Nothing screams pure entertainment like a teen sitting in front of his living room TV playing the latest 3D shooter on his gaming console. Gaming consoles are the rage these days and are still evolving both in terms of hardware and software. Some of the major brands over the past few decades have been highlighted below. Many are established electronics and software brands who moved into the gaming market and have since established themselves as major players.
ATARI
They are the grand daddy’s of the video gaming system since the 1970s with the Atari Pong being the first really successful gaming console.
There are two generally accepted meanings of the Atari logo design designed by George Opperman in late 1972. First, it represents a stylized letter “A” to stand for “Atari”. However, the stylized “A” was also meant to represent Atari’s initial claim to fame – Pong. The two sides of the Atari symbol represent two video game players with the center line is the Pong court.
The second explanation reflected the Japanese origins of the Atari name, looking similar to Japan’s famous Mount Fuji. The logo soon became referred to as the Atari “Fuji” symbol.
NINTENDO
The company started out producing Hanafuda premium playing cards (see below) in the late 19th century. It was not until the mid-70s and early 80s that Nintendo established itself as a game software and console developer.
It is currently rated at third position in Japan in terms of brand value. The logo has been standardized ever since the gaming company was created to compliment its image. As most large multi-national companies it too uses a simple yet intelligent design. The company name is rendered within a capsule like casing. The only color used for the logo is a bright attention grabbing red. The simple bold typeface projects a simple, intelligent image.
The company through the ages has also created some professional logos for its game consoles. The Wii logo, for example, is said to represent two people coming together to play a game. Some of these can be seen below.
SONY
The Sony PlayStation has its origins in a joint development agreement with Nintendo in the late 80s. However, after a falling out between the 2 companies Sony went ahead with solo development using advanced hardware and released the first version in 1994-1995. Since then Sony has become a powerhouse in the game console market with sales in the 100s of millions.
As with the consoles themselves, the PlayStation logo has evolved over time. It started off as a colorful symbol … a combination of the “P” and “S” from the console initials using primary colors. Though the logo was attractive and easily recognizable, Sony wanted to develop a logo which reflected the evolving game console’s status as a home entertainment center, not just a gaming console. Recently Sony changed the logo of the PS3 (PlayStation 3) from the earlier “Spiderman” font to a simple curved typeface.
MICROSOFT
The new kid on the block as far as gaming consoles go, Microsoft recognized the growing gaming market and launched its first offering, the Xbox, in late 2001.
Though the original Xbox logo was blue, the company decided to replace it with a glowing green logo to coincide with its popular game Halo as well as to give it a unique extra-terrestrial feel. For the latest console, the Xbox 360, Microsoft continued with the glowing X, but placed it within a 3D steel sphere to highlight the better 3D capabilities of the new model which provided a player a well-rounded gaming experience.
There have been other players in the game console market, but most have been discontinued such as the Sega Dreamcast, which decided to focus on game software. The future of the gaming console market is bright with all the major players in research and development mode currently. We hope to see some great innovations in future as depicted by Microsoft’s Natal project. Hopefully we’ll see some great logo graphics too.