List of home video game consoles
type of video game console that can only be used stationary
A home video game console is a video game console that is designed to be connected to a display device, such as a television, and an external power source as to play video games. While initial consoles were dedicated units with only a few games fixed into the electronic circuits of the system, most consoles since support the use of swappable game media, either through game cartridges, optical discs, or through digital distribution to internal storage. As of 2025, there have been nine console generations, with the current leading manufacturers being Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft, colloquially known as the "big three".
There have been numerous home video game consoles since the first commercial unit, the Magnavox Odyssey in 1972. Historically, these consoles have been grouped into generations lasting each about six years based on common technical specifications.
Overview
A home video game console is a pre-designed piece of electronic hardware that is meant to be placed at a fixed location at one's home, connected to a display like a television screen or computer monitor, and to an external power source, to play video games on using one or more video game controllers. This differs from a handheld game console which will have a built-in screen, controller buttons/features, and a power supply like a battery or battery pack.
Earlier home consoles were typically built from a selection of standard and highly customized integrated computer chips, packaged onto circuit boards and cases. Over time, home console design has converged to a degree with personal computers, using similar component and system design, including standardization with main computer chip architecture. Consoles remain as fixed systems, lacking the customization options that personal computer components have, and most consoles include customized components to maximize space and reduce power consumption to provide the best performance for game playing, while lowering costs with reduced storage and memory configurations.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “List of home video game consoles” is type of video game console that can only be used stationary. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through List, home and video, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “type of video game console that can only be used stationary” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q17589470. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2025 and 1972.
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This entry incorporates text from “List of home video game consoles” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.