Video game technology has moved fast in the last decade. From the (arguably justified) hype that preceded the Nintendo Wii‘s release to the more recent emergence of the Kinect and Playstation Move, quite a lot has gone down. But how did all that happen? If you’re interested, read on.

Nintendo Wii

The announcement of Nintendo’s latest non-portable console was met with much excitement. With its unique remote promising wireless, three-dimensional on-screen movement it was also backwards compatible with all GameCube games and the majority of its accessories (GameCube controller for Super Smash Bros. Brawl anyone?). Nintendo’s fifth home console, it was the first time the company had led the generation (the seventh in this case) in sales since the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (more commonly known as SNES), originally coming out in November 2006.

Xbox 360 Kinect

First bursting onto the scene in November 2010 (four years after the Wii), the Kinect was originally known as Project Natal until its eventual renaming and release. With voice recognition technology and no controller, the Kinect relies entirely on the user and their body in order to control what’s going on on-screen. With talk of the system being adapted for Windows PCs as well, the system’s full body 3D motion capture and facial recogntion are really quite impressive.

Sony Playstation Move

With some similarities to the Nintendo Wii, the Playstation Move emerged just before the Kinect in September 2010. Featuring a characteristic wand-like controller, it has various attachments (such as ones that make it look like a gun, which are also available for the Wii) and an additional navigation controller to be used in conjunction with it. Named the most immersive game controller by Popular Science in 2010, the Playstation Move (and, let’s be fair, its compatriots) looks set to continue to dazzle the video gaming world for some time.

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Computer Games & Software