Game Consoles

 Here's a timeline of different gaming platforms as the years advance...





First Generation

Magnavox Odyssey -

This console was the first home games console and was released in the same year as Pong; it didn't play sound and had graphics in today's day and game would be considered primitive.

Second Generation

Atari 2600 -

This console was sometimes nicknamed "The Woody" most likely due to the case itself being partly made of wood. This console made use of a joystick controller with one button and it's best sold game was Pac-Man. 

Third Generation

Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) -

The Nintendo Entertainment System (or NES for short)  sold 61 million copies worldwide , used two controllers that utilised digital arrows and two buttons other than the start button. Its best selling game would have to be Super Mario Bros. selling over 40 million copies.

Forth Generation

Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) -

Leading the forth generation consoles is the SNES, this improvement over the original NES console implemented more buttons to the controller also introducing the right and left bumpers  or shoulder buttons on their controllers. This machine's most sold game was Super Mario World (selling at about 20 million copies). This console was also one of the first to take advantage of 16 bit graphics.

Fifth Generation

Playstation -

A pioneer of home consoles, the Playstation one if not the first home entertainment gaming system that made use of compact discs and laser eye reading. Allowing for a lot cheaper manufacturing and data to be stored in a game. Although loading times weren't comparable to the Nintendo 64's. Gran Turismo is the Playstation's most sold game.

Nintendo 64 -

Still sticking to cartridges, Nintendo released the Nintendo 64. Presenting a  peculiar three pronged controller, and  analogue stick this controller also introduced a back button that would rest firmly in between the players' index finger. Most sold games on this console were Super Mario 6, Pokemon Stadium and Mario Kart 6.

Sixth Generation

Dreamcast -

The Dreamcast although a great console to play actually almost bankrupt SEGA, with their president Isao Okawa having even having to donate $695 million just to save it. That said this console was still fun to play and boasted a selective of friendly and fun games, it's most popular ones being Sonic Adventure (selling over 2.5 million copies), Crazy Taxi, Legacy of Kain and Chuchu Rockets. 

Playstation 2 -

The Playstation 2 (or PS2) to this date is still the most sold console worldwide. Boasting some of the best graphics for its time and a massive collection of games (GTA: San Andreas being its most popular and selling over 17 million units) this console will probably stay in the hearts of many gamers within its era for decades to come.

Xbox -







Gamecube -






Seventh Generation

Playstation 3 -







Xbox 360 -






Nintendo Wii -








New Generation

Playstation 4 -






Xbox One -





Wii U -

Arcade Limitations

The very first arcade machines were created in the early 1970s. There creation became possible soon after the previous transistors used in computer systems became obsolete and new ones were made that allowed computers to be placed in cabinets as a standalone console as there was now more room which allows them to carry the most advanced gaming technology of the time.

Galaxy Game arcade systems.

Monopolising these arcade systems in such a fashion (insert coin to play) because an amazing success and many people a day would want to play them and multiple times too and people became aware of their financial value and they began to reproduce in many different areas. Set the pace for even today video game systems, if arcade machines like this hadn't come along then gaming might still have just be considered a novelty and never taking off as seriously and astoundingly as it did.

The first arcade system to truly gain widespread popularity and fame was the arcade machine for the game, Pong. This arcade system was constructed in the following year (1972) by Allan Alcorn for the company Atari as a training exercise that han't been anticipated to show as grands results as it did. The machine's quality and craft impressed the cofounder of Atari, Nolan Bushnell so much so that he made a deal to start putting it into business and produced many duplicates to be sold commercially as the first successful video game consoles.

Pong was a game where the player would have to stop  the ball represented by pixels squares from entering their side or goal. This game was multiplayer and was loved for the fact that friends could play against one another.

Throughout the years Atari still remained the dominant hand in arcade gaming, innovating with different game designs like, Night Driver (one of the very first first person driving/ racing games ever), as well as Break Out which was similar to pong except the player would use the paddle and ball to smash blocks instead of score points against an opponent; after that came Asteroids which became Atari's best selling game of all to even to this day.

