When did the term "console" come into vogue in the

[Anthony1]

Back in the good 'ole days, we used to refer to video game machines as "systems". Like, "I got an Atari 2600 system". Or, "Come over and we can play my Super Nintendo system". I'm pretty sure the term "console" is much more common in England, and at some point, it became common to refer to video game systems as "consoles" in the United States as well.


The thing is, I have alot of old video game magazines, and back in the early 90's, none of the U.S based gaming magazines used the word "console". They pretty much always called them "systems" or "video game machines" or stuff like that. I'm thinking the term "console" started being used sometime in the mid 90's or so, and became more popular in the late 90's. Now it seems the word "console" is more popular in the U.S. now than "system". Has anybody else noticed this, and has anybody pinpointed when the term console first started getting used by the U.S. video game industry? Like maybe in old advertisments or magazines or something? I'm wondering when the word "console" first started getting used on a regular basis in the U.S. I imagine in England, it was always the standard term that was used, but I know for a fact in the early 90's nobody in the U.S referred to the Genesis or a SNES as a console.

[Cambot]

That's an interesting question. My guess would be "console" came into use as a way to differentiate game systems playable on the living room TV from PC games playable on the computer. Though "computer games" have been popular since before the 90s or whenever the word "console" saw more frequent usage.

Anyway, that's one theory.

[BocoDragon]

Good post, and totally true. They were video game "systems" for the first ten years or so in my life.

I think the word 'console' came into use to really distinugish them from PC games. It probably came into serious popularity through internet sites like IGN, which used the distinguishing word because of their coverage of all platforms.

[Anthony1]

Maybe somebody from the U.K can chime in, because I think U.K. gaming mags from the early 90's used the term. I think it originated in the U.K. as a term to describe a home video game system. Somewhere along the line it started getting used in the U.S. to a great degree and now I think it's more common than "system".


I still prefer the word system, but I don't use it as much. I just say that I'm going to play my 360, or I'm going to play my GameCube or whatever. I don't add "system" onto the end of it, but when I'm thinking of classic systems from the past, I'm thinking of classic "systems", not classic "consoles".

[tom]

Gotta check my old C&VGs (UK) from the early 80s, and see what it says about 'consoles'.

[Pete Rittwage]

I know the term "consoles" was used in the early SNES/Genesis days when the disk-based copiers came out, so it had to be in use by 1992. They were called "console copiers" and the BBS's that had the goods were called "console boards".

[k8track]

I would think that it came into usage after the Gameboy ushered in the modern era of handheld gaming (sorry, Microvision!). Handhelds and consoles are both "systems", thus the distinction.

The PC angle is valid too.

[PingvinBlueJeans]

I have an old British documentary on video games from the late 80's/early 90's (not sure of the exact year) that repeatedly mentions "consoles".

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

I would agree with k8track that "console" started being used more when handheld systems started coming out. The magazines in the early '90s may still have used "system" a lot, but I know they also used "console" sometimes.

I don't have any system manuals on hand to check, but weren't the systems often refered to as "consoles" or "console units" in the sort of stilted language of the instruction manual even back to the 2600 and Intellivision days?


...word is bondage...

[idrougge]

I don't know about America, but in Swedish press it's been used since the very earliest nineties at the very least. I don't want to go through all my old magazines just to find earlier evidence.

[bangtango]

I don't know if you will ever find the real answer. This sounds stupid but why not submit the question to the "pros" over at EGM, Game Informer, etc? Let them do the research.

What I do know is that having both "system" and "console" thrown around makes things twice as hard for an Ebay user 8-) Buyer or seller..........

[mezrabad]

In the late 70s we would just "play Atari." I don't remember thinking of it as a system or a console back then. I seem to remember the term "console" referring to large pieces of furniture with lp record players in them that acted as the turntable station, speaker system and amplifier all in one.

[NeoZeedeater]

Looking at scans of the US magazine Joystik recently from '82-83, I saw it used somewhere. I forget which issue. I don't recall many people calling them anything but systems until the 32-bit era. The term existed since the early days but it wasn't commonly said.

[rbudrick]

Ever since I started reading game mags other than Nintendo Power (back in '89, maybe), I remember them being referred to as consoles. It was originally to destinguish from PC games. Handhelds were even sometimes referred to as such.

-Rob

[PingvinBlueJeans]

I don't have any system manuals on hand to check, but weren't the systems often refered to as "consoles" or "console units" in the sort of stilted language of the instruction manual even back to the 2600 and Intellivision days?

Yes, as far as the manuals are concerned, the Atari VCS owner's manual refers to it as the "console unit". I think most were called consoles, but it is difficult to tell with some because they were called unique names (NES=Control Deck, SMS=Power Base).

For another angle on this, whatever they were called, what exactly is a system?

system (n): a regularly interacting or interdependent group of items forming a unified whole

So, although the bare unit is technically a system in itself, I think it makes more sense to call the bare unit a "console" and the complete set-up (unit, controllers, AV, power supply) a "system", i.e. a complete ColecoVision system. That may have been the original terminology perhaps, but the two terms seem to be used interchangably these days.

[tom]

We used the word 'console' already in the 80s, as a matter of fact, in Electronic Games (the excellent USA gaming magazine form way back) they refer to the new 'third wave' of videogaming from Coleco as 'the ColecoVision console' (source: EG January 1983).
Probably used earlier in the magazine already, maybe 1982?