The pioneer computers built under the MSX series, were 8-bit computers known as the MSX first generation or MSX-1. The popularity of the MSX systems grew in Japan and several other countries, however, despite Microsoft's involvement, only a couple of MSX-based machines were released in the United States. The project was created by Nishi as an attempt at creating unified standards among various home computing system manufacturers at the time. Geared by the successful format of recording of videos by the VHS, a lot of Japanese manufacturers promote the MSX computers. The then vice president at Microsoft Japan and director at ASCII Corporation, Kazuhiko Nishi in the early 80s proposed the MSX (which some refer to it as Machines with Software eXchangeability) with the intention of creating a unique standard for all the industry of personal computers.