Philips Game Center
Philips Systems/Consoles
Created in 1891, the first thirty years for Philips was spent making light bulbs and other electro technical equipment. Around about the 1920's Philips began adding vacuum tubes and other products such as the electric razor to their line of goods. The company was kept alive through World War II with a very quickly implemented plan that involved the directors fleeing the Netherlands and operating from the United States until the war was over.
Philips is responsible for the introduction of the audio Compact Cassette tape in the sixties which also led to their release of the first portable radio that was combined with a cassette recorder. It was marketed as the "radio recorder" (a.k.a. the "Boom Box" in later years)
Philips is another 100+ year-old company that chose to launch a video game system in the early 1990's. (Are we starting to see a pattern here?) Technically speaking Panasonic actually bought into the video game market many years before creating their own. When Philips bought Magnavox in 1974, Magnavox already had two years of experience in producing the Odyssey which is known as the world's first TV video game console.
Philips released a few versions of the Odyssey under different names in other markets but it wasn't until the mid 1980's, when the Odyssey saw the production of its last model, that Philips would begin considering creating its own console. 100 years after its birth as a light bulb manufacturer, Philips launched the CD-i.
I hesitate to count the CD-i as an actual video game console when in reality it was so much more but ironically not enough. Like Panasonic, Philips attempt at gaining the attention of the gaming community was smacked down largely due to the CD-i's hefty price tag. Launching at an insane price of $1000 USD, the CD-i was destined to fail as a video game system. (Rule number one for the next generation of console makers: Don't make Sony's PS3 look like a bargain compared to your own offering.)
Philips Video
Philips
Where they're headed...
Philips N1700 VCR (UK commercial) 1978
...where they've been.