Decades of Video Game Console Design
With the arrival of the so-called ninth-generation of video game consoles, Wired created a list of devices that have debuted over the past 40 years. The article traces the industry’s earliest consoles (the Atari 2600) through to contemporary iterations (the Xbox X Series and the Playstation 5) and offers plenty of insight into how and why they look the way they do—from cultural influences and advertising campaigns to technological advancements and abject failures. Writer Dia Lacina likens the new Xbox X Series to rectangular bookshelf speakers and the new Playstation to “a tacky casino-hotel in miniature,” despite its heft when compared to competitor products. Though the piece ends with further criticism (“Regardless of what we think of how the current generation looks, it has nothing pleasant to tell us about ourselves,” Lacina writes), it’s an altogether fascinating look at the evolution of gaming consoles. Read more at Wired.
Image courtesy of Microsoft
Via wired.com link opens in a new window
