The third consoles generation happens in the middle 80s. At this point, we can already see the arrival at the domestic sector of 2 of the most relevant brands in the video games history, Nintendo and Sega, which will predominate in the sector for over 10 years. With this generation, bit a bit, the industry will be rebuilt after the crisis in 1983. At a technological level, this generation also offers a great power impulse and shows a standardization of the commandment, with a digital cross and two basic action buttons. The content level in games increases in variety and detail and we see less dependence of the arcade-original titles. These consoles were focused to a more childish audience, and regarding the business model, the previous format of selling hardware and video games keeps being used, as well as the importance of having the most relevant third-party developers. The fourth consoles generation keeps in the line of the previous generation, but boosting their main characteristics. Nintendo and Sega still rule the market, and they try to innovate with a strong bet on technology and with an evolution in the control commandment. The technological improvement in this generation is really important, allowing the consoles to offer much more audio and video quality. Contents look great, as 2D graphics show up more details and appearance. They also try to innovate at a playable level, by introducing more complex controls, thanks to the extra buttons in the commandment, or doing the first attempts of 3D games in a console. This generation has a more aggressive marketing, and is focused to a young audience instead of a childish one. Video games start to transcend as an entertainment media, recovering part of the media importance they had in their golden age. The business model is the same, and because the hardware brands want to build loyalty on their audience, it becomes more and more important keeping active the key franchises, launching sequels regularly. Although there were some former models, it's in this generation in which portable consoles get real importance in the industry. Nintendo and Sega try to reproduce their success in the domestic sector, copying part of its formula. These portable consoles are much less powerful than domestic consoles, although Game Gear offers color graphs. This affects the content, which will usually be simple, both in graphics and playability. The devices' autonomy is very important, as they are portable, and in this field Game Boy was the best one. At a social level, these portable consoles were associated to a more childish audience and they acquire importance in media as a new way of entertainment. The business model follows the domestic consoles' path, although here we should remark the bigger importance of peripheral accessories. The Arcade sector lost weight after the crisis in 1983, but it didn't disappear. Bit by bit, It rose until it had a peak of relevance at the early 90s. From this moment on, they will keep gradually losing importance due to the technological improvement in the domestic sector, caused by the arrival of 3D graphics. Despite that, Arcade saloons have been until today an alternative way of entertainment and leisure. During the late 80s, Arcade kept offering a better visual quality. Although the content was variated, there were some genres more associated to this sector, such as 1 vs 1 fights. They were linked to a young and teen audience, related to the activity of the shopping malls and arcade salons. The business model was the traditional Arcade one, coin up machines and the commercial environment from arcade salons. In the early 90s there was one of the most important technological advances in the video games history. New computers and new consoles will be able to reproduce tri-dimensional worlds based on triangles and textures. This will highly affect the content, both the graphics and the playable part. At a visual level, the door to a detail level which resembles to realism opens. At a playability level, the change from 2D to 3D offers new possibilities and interaction ways. This will allow the appearance of new innovating franchises, and will force the already existing ones to adapt in aim to survive. The social impact will be really high. Due to the increasing visual realism, the business model will use the technological innovation, more than ever, as a sales argument, and this will also have the multimedia capacities of the new hardware. During the 1990s, computers consolidate themselves as a platform for video games. 3D ones are introduced before than in consoles. And, for some time, the new titles with new graphics coexist with other games with more traditional graphics, such as graphic adventures. In this period, the PC computer model becomes the standard one. Its open and upgradeable hardware capacity will be one of this platform's identity signs. As well as 3D, another technological improvement will be the appearance of the online games, first in local and then in global thanks to internet. Technological innovation allows them to offer very variate content with high detailed visual levels. There is a certain genres specialization, as certain kinds of genres are more linked to this platform such as real-time strategy games or first person shooters. Computers are focused to a more adult and specialized game, with more technical knowledge on hardware. Online communities which appeared thanks to some games are another phenomenon in the social context to take into account. Regarding the business model, it's based on selling software and some variations appear, such as shareware, which offers wide free versions of the game to favor their diffusion. The fifth generation is the first one to introduce in a general way polygonal 3D graphics. Also Sony gets into the business, trying to get from the beginning an important place in the sector's industry. The increasing rivalry will hit Sega harder, as it will lose big part of the weight it had in the previous generation. Nintendo will suffer its bet on the cartridge as a storing format, and will lose its domain in the domestic sector. Apart from polygonal graphics and textures, at a technological level also shine the optical CD format and the evolution of the control commandments, with more buttons and joysticks. The contents are forced to adapt themselves to the new technology, and this makes enterprises bet on innovating in playability, with big iconic classics such as Mario 64. They get more realism and they start using the console for something more than playing, thanks to their multimedia capacities. These consoles are linked to a teen public and are sold as a high-technology product which wants to compete, face to face, with other entertainment options such as cinema or TV. The business model maintains, boosting even more the weight of historical franchises and the support of the most relevant third parties. The sixth consoles generation tried to maintain a continuous line. Sony was set as the sector leader, potentiating its predecessor's good choices. Sega tried to position itself in a more friendly way, and strongly bet on online games. However, it didn't succeed and Dreamcast was its last console. Since then, they only created software. Nintendo focused on keeping its product's line, but it can't recover the market share. Microsoft gets in the field strongly, trying to compete with Sony. This generation's technology brings a polygons and textures capacity increase, as well as adopting new optical formats such as DVD. Online games start to implement themselves seriously, although not generally. Also controllers are improved, with features such as joysticks, triggers and vibration. Its content is totally variated, although the leading games try to look for visual realism. Many genres are still getting adapted to 3D, Looking for this technology's appropriate playability. There begin to appear big impact casual games such as SingStar. The multimedia content has more importance every time, as the consumption of TV, cinema or music content from the console is usual. About the social context, these consoles are positioned towards an older audience, a young adult one, except Nintendo, which starts having a younger profile. Visual realism, which is bigger every time, allows video games to match to films or TV, which helps to seduce a new audience and gives more credibility to this kind of products. The business model maintains, and we can highlight the already commented appearance of Microsoft. Portable consoles in this generation offer a considerable power increase. Game Boy Advance keeps Nintendo's model. On the other side, Nokia N-Gage appears. It is a mobile phone which and a console, and it becomes the predecessor of the games in mobile devices and phones, which will come later. Their power is lesser than the home consoles, but in the case of Game Boy Advance it allows a quality closer to Super Nintendo. Their playability is variate but simple. They are focused to a younger audience than home consoles, especially Nintendo's. The business model is still based on the consoles sales and cartridge games.