With advances in technology however the arcade machines slowly began to lose their value and home consoles were becoming much more powerful, although not more powerful the arcade machines themselves but powerful enough for consumers to want to take them home and enjoy for as long as they want. Another major upset with arcade machines was that you had to pay each time you wanted to play whereas home consoles (initially more expensive) were a better investment as the amount of time you could play on it and where you wanted to eventually paid itself off.

Atari were not ignorant to this fact however and began developing and manufacturing its own home console for consumers to play, for awhile still rising against the competition.

Atari's first home console.

Personal Computers

The very first computer created for personal use were developed by IMB and thus were named the IBM 610, these were considered to be the very first PC (which stands for personal computer) because they were the first programmable computer that were specialised for one individual with the use of a keyboard.

The Datapoint 2200 was probably the earliest personal computer to that still has bearing similarities to the PCs we have at home or work right now. This computer made use of a screen, keyboard and program storage and was made by CTC (now known as Datapoint). in 1970, the CPU was made from many various components there were initially going to be developed by Intel but unfortunately for them never was.

Finally the first personal to make use of a mouse pad controller (or interface device) was the Xerox personal computer. This computer was also the very to utilise a graphical user interface (or GUI).

Later on in the years the Apple 2 was released in 1977 as an early 8-Bit personal computer, and was a big success for the early home computers, the general appeal coming from this device was that the hardware was interchangeable which meant they could be personally customised to suit the users desire.

In comparison to modern day PCs, these were incredibly bulky and not very appealing to the eyes. However in ther age these were the crazy of computer users and engineers.

Microsoft Windows later on in the year 1985, marked the world as a graphical operating system, due to the growing interest in GUI (which the Xerox made popular). Dominating the world's personal computer market with over 90% of the market share easily overtaking Apple's current Mac OS which had only been released a year earlier. What made windows so special and stand out so much was because its GUI, like its name implies, move different programs around the screen like boxes or Windows allowing for easier use and less stressful computing as well as multitasking.

Still bulky and unappealing by today's standards but at the time was considered and coll redesign however this was it's limits as technology back then wouldn't allow much smaller consoles never mid thin and sleak ones like today's are.

Interface Devices

Interface devices, as the name states, is the medium that allows the player to interact with the game and make changes in that game world. Without an interface device like the Xbox 360 for instance whilst playing the Xbox, if the player has no controllers nor a Kinest sensor then once they turn on the console they cannot advance any further as with these two elements the console is not receiving any commands and thus has nothing to respond to.




Here is an example of the Xbox 360's controller or game pad, however like a few other consoles in this generation, the Xbox 360 isn't just limited the game pads since the released of the Xbox Kinect that is a sensor which allows the player to use their own body and voice to make commands. (the new Xbox One even boasting the fact that the player can turn on the console via saying "Xbox, turn on.")



Sensing movement, the Kinect's intellectual technology allows for motion control actions and thus motion controlled games effectively making the player the in game character. An example of would be:

Kinect Sports




At the moment though the connect is still limited and insanely complex movements like one would perform in games like Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge are impossible and rely on the Xbox 360's controller to perform with skill, quick reflexes and coordination in the fingers.

Memory

~What does RAM stand for?

RAM stands for random access memory.

~Explain why RAM is needed in game platforms.

Through RAM a console can start processing what is needed to run the game being played, RAM takes the role of the initial memory.

~There is different memory in game platforms and hardware such as graphics cards, explain why this is.

Graphics cards have their own RAM to specialise in displaying better quality graphics and framerate, whereas the RAM in a game platform must also deal with other processes and calculations that the game demands.

CPU and GPU

~What does CPU stand for what is its function?

CPU stands for Central Processing Unit and basically its job is to process different commands and information given to it by currently running programs running on that particular computer or console.



~Indicate where the CPU is ina PC and games console.

The CPUs usual location in on the computer or consoles' motherboard, in mordern times usually being in between or just below a heat sink and/ or fan. The Xbox 360 for example has its CPU right below the consoles heat sink; reason for this location being the CPUs job of handling vast amounts of data at high frequencies is stressful and so the CPUs tends to heat up to very high temperatures, and so to prevent damage to the CPU as well as other hardware install, heat sinks and fans are placed to keep everyone cool and running smoothly.

