History of video game consoles (sixth generation)

The **sixth generation** of video game consoles began on November 27, 1998. Also known as the last non-motion control gaming era, the sixth generation is also called the 128-bit generation. The sixth generation began with the release of the Dreamcast in Japan. This generation included the game consoles of the PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube and Microsoft Xbox. The Dreamcast was discontinued in 2001, but sold games until 2007. The GameCube was discontinued in 2007. The Xbox sold its last games in 2008, but didn't get discontinued until 2009. The PlayStation 2 was discontinued in 2013, which ended the sixth generation.

### Comparison

|style="width: 8%"|Name|style="width: 23%;"|Dreamcast|style="width: 23%;"|PlayStation 2|style="width: 23%;"|GameCube|style="width: 23%;"|Xbox|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Sega|Sony Computer Entertainment|Nintendo|Microsoft|||||||
|style="background: white;"||style="background: white;"||style="background: white;"||style="background: white;"||||
|An NTSC Dreamcast console, controller and VMU. The logo on PAL consoles was blue instead of orange.|style="text-align:left;"|**Left:** An original model PlayStation 2 **Right:** A slimline PlayStation 2 with DualShock 2 controller and memory card.|An indigo GameCube and controller|An Xbox console and "Type-S" controller||||||
|US$199.99 GB£199.99|US$299.99 GB£299.99|US$199.99 GB£129.99 €199.99|US$299.99 GB£299.99 €214.99|||||||
|_Sonic Adventure_, 2.5 million <small>(as of June 2006)</small>|_Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas_, 19 million shipped <small>(as of April 30, 2008)</small>|_Super Smash Bros. Melee_, 7.09 million <small>(as of March 10, 2008)</small>|_Halo 2_, 8 million <small>(as of May 9, 2006)</small>|||||||
|March 30, 2001|JP: December 28, 2012 WW: January 4, 2013|2007||||||||
|style="vertical-align: top"|*VMU *Dreamcast mouse and keyboard *Fishing Rod *Microphone *Light gun *Dreameye camera *Samba de Amigo Maracas (controller) *<small>More...</small>|style="vertical-align: top"|*PlayStation 2 HDD <small>Internal hard drive supported by PlayStation 2 Expansion Bay (models 30000 and 50000 only)</small> *Network adapter <small>Built-in on slimline models (PSTwo, model 70000 onwards)</small> *EyeToy *PlayStation 2 DVD remote control *Guitar controllers *<small>More...</small>|style="vertical-align: top"|*WaveBird *GameCube-GBA cable *Nintendo GameCube Broadband Adapter and Modem Adapter *Game Boy Player *DK Bongos *Dance pad *Nintendo GameCube Microphone *<small>More...</small>|style="vertical-align: top"|*Xbox Live Starter Kit *Xbox Media Center Extender *DVD Playback Kit *Xbox Music Mixer *Memory Unit (8 MB) *Logitech Wireless Controller (2.4 GHz) *<small>More...</small>|||
|200 MHz SuperH SH-4|294 MHz MIPS "Emotion Engine"|485 MHz PowerPC "Gekko"|733 MHz x86 Intel Celeron/PIII Custom Hybrid|||||||
||100 MHz NEC/VideoLogic PowerVR CLX2|147 MHz "Graphics Synthesizer"|162 MHz ATI "Flipper"|233 MHz Custom Nvidia NV2A||||||
|Main RAM 16 MB SDRAM Video RAM 8 MB Sound RAM 2 MB|Main RAM 32 MB RDRAM Video RAM 4 MB Sound RAM 2 MB|Main RAM 24 MB 1T-SRAM, 16 MB DRAM Video RAM 3 MB embedded 1T-SRAM|64 MB unified DDR SDRAM|||||||
|CD, 1.2 GB GD-ROM|DVD, CD|GameCube game disc|DVD, CD|||||||
|VGA (RGBHV), SCART (RGBS), s-video, composite|Component/d-terminal (YP<sub>B</sub>P<sub>R</sub>), VGA (RGBS; progressive scan games/PS2 Linux only), SCART (RGBS), s-video, composite|Component/d-terminal (YP<sub>B</sub>P<sub>R</sub>), SCART (RGBS; PAL consoles only), s-video (NTSC consoles only), composite|component (YP<sub>B</sub>P<sub>R</sub>), SCART (RGBS), S-Video, composite|||||||
|Sega Net (2000–2002), Dreamarena (2000-2003) <small>(can still be played using various private servers)</small>|Non-unified service (2002–present), XLink Kai (2003-present)|Non-unified service (2003-2009) <small>(can still be played using various private servers)</small>, XLink Kai (2003-present)|Xbox Live (2002–now) XLink Kai (2003-present)|||||||
||PlayStation|Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance <small>(with Game Boy Player)</small>||||||||
|SegaOS, Windows CE, KallistiOS|Proprietary OS, PS2 Linux|Proprietary OS, Gamecube Linux|Xbox Music Mixer DVD Playback Kit, Xbox Linux|||||||
|Homebrew possible via KallistiOS, Windows CE, Katana (the latter two are illegal in the homebrew community)|Yabasic software and limited Linux OS. Homebrew also possible via both modchips and softmods.|Homebrew possible via SD card adapters and SD media launchers|Via Softmods and/or modchips; Modified Windows CE 2.x, Linux|||||||

