared one of the worst in history, and Atari actually wound up dumping all of the unsold copies into a New Mexico landfill. The horrific outcome of this crash resulted in companies like Magnavox to leave the gaming industry entirely (although Activision roughly survived), as well as toy retailers that controlled consumer access to write off video games as a fad that had apparently passed.
1983-1995
The era of third generation game consoles, in which Japanese gaming companies came to drive the U.S. out of the game crash with their new systems. One major example is the Nintendo Company's release of the "Family Computer" (Famicom) into American territories under the title "Nintendo Entertainment System" (NES), which largely dominated sales in Japan and North America with the first entries of some of the most revered game series ever, such as Super Mario Bros. and the Legend of Zelda. Meanwhile, the Sega Master system made it big in Brazil, Oceana, and Europe. One of the keys to their success was the switch from flip-screen graphics to scrolling graphics. This era also marks the birth of the role-playing game (RPG) genre. RPG's where around before, but began to be truly defined with the release of Enix's Dragon Quest, which pretty much set the standard for RPG's at the time. Another great example is when Hironobu Sakaguchi, president of Square, a Japanese gaming company that was struggling at the time, decided to place all of his bets on creating his "final" fantasy-style RPG based on Dragon Quest, the outcome being the first entry in the immensely successful Final Fantasy franchise. [6]
1986
Nintendo releases "Game Boy," the first successful handheld gaming system
1987-1999
The era of fouth generation game consoles, also known as the 16-bit era. A very lively era in gaming, introducing systems whose games are still popular today, like Nintendo's Super Famicom (Super NES in America). Another noteworthy system is the Sega Mega Drive (Sega Genesis in America), which introduced Sega's popular mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog. This era saw great improvements in graphics, sound, and color, making it no surprised that it lasted over a decade. [7]
1993-2006
The era of fifth generation consoles, also known as the 32/64-bit era. This era saw the rise of the first systems to experiment in the third dimension, most notably the Nintendo 64 and the Sony Playstation. The N64 brought revolutionary games like Super Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the latter of which introduced a targeting system that would be utilized in many future games. The Playstation dominated the market in this era, due to its own ingenuity, such as with bringing the Final Fantasy series into 3D with Final Fantasy VII, which was originally meant for the N64, but moved on to the PS due to storage capacity issues. Because of many delays to the release of the Nintendo 64, in 1995 Nintendo released the Virtual Boy, a supposedly portable system capable of displaying true 3D graphics, albeit in monochromatic red and black. Because of its graphical capabilities, the system could cause headaches and eye strain, and was not functionally portable, though it was marketed as such. It was discontinued within a year, with less than 25 games ever released for it. This era also saw the rise of new handheld systems, such as the Game Boy Color