5th gen history

5th gen history.


In the history of computer and video games, the 32-bit / 64-bit /3D era was the fifth generation of video game consoles. It featured both 32-bit and 64-bit consoles, and the market was dominated by three consoles, the Sega Saturn (1994), the Sony PlayStation (1994) and the Nintendo 64 (1996). This era began in 1993 and ended in 2002. Demographics in console sales varied overall, but these consoles defined the system wars of this era (see section below). The 3DO and Atari Jaguar were also part of this era, but their sales were poor and they failed to make a significant impact on the market. This era also saw two updated versions of Nintendo's Game Boy: Game Boy Color and Game Boy Light (Japan only).

Bit ratings for consoles largely fell by the wayside during this era, with the notable exception of the Nintendo 64. The number of "bits" cited in console names referred to the CPU word size and had been used by hardware marketers as a "show of power"; however, there was little to be gained from increasing the word size much beyond 32 or 64 bits - performance depended on more varied factors, such as processor clock speed, bandwidth, and memory size.

The 32-bit / 64-bit era also saw the rise of emulation. It was during this time that not only were commonly available PCs powerful enough to emulate the 8 and 16bit systems of the previous 5 or more years, but the internet made it possible to store and download tape and ROM images of older games, eventually leading 7th generation consoles (such as Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Portable) to make such older games available for purchase or download.


Transition to 3D

The 32-bit / 64-bit era is most noted for the rise of fully 3D games. While there were games prior that had used three dimensional environments, this was the era where 3D interaction largely replaced the traditional 2D games of the 16 and 8-bit eras. Super Mario 64 on the N64 and Tomb Raider on the Saturn, and then on the PlayStation, are prime examples; they were marketed as some of the first fully 3D console games, and they steered the industry's focus away from side-scrolling and rail-style titles.


CD vs cartridge

During the 32/64-bit era, Nintendo made the decision to make the N64 a cartridge based system like its predecessors. Publicly Nintendo defended this decision on the grounds that it would give games shorter load times than a Compact Disc (and would decrease piracy). It also had the dubious benefit, however, of allowing Nintendo to charge higher licensing fees, as cartridge production was considerably more expensive than CD production.

This sparked a small scale war amongst gamers as to which was better. The "media war" was spurred on no less by statements from top company executives themselves; one Nintendo magazine ad placed a Space Shuttle (cartridge) next to a snail (a CD) and dared consumers to decide "which one was better".

Yet, almost every other contemporary system began to move to the new CD-ROM technology (Nintendo 64 was the last major home video game console to use cartridges), and many game developers began to embrace the Sony PlayStation because it was cheaper to develop for. Appealing to publishers was that CDs could be produced at significantly less expense and more flexibility (it was easy to change production to meet demand), and they were able to pass the lower costs onto consumers. While one major disadvantage of CDs was piracy, due to the advent of CD burners and mod chips, this ironically became a selling point of the PlayStation. In particular, the fifth generation marked a turning point for optical-based storage medium; as games grew more complex in content, sound, and graphics, they pushed the cartridge format to the limits of its storage capacity.


Console wars

The 32-bit / 64-bit era was a paramount staging ground of the continuing "console wars" between the large game hardware manufacturers. "Console wars" were a phenomenon in which people would attempt to evaluate the upcoming hardware of a system and purchase the system for that reason alone, speculating that the best games must be made for that hardware. Since the length of time systems spent in development had been steadily growing since the 8-bit era, and since a growing consumer awareness was making the development process more public than at any time in the past, consumers were left with a lengthy period of time in which to speculate about the strengths and weaknesses of the consoles to be released in the next generation. Many events transpired to mislead gamers during this era, further causing controversy and bitterness over the process:

