Learning About Handheld Game Consoles

Handheld game consoles are lightweight portable electronic devices that come with a built-in screen, control panel, and speakers. They are run on machines of a small size allowing people to carry them anywhere. Unlike the standard video game consoles, the components of this electronic device are all part of a single unit.

Portable game consoles trace its origins to the handheld electronic devices that were popular during the 1970s and early 1980s. However, the products back then were only capable of playing a single game and were described by one electronics magazine as a non-TV games as they are different from devices that require the use of a television screen.

For its part, handheld electronic games were the result of the synthesis of tabletop electro-mechanical devices and the emerging optoelectronic-display-driven calculator market of the early 70s.

This fusion specifically took place in 1976 when a major toy manufacturer developed a calculator-sized sports games that eventually became the first handheld electronic game ever created. The year 1979 then saw the emergence of the first portable game console that is also the first to use interchangeable cartridges. Later on, innovations such as the concept of a directional pad on these gaming gadgets were added. The latter is operated using the thumb to manipulate the on-screen character in four directions.

Nowadays, with technology becoming much more streamlined, hand-held game consoles have also become more sophisticated. Far from giving the user the ability to play video games on the go, it now has the capacity to play music and show film clips.

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