How Nintendo Saved and Redefined the Game Industry
Gaming is a huge industry and an important part of many people’s lives. With Xbox E3 this past weekend, it’s great to take a look back at how we’ve gotten to this point.
The Nintendo Entertainment System, as it was known in the United States, was far from the first home console, but to most people, it might as well have been. To this day, regardless of what hardware is actually being used, some segments of the population refer to gaming as “playing Nintendo.” The NES achieved this status and successfully saved a failing industry by virtue of good timing and a whole lot of innovation. Here are just a few of the ways Nintendo re-imagined home consoles.
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, or even use Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for MakeCode, CircuitPython, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell with Google Hangouts On-Air is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