### Worldwide sales

|Console|Units sold|
| --- | --- |
|PlayStation 2|153.6 million <small>(as of November 21, 2011)</small>|
|Xbox|24 million <small>(as of May 10, 2006)</small>|
|GameCube|21.74 million <small>(as of September 30, 2010)</small>|
|V.Smile|11 million|
|Dreamcast|10.6 million <small>(as of September 6, 2002)</small>|

## Handheld game consoles

<div style="font-size: 90%">

|style="width: 5%"|Name|style="width: 25%;"|Game Boy Advance / Advance SP / Micro|style="width: 20%;"|N-Gage / QD|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Nintendo|Nokia|||||
|style="background: white;"||style="background: white;"||||
|**Pictured left to right:** Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Advance SP, Game Boy Micro|**Pictured left to right:** N-Gage, N-Gage QD|||||
|Nintendo|Nokia|||||
|**Game Boy Advance**: **Game Boy Advance SP**: **Game Boy Micro**:|**N-Gage**: October 7, 2003 **N-Gage QD**: May 26, 2004|||||
|**Game Boy Advance**:|**N-Gage**: 2006|||||
|**GBA:** : _Japan:_ ¥9,800 : _North America:_ US$99.99 : _Europe:_ €? **GBA SP:** : _Japan:_  ¥12,500 : _North America:_  US$99.99 / C$149,99 : _Europe:_ €129,99 : _Australia:_ A$199,99 **GB Micro:** : _Japan:_  ¥? : _North America:_  US$99.99 / C$? : _Europe:_ €?|**N-Gage:** : _North America:_ US$299.99 : _Europe:_ €289,99 / £229,99 **N-Gage QD:** : _North America:_ US$179.99 : _Europe:_ €229,99|||||
|Game Boy Advance cartridge|MultiMediaCard (MMC)|||||
|_Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire_,  13 million combined <small>(as of November 25, 2004)</small>|?|||||
|* Wireless Adapter * Infra-Red Adapter * GameCube Game Boy Advance Cable: * Play-Yan * e-Reader * Video * Cleaning Cartridge * Mobile Adapter * More...||||||
||Symbian S60|||||
|16.8 MHz, 32-bit, ARM7TDMI with embedded memory|104 MHz, 32-bit, RISC based on ARM9 series|||||
|32 kilobyte + 96 kilobyte VRAM (internal to the CPU), 256 kilobyte WRAM (outside the CPU)|16 megabyte RAM, 16 megabyte ROM (3.4 MB accessible for storage)|||||
|* D-pad * Four face buttons * Two shoulder buttons|* D-pad * Numbered keypad * Music player, Radio and Menu hotkeys * Dial and hang up buttons * Four other face buttons * Microphone|||||
|**GBA**: 144.5 × 24.5 × 82 mm (5.69 × 0.96 × 3.2 inches) **GBA SP**: 84 × 82 × 24.4 mm (3.3 × 3.23 × 0.96 inches) **GB Micro**: 50 × 10 × 17.2 mm (2 × 4 × 0.7 inches)|**N-Gage QD**:  _(h)_  _(w)_  _(d)_ **N-Gage QD**:  _(w)_  _(h)_  _(d)_|||||
|**GBA:** **GBA SP:** **GB Micro:**|**N-Gage**: **N-Gage QD**|||||
||N-Gage Arena|||||
|Game Boy, Game Boy Color|N/A|||||
|240 × 160|176 × 208|||||
||3.4 MB internal storage, MMC|||||
|GBA: 15 hours GBA SP: 10 hours continuous play with light on, 18 hours with light off GB Micro: 5 hours with top brightness and sound, 8 hours with both features on default|N-Gage: 2 hours continuous play N-Gage QD: 4 hours continuous play|||||
|Worldwide: 81.51 million <small>(as of September 30, 2010)</small> Japan: 16.96 million Americas: 41.64 million Other: 22.91 million|Worldwide: 3 million <small>(as of July 30, 2007)</small>|||||
</div>

<small>Note: First year of release is the first year of the system's worldwide availability.</small>

### Other handhelds

- Tapwave Zodiac(2003)
- Neo Geo Pocket Color(1999)

### Sales

|Console|Units sold|
| --- | --- |
|Game Boy Advance <small>(figure includes GBA SP and Game Boy Micro)</small>|81.51 million|
|Leapster|4 million|
|WonderSwan/WonderSwan Color/SwanCrystal|3.5 million|
|N-Gage|3 million|
|Cybiko|500,000 units|
|Tapwave Zodiac|less than 200,000 units|
|GP32|30,000|

## Popular games

- _Final Fantasy X_
- _Grand Theft Auto III_, _Grand Theft Auto: Vice City_, and _Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas_
- _Halo: Combat Evolved_
- _Halo 2_
- _Kingdom Hearts_
- _Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty_ and _Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater_
- _Metroid Prime_
- _Resident Evil 4_
- _Shenmue_
- _SoulCalibur_