Which is the most significant (important) console in history?

[Bofferbrauer2]

VAMatt said:

monocle_layton said:
NES

any other console wouldn't even exist if it didn't save the gaming industry.

I agree with this statement.  However, the same logic could be applied to Atari - "Any other console wouldn't even exist, if Atari 2600 didn't create (prove the significance of?) the industry"

It existed before Atari already. Credits should go to Ralph Baer and his Brown Box, which is the very first Console, at least in concept. It then became the Magnavox Odyssey, which is the first commercially released console, and console gaming started to take off from there.

So Magnavox Odyssey, as it basically created the market, followed by the NES, which revived the North american market after it crashed.

The Fairchild Channel F comes in third, being the first console to have programmable cartridges, meaning it could do more than just the variations of Pong that the first gen consoles like the Odyssey where capable of. However, Ralph Baer already had this concept in mind with the Brown Box and thus was just a matter of time before this would happen, hence why it only get's the third spot on this list.