The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console released by Nintendo in North America, Europe and Australia. The most successful gaming console of its time, it helped revitalize the video game industry following the video game crash of 1983, and set the standard for subsequent consoles in everything from game design (the first modern platform game, Super Mario Bros., was the system's first "killer app") to business practices. The NES was the first console developer to openly court third-party developers. So dominant was the NES during its heyday - roughly 1985 through 1991 - that the period has become colloquially known as the "Nintendo era." As the 1990s dawned, however, renewed competition from technologically superior systems such as the 16-bit Sega Mega Drive (also known as the Sega Genesis) marked the end of the NES's dominance. Eclipsed by Nintendo's own Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), the NES's user base gradually waned and in 1995 Nintendo officially discontinued the NES. Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Entertainment_System _______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries: 527: Byzantine Emperor Justin I named Justinian I as co-ruler and successor. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justinian_I) 1789: The U.S. House of Representatives held its first quorum in New York City and elected Frederick Muhlenberg as the first Speaker. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives) 1826: The internal combustion engine was patented by Samuel Morey. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/internal_combustion_engine) 1945: World War II: The Battle of Okinawa, the largest amphibious assault during the Pacific campaign, began in Okinawa, Japan. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Okinawa) 1979: Iran was proclaimed an Islamic republic, a theocracy led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as the Supreme Leader of Iran. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran) _____________________ Wikiquote of the day: "When you want to fool the world, tell the truth." -- Otto von Bismarck (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Otto_von_Bismarck)