Game Storage Medium

Storage devices can come in several different medium and each one utilises its type of storage it uses differently.

Here is Nintendo's Gameboy Advanced SP Tribal Edition, this handheld console uses and plays games and other media off of a ROM Game Cartidge. This console came about after Nintendo decided to step up from the Gameboy Colour as an improved version of the already released Gameboy Advance (or GBA). Staying true to ROM cartridges, Nintendo continued to use them in all of their handheld consoles and only changed to optical storage mediums (CD/DVD) for their home consoles. A huge benefit of using cartridges is that unlike in other storage mediums, cartridgues are generally memory programmed to run just like the console and so they can neglect having to transfer data through a slower medium allowing for almost instanteous loading as well as software that are run directly from ROM tend to use less RAM which frees up memory for other processes to be carried out.

Much unlike this, the Playstation 3 makes use of the Blu-Ray disc that's storage capacity far exceeds that of the Gameboy Advance SP's, being able to store up to 25 GB (yes, Gigabytes) of data on one disc. These discs in combination with the Playstation 3's already powerful hard drive (currently boasting the ability to retain 500 GB of various types of data, ranging from games, images, audio, video and other miscellaneous files too.) 

With the era of the sixth generation consoles and games, storage became almost entirely relied on the optical disc because as the games consoles being more technologically advanced and games became much more complex, a lot more data storage was required to handle them, the only major game manufacturing companies that hadn't really made this step were Nintendo, who stubbornly refused to give up on their game cartridge storage devices. I believe the reason behind this is due to Nintendo trying to prevent the pirating of their games as the optical disc was much easier to read and reverse engineer however Nintendo were still at a loss as the optical disc for how much data they could store were quickly becoming the least expensive option available whilst cartridges cost a lot more money to produce to the same standard, limiting Nintendo's potential at the time. (Nintendo are now as well as their own cartridges making full use of the optical disc) 

These optical discs came to be known as DVDs and could store up to 4.7 GB of ram, which isn't as impressive as the amount we can store today (like in the Blu-Ray) however at the time this was very impressive, especially for gaming which has been constantly growing in advances and popularity over the years.

Speaking about piracy once again, Nintendo's stubborn tactic of keeping their cartridges turned out to be their trump card in dealing with piracy as cartridges are created as printed circuits on a mothermoard and without the correct hardware and technology they were very difficult to recreate or even extract any data from, the optical disc however was made to run as perfectly with computers as possible and because they were cheaper there wasn't much of a complex method to writing data onto them meaning that anyone with proficient skill on a computer could at the very least copy the contents form a disk to a computer's hard drive or another disc to then be sold off as a pirated copy. 

One method still used to this day to fight back against optical disc copyrighting is modern game consoles now have chips inside of them to verify whether a game has been pirated or not and will block the disc's content if it doesn't pass inspection. That said gamers will probably always find a loophole in gaming systems and found another way to pirate games, the chips being used to verify games infact can be rendered obsolete by experts in the game consoles engineering as they can remove or replace the chip to manipulate it into allowing copied games to carrying functioning as their original retail copies.

Handheld Consoles

Handheld consoles originally started making an appearance to the public eye in the late 70s and early 80s; through technological advances that gave birth to electronic devices small enough to hold and fit in your pockets. Although technology at that time was growing it was still a far cry from today's and each console could usually only play one game each.

Mattel's "Auto Race" being one of the first to become popular with the masses.

The origin of handheld consoles was during the 1970s and 80s, with the development of electronic devices, small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. These were only able to play one game and were of low quality.

Later on in the 90s, handhelds like the Gameboy and Tamagotchi became a big hit. Tamagotchi are tiny handheld consoles that are shaped to represent an egg, each Tamagotchi contains a digital creature that must be fed, nurtured and played with in order to live healthily and happily and so the point of the game is to keep a Tamagotchi alive and happy for as long as you possibly can. Created and sold in Japan by Bandai in the year 1996, Tamagotchi became incredibly popular as it was very simple to play (navigating through options with the three buttons on the front) and the games AI was so lovable more so the longer you play with it. 

The Gameboy selling over 118 million copies worldwide is an incredibly successful handheld console, boasting a new and exciting experience in its time (late 80s, early 90s) for handhelds, as well as offering a cheaper price than most other handhelds at the time. Since the Gameboy was released, Nintendo has had a firm grip on the handheld gaming market even in the current generation of games. Later on in the 90s just as the year 2000 was dawning, Nintendo under pressure from other consoles becoming more sophisticated and technologically advanced decided to upgrade their own Gameboy and thus the Gameboy Colour was born. Running on a much faster processor (x2 speed), much more complicated (aesthetically and dynamically) and faster paced games could be played as the new technology could handle it. Also note that the Gameboy Colour was probably the first backwards compatible console.

A few years later in the year 2001, the Gameboy Advance and SP were released with a storm of games that rose the bar on handheld consoles, with the addition of the left and right triggers. Now capable of handling 16-bit colour palettes rather than 8-bit, Gameboy Advances' graphics far surpassed the Gameboy colours; allowing for much more detailed sprites and eventually with the SP's backlight, much more vibrant tones. Together the total sales for these consoles went over 125 million copies and their best selling games were Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire.

Debuting Winter 2004 and selling 154 million copies worldwide, the Nintendo DS. This console was revolutionary for Nintendo's handheld future as well as having an influence on Nintendo's new home consoles (the Wii U); being the first touchscreen with pen stylus console, the DS once again drastically changed how handheld games could be approached, incorporating 3D graphics (usually prominent on the top screen while the bottom stays familiar with 2D for menu's, GUI, etc.) and effectively making use of touch screen games. A major selling point to the DS too was the ability to play multiplayer games with only one cartridge.  

Moving onto another powerful brand on consoles, the Playstation franchise gave birth to the most sold console to date, the PS2 (155 million copies). Moving on from the PS2 however, Sony's Playstation went in two different directions. The ultimately more powerful PS3 and the handheld Playstation console, the PSP (that stands for Playstation Portable). Also released in 2004; the PSP's hardware is vastly superior to the Nintendo DS's in terms of processing performance and graphics, being capable of handling PS2 level games, such as: Dragonball Z: Shin Budokai which is an a sequal to Dragonball Z: Budokai 3 on the PS2.

Origin of Computer Game Platforms and Technological Developments

Video gaming became fairly popular with the masses round about the early 1970's. Funnily enough though one of the first ever video games to be reported to the public was actually created on an oscilloscope (a type of electronic test instrument that allows one to observe and record varying signals and electrical voltages) in the year 1958, the game was entitled 'Tennis for Two' and was created by a man named William Higinbotham. The game was (as the name can pretty much tell you) for two players and so not only being one of the first video games in history but also the first multiplayer game, to play TFT each player would use an aluminium box controller, this controller being an analog with only one button and was usually hardwired to oscilloscope and each player had to simply hit the ball (represented by a small light with a trail coming from it) onto the other's side of the screen.

 

 

Personal Computer Timeline

When the computer first became popular with the masses it was after the personal computer was created (this was only possible due to the invention of transistors which allowed the size of a computer to be reduced greatly). Originally personal computers were used for business purposes and scientific development; being incredibly useful for calculating various mathematic equations and conduction science experiments.