http://malstrom.50webs.com/disruptivestorm.htm

Sorry if this was already posted, but I couldn't find the topic for it if it was.  Another great read as always.

Yes I was looking forward to this. I will post my thoughts after I read.

Hopefully it will have more visibility than the other thread.
Here excerpt that I found interesting ( I love Vg history ):

Three Eras of Gaming

While it has been the tradition to classify console history in terms of generations by graphical and processor power and the time they came out, it should be clear that this no longer works. There was always a problem in classifying pre-NES consoles (for Coleco Vision, which came out in 1982, was a far, far more powerful machine than the 1977 Atari 2600 so they can’t be the same generation). Outside of launch time, the Wii shares nothing in common with the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 so it cannot be considered part of the ‘generation’.

The use of ‘generations’ to chart consoles is not working. Therefore, let us change the approach for a more accurate model. History of consoles becomes divided by the disruptions (an ‘era’) with several sustaining changes in between.

NOTE: Not all consoles are listed. The purpose of this list is to show evolution of sustaining and disruptive game consoles. Handhelds, aside from the disruptors, are not listed for the same reason.

First Disruption (Atari Era)

Caused by… arcade and home versions of Pong (birth of profitable video-gaming)

-First Sustaining Change: Changeable games in consoles and 128 colors-

Fairchild Channel F
Atari 2600
Odyssey 2

-Second Sustaining Change: 16-bit processor speed-

Intellivision

-Third Sustaining Change: Cartridges with more memory, backwards compatibility-

Coleco Vision

Atari 5200
Emerson Arcadia

-Overshooting the Market-

After the Crash of 1983, computer games became less kid friendly and required computer expertise to get the games running.


Second Disruption (Classic Era)

Caused by… NES and Gameboy

-First Sustaining Change: 16- Bit Generation-

Turbographx-16
Sega Genesis
Super Nintendo

-Second Sustaining Change: CD Add-ons-

Sega CD
Turbographx-16 CD
Neo Geo CD

-Third Sustaining Change: 32/64-Bit Generation-

3DO
Sega Saturn
Atari Jaguar
Amiga CD32
Nintendo 64
Sony Playstation

-Fourth Sustaining Change: 128-Bit/ DVD / Cinema Generation

Sega Dreamcast
Sony Playstation 2
Nintendo Gamecube
Microsoft Xbox

-Fifth Sustaining Change: High Definition

Microsoft Xbox 360
Sony Playstation 3

-Overshooting the Market: Complicated controllers and software became hostile to newcomers-


Third Disruption (New Era)

Caused by… DS and Wii

-First Sustaining Change: Unknown as for now…

"What’s hot is the feel of the game. The look is secondary. What’s hot is the next leap, not the next step. It is hot if it is disruptive. It is not if it is predictable. The future of our industry is inclusion, not exclusion. It’s about the heat of emotion, not the chill of technology."

-Reggie Fils-Aime. E3 2006 Nintendo Press Conference.

Reggie is the man!

It is interesting to see the model of disruptive technology versus sustaining technology presented in so many contexts. The comparison of digital distribution versus Blu-Ray struck me as especially insightful. Even the people who say that DD will never take off often use YouTube. DD is everywhere, and popular as all-get-out, even if it's not yet in the upmarket of super-high-quality video. But give it enough time, and it will be...

"It is wet and mushy". I can`t stop laughing.

*still reading*

Wow, this is long. But still very, very useful.

This is so long. I'm almost done though.

What I thought was the most significant short line:

"The definition of a disruptive product is: a crummy product for non-consumers."

The widespread perception is that a disruptive product is one that makes use of new and improved technology (e.g. the Wii is disruptive because of the Wiimote). Malstrom does a really fine job of showing that this misses the point entirely.

As with all of his articles, very interesting and very looooong.

I'm tired now, I think I'll have a nap.