what would gaming be with out nintendo?

[Nickelbackro]

RoaR said:

Nickelbackro said:
Computer Gaming would have ruled, and the game systems would be like the Commodore 64, computers hooked to TVs, which would be a lot less popular.

...because consoles aren't computers hooked to TVs, right?

 

The good side of Nintendo's accomplishments - we wouldn't have a Japanese domination of the industry, which would be bad given how uninspired western games are for at least the last decade.

The bad side - home computers market. Had Commodore and Atari been more popular in their time (and they would, had Nintendo not existed), the all-purpose, "multimedia" machines would become a standard a lot, lot earlier than the latter part of the nineties, and maybe, just maybe, they'd evolve into what consoles are trying to become now (fully-fledged, easy to use enternainment systems with the full capabilities of a personal computer). No goddamn Windows anywhere near your home, how would that be a bad thing?

 

I meant computing in terms of an electronic device with a fully usable operating system (BASIC, DOS, WINDOWS). I am fully aware that in terms of computing architecture that a video game system is very much a computer (only differences being that most computer processors use CISC instead of RISC instruction sets and computers tend to have a more sophisticated BIOS system).

My point being that most consumer would not have warmed up well to loading games from easily damaged or deletable 5 1/4 and 3 1/2 disks. (How would you like to type "Load "game.exe",8,1" everythime you started a game?)

AS for the point of view of consoles being multimedia centers, that is expensive enough now with the PS3, can you image if Sega's Genesis or Master System had made itself a multimedia hub back when multimedia technology was MUCH more expensive. (*Cough*3DO*Cough*)