Computers had been used to play games since 1952 when the simple version of tic tac toe was created on the EDSAC, this idea didn't really take off because computers where being used in businesses and universities for people to do large math sums quickly. It wasn't until 1962 when 3 students at a university made "Spacewars" on a PDP-1 mainframe (normally used statistical calculations) but these games use large computers to run there simple games. It wasn't until the early 1970's when a company called International Business Machine (IBM) began development on a small computer that would be able to go into someones home and preform the same basic tasks that larger machines could easily do, this idea was in development until around 1981.
Home PCs were considered better than the current generation of game consoles because they had better sound and graphic capabilities along with being upgradeable unlike home consoles which you were unable to upgrade. This gave home computers a big lead over consoles because quality was better so that they appealed to the younger market while still being able to preform the tasks that the older members of the family would want to do. Another key feature that i beleive made the computer better than home consoles is that they had a mouse and keyboard which made them better for playing first person shooters and strategy games.
During the 1980's prices of computers fell because the technology used in them became easier to make so it all became alot cheaper. During this time there were three main comapines producing computers Commadore,IBM and sinclair
