Nintendo started making games in the 1980's. But, they were actually founded in 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, and originally produced handmade "Hanafuda cards". By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as cab services and "love hotels". Abandoning previous ventures, Nintendo developed into a video game company, becoming one of the most influential in the industry and Japan's third most valuable listed company with a market value of over $85 billion US dollars. Nintendo of America is also the majority owner of the Seattle Mariners Major League Baseball team. Cool right? The name Nintendo can be roughly translated from Japanese to English as "leave luck to heaven". As of June 30, 2013, Nintendo has solder over 655.9 million hardware units and 4.12 billion software units.
There first video game consoles
In 1977, Nintendo released there first console to Japan only. It was called "Color TV Game", and sold over 3 million units (picture below)
After the Color TV Game was 'shelved' (discontinued), Nintendo started development on there newest console. This console was released in Japan as the "Famicom" (short for Family Computer), on July 15, 1983. It was later released in North America, with the name "Nintendo Entertainment System", or "NES", on October 18, 1985. This system alone, is what brought video games back. A lot of people think that these were the very first video game consoles. Well, they're wrong. (Picture below shows NES on top, and Famicom on bottom)
Atari and the video game crash
A lot of people also say, that Atari is what started home video gaming. Well, was far as popularity goes, they're 60% correct. Atari rocked family's living rooms, worldwide back in the late 1970's. Every family household owned one. And boy, did they love it. Probably there most popular system, would be the Atari 2600. They had a lot of systems, but the numbered 5\ones, all fallowed the same name format. The Atari 2500, 2600, 2700, 5200 and 7800. But then.. Something terrible happened. The video game crash of 1983. The video game crash of 1983 (or '83), also known as Atari shock in Japan, was a massive recession of the video game industry that occurred from 1983 to 1985. Revenues that had leaked at around $3.2 billion in 1983, fell to around $100 million by 1985 (a drop of almost 97 percent). The crash was a serious event that brought an abrupt end to what is considered the second generation of console video gaming in North America. The crash almost destroyed the then-fledgling industry and led to the bankruptcy of several companies producing home computers and video gaming consoles in the region, including the fastest-growing U.S. company in history at that point. Atari. It lasted about two years, and many business analysts of the time expressed doubts about long-term viability of video game consoles. The video-game industry was revitalized a few years later, mostly due to the widespread success of the Nintendo Entertainment System, which was soft launched in New York City in late 1985 (I already said that.. Kinda) and had become extremely popluar in North America by 2987. Picture below, shows the Atari 2600.
Closing
Let's face it, I could talk for hours about the History of Nintendo, but it would only turn into the history of video games. Which, it already has. So, in closing, the history of video games, is a very long and interesting one. And it's continuing every day. So, remember, when you're turning on your Wii, Xbox, or Playstation, it's not about how much ram or gigs you have. It's about the adventure on the way. It's about the fun you had with it.
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