     

~Explain how a CPU works.

In personal computer the CPU is attached to the motherboard in the form of a microchip (called a microprocessor) that generally have tow units on them: the ALU (that stands for arithmetic logic unit) and the Control Unit (that I blieve can be abbreviated to CU).

ALU - This deals with the systems logical and arithmetic calculations and processes.

CU - Whilst this deals decodes instructions given from multiple software and executes commands.

CPUs generally have what is called a cache which stores frequently used data as temporary memory that is used to speed up the process of reading said data next time it is accessed.



~Explain what determines the power of a CPU and how it will be used in a games platform.

Hertz are what determine the power (or speed) of a CPU, hertz represent the clock rate of a CPU and this basically measures the amount of instruction can be given to it and processed at any given time. Because the CPU deals with such incredible tasks, it be able to constantly process each task as quickly as possible before more continue to pile up (As computers are generally having multiple programs used at once and these programs have multiple processes each.) To gaming platforms it is important that a CPU can process and render images almost instantaneously to prevent games from lagging and even worse crashing.

Here's an example of lag, or rather framerate in the game Skyrim which for the most part destroys immersion in the game and disrupts gameplay.

~Compare the original Playstation CPU to the Playstation 3.

The original Playstation had a 32 bit 3MHz processor (MHz = Mega Hertz) whereas the The processor for the Playstation 3 (or PS3 for short) utilises a 3.2GHz processor (GHz = Giga Hertz, meaning the PS3's processor is inan entirely different league than its predecessors'.

   

~The latest CPUs are described as having multiple cores, explain what this means.

Having multiple cores or Multicore processors means to have single component with multiple CPUs, having more CPU allows a device much more processes than it would be able to one process alone, thus increasing its performance handling data.




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~What does GPU stand for and what does it mean?

Graphics processing unit is what GPU stands for. This means that the GPU is specialised in the manipulating and altering of memory rapidly, thus processing and building images at great speeds. The more powerful the GPU the higher quality of image renders whilst maintaining high framerate and smooth playback.



~Examples from a personal computer, game console and mobile device:

The example I'm going to use for a personal computer's GPU is my graphics cards.

This is the GPU for my NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 graphics card. Similar to a CPU, my GPU is located under the fan in my graphics card, due to this I can assume like a CPU the GPU also tends to heat up to high temperatures.

 Here is the motherboard for the Nintendo Wii U, along with a visible GPU.




And finally a mobile devices GPU.

This is the GPU located on an Iphone 4, compared to the other devices, this one is tiny.

~Explain the difference between GPU and CPU.

If one were to say the CPU acts as the brain of a computer system or console, then it would be safe to say that the GPU deals with the eyes complex processes, dealing with shapes or to be more exact trigonometry which means it is optimised to process triangles that are the foundation for polygons and rendered shapes whereas the CPU deals in general math and arithmetic functions.


~Explain the similarities between GPU and CPU.

The first similarity is that they are both processors and have to deal with an outstanding amount of data, rendering and instruction from other software. GPU and CPU both reside on the devices motherboard usually located within close proximity of a heat sink or fan as not to overheat and/ or damage other hardware and both chips use transistors although CPU runs much faster than a GPU.



~What API is used to communicate with GPU?

There are seeveral different API used in communication with the GPU, the major ones being that of DirectX and VideoToolBox. Microsoft making use of DirectX for its Windows on PCs and the Xbox 360, contrary to this Apple makes use of VideoToolBox for the Apple TV and Mac OS.

Connecting Console Display and Controlling Devices

In this post I am going to show you how to configure an Xbox 360 and connect it to a display in the simplest way possible. This tutorial will be taught via video footage of me configuring my own 360 so pay close attention. Also note that this version of the Xbox 360 is wireless and automatically connects to the nearest available internet connection/ router (as you can see from my Gold account logging into Xbox Live.

In this video I have displayed how to connect a console to a display, sync its wireless controller to it and connect to the internet or WAN (Xbox Live). I also showed how a game can be placed inside the console and accessed via the consoles software.