What is the etymology of the term "Console Wars"?

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(After this discussion on Meta, the question has been undeleted.)

As we know today, there is a competition between the holy trinity of the console gaming industry (Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft) about their different consoles and the games related to these. That is what we call the "Console Wars". We also often use this term to compare different consoles of the same generation, such as the Playstation 4, the Wii U and the Xbox One.

But now I am really curious about something. When did this concept of "Console War" appear in gaming history? Was it during a particular console generation? Did the term appear for the first time, for example, in a gaming magazine, or in a conference led by a gaming company? Or was it just something that people started to say and, with time, became the concept that we know today?



Best Answer

The term started out as "cartridge wars" in an article called The History of Computer Game Design by Don Daglow in the August, 1988 issue of Computer Gaming World. He updated it to Console Wars after the term console came into wide use in the early to mid-90's.




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Is a PC considered a console?

1. Alternatively referred to as a computer console, root console, system console, or terminal. Console is a basic computer or monitor and keyboard that is connected to another computer, server, or a mainframe over a network.

Where did the word console originate?

Borrowed from French consoler, from Latin c\u014dns\u014dlor (\u201cI console, I offer solace\u201d), root from Proto-Indo-European *selh\u2082- (\u201cmercy, comfort\u201d) (whence also solace).

Is Xbox a console?

The Xbox is a home video game console and the first installment in the Xbox series of video game consoles manufactured by Microsoft. It was released as Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console market on November 15, 2001, in North America, followed by Australia, Europe and Japan in 2002.

What is in a console?

In computer technology, a console can mean different things depending on the context. It usually means a combination of a display monitor and an input device, usually a keyboard and mouse pair, which allows a user to input commands and receive visual output from a computer or computer system.



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