Despite massive third party support and an unprecedented amount of hype for a first-time entrant into the industry, the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer's $700.00 price tag prevented it from reaching the demographic of more casual gamers who chose instead to purchase one of the 3DO's more affordable contemporaries.
The Sega 32X, an upgrade for the Mega Drive/Genesis and Sega Mega-CD that was enhanced for 32-bit gameplay, was released a year prior to the release of the Saturn. This angered consumers who bought it and then had to buy a Saturn when the 32X eventually failed and died in the marketplace, mostly due to the Mega Drive/Genesis starting off in a distant second place in Japan's videogame market, leading to the need for Sega of Japan to release a brand-new system (with no attachments to the Mega Drive) to compete against forthcoming Nintendo's Nintendo 64 and Sony's PlayStation. This lead to an almost complete lack of Japanese development for the Super 32X. This fiasco severely damaged Sega, and has been considered a major factor in Sega eventually dropping hardware development entirely to focus on games.
The Atari Jaguar was released in 1993 with a surprisingly successful start, but quality software for the platform arrived few and far between, with only Tempest 2000, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Alien vs. Predator being standout games. Atari's claims of the system itself being 64-bit were also controversial.
The Nintendo 64 was announced as "Ultra 64" and two arcade games (Killer Instinct and Cruis'n USA) were released claiming to use the hardware. A famous TV ad for the Super NES port of Killer Instinct showed a gamer using a chainsaw to open the arcade cabinet so he could take out the console inside. This caused many gamers to abstain from buying systems like the 3DO, Saturn, and PlayStation, because they saw that what they thought was the Nintendo 64 hardware, and it appeared to be clearly superior to any of the competing systems. In the end, the arcade system turned out to be completely different from that used for those games (albeit of comparable capability), disappointing those who had expected the images from the ads.
NEC--creator of the TurboGrafx-16, Turbo Duo, and Super Grafx (USA), and the PC-Engine, Coregrafx, and PC Engine Duo (Japan)--also entered the market with their first completely new console in seven years. Their 8-bit systems had competed quite well with the 16-bit systems because of their custom graphics chipsets that allowed the 8-bit system to run 16-bit graphics. The PC-Engine actually outsold the Famicom in Japan, however the TurboGrafx-16 did not achieve the same success in the USA. NEC then released the PC-FX, which was released in 1994. The systems specs were impressive; it has a 32-bit processor, 16-bit stereo sound, has a color palette of 16,777,000, and it featured the highest quality full motion video (FMV) of any console on the market at the time. The PC-FX also broke away from traditional console design and developed a tower system, which allowed for numerous expansion points including a connection for NEC's PC-9800 series of computers. However, despite the system's impressive specs it was marked as the ultimate side scrolling console and could not match the sales of the 3D systems currently on the market.
Video game magazines constantly performed credulous side-by-side hardware-specification comparisons of the systems using dubious statistics. Console makers routinely boasted theoretical maximum limits of each system's 3D polygon rendering without accounting for real world in-game performance when using game AI, lighting, and texture mapping.
There were more competing consoles in this era than in any other era since the video game crash of 1983.
In the end, Atari (already on shaky ground) ended up being purchased by JT Storage (and later Infogrames) and stopped making game hardware, and Sega's loss of consumer confidence (coupled with its previous console failures) in North America set the company up for a similar fate in the next round of console wars.

In the fifth generation, the Sega Saturn, although the technically more advanced console, suffered from poor marketing and comparatively limited third-party support. Sega's decision to use dual processors has been roundly criticized, and some wrongly believe the second CPU was added as a "panic" response to the PlayStation's specifications.[citation needed] It has been said that only Sega's first-party developers were ever able to use the second CPU effectively. The Sega Saturn was the more difficult console to program for, and therefore the 3D graphics on its 3rd party games often lacked the luster of the PlayStation or Nintendo 64 (N64), a severe disadvantage at the dawn of 3D games.

Sega was also hurt by the plan to have a surprise four month early US launch of their console. This head start failed for several reasons. One of the major reasons being there were few software titles ready. Also, the fact that the Sega Saturn was $100 more costly than the PlayStation at launch put the buying public off, and they went for the cheaper PlayStation. Also, the Sega Saturn was only available at four retailers, of which Wal-Mart was not one.

Sony took an early advantage by tapping the mass market and positioning the PlayStation as a "lifestyle accessory" for males in their late teens to late twenties. Sega and particularly Nintendo's offerings were characterized as appealing more to children (both companies, for instance, featured mascots that appeared in Saturday morning cartoons). The securing of this new market is widely credited as the key to the system's success. With greater hardware sales came greater third party support; ultimately the PlayStation won the era.[citation needed] Sony carried this momentum over into the release of the PlayStation 2.

The Nintendo 64 was released one year later in North America than its competitors, due to numerous delays. By the time of its release Sony had already established their dominance and the Saturn was starting to struggle. Its use of cartridge media rather than compact discs alienated some developers and publishers due to the space limits and the relatively high cost involved (compare $3.50(£2) for an N64 cartridge to 35¢(20p) for a PS disc), despite the fact that the Nintendo 64 had virtually no load times because of its cartridge media. In addition, the initially high suggested retail price of the console may have driven potential customers away, and many early adopters of the system who had paid the initial cost were angered by Nintendo's decision to reduce the cost of the system within a few months of its initial release. However, the Nintendo 64 was successful and home to highly successful games including The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Super Mario 64 and Goldeneye 007. In the end, while the Nintendo 64 sold more than the Sega Saturn, they failed to surpass the PlayStation, which dominated the market.