Task 2 - The Connection and Configuration of Game Platform
The video below shows me interacting with a PlayStation 4. I inserted a disk and loading up a game, I then connected a controller to the by simply connecting the PS4 and the controller using a micro USB cable.The I changed the output resolution from the PS4 to the TV to 1080p to get a clearer image.
Task 1 - Software Technologies for Game Platforms
The Witcher 3 - Wild Hunt
Platform dependency
It is safe to say that The Witcher 3 is a platform independent game today since is has been realized in mainstream video games consoles such as Xbox one and the PS4 as well as the PC. Even though the Witcher 3 is not platform dependent operating systems wise it is dependent on the architecture of CPU's this is the reason why it was never released for the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3. The CPU's of the PS4 and the Xbox one uses PC like architecture (x86) which is the same architecture used in most AMD processors for PC. So essentially the new generation consoles are not that far off from PCs, merely Mid-High end gaming PCs with different operating systems. Which Proves that The Witcher 3 is hardware dependent and would not work on platforms that does not have similar architecture or hardware.
Even though this game has been released in all the main steam gaming platforms today it does not play or look the same on all platforms. As you would expect it would play and look better on a Mid-High End gaming PC than on the consoles.The video below shows how it plays on all platforms that the game is released for.
Operating systems used
Drivers Needed
CD Projekt used their latest game engine, the red engine 3 which is only usable with 64-bit systems. This engine was specifically designed to create open world environments, according to CDP Witcher 3's map is 20% bigger than Skyrim map and 35 times bigger than Witcher 2's map. What really makes this engine truly next gen is that CD Project managed to make this massive medieval fantasy world with amazing attention to detail without any loading screens when going to other areas. Red engine 3 manages to have no loading screens by only loading the graphics details that the player would see only when the player is close up to them in the area around the player and loosing minimum details and landscapes in the distance to save memory usage.
Platform dependency
It is safe to say that The Witcher 3 is a platform independent game today since is has been realized in mainstream video games consoles such as Xbox one and the PS4 as well as the PC. Even though the Witcher 3 is not platform dependent operating systems wise it is dependent on the architecture of CPU's this is the reason why it was never released for the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3. The CPU's of the PS4 and the Xbox one uses PC like architecture (x86) which is the same architecture used in most AMD processors for PC. So essentially the new generation consoles are not that far off from PCs, merely Mid-High end gaming PCs with different operating systems. Which Proves that The Witcher 3 is hardware dependent and would not work on platforms that does not have similar architecture or hardware.
Even though this game has been released in all the main steam gaming platforms today it does not play or look the same on all platforms. As you would expect it would play and look better on a Mid-High End gaming PC than on the consoles.The video below shows how it plays on all platforms that the game is released for.
Operating systems used
Operating systems that is used to make the game had to be a 64-bit operating system because Projekt Red used their newly released Red Engine 3 which exclusive to 64 bit systems. Since the engine is 64-bit based so is the game, which is why the minimum requirements for the games requires at least 64- windows 7 to play it. The game is released for MAC OS, Steam OS, PS4, Xbox and Windows. Having a wide range of supported operating systems is crucial when releasing a AAA game like this to get more people using different operating systems to play the game.
Since manual driver updates for games are used among PC players both of the main graphics card manufacturers released drivers that makes all their cards more optimised for The Witcher 3. Nvidia released their Game Ready 352.86 WHQL driver for Witcher 3, this driver included support and optimizations for 4K, Dynamic Super Resolution (DSR), GameStream, GeForce Experience one-click Optimal Playable Settings, G-SYNC, HairWorks, HBAO+, PhysX, and SLI. AMD released catalyst 15.5 Beta which was a more optimized version of catalyst to support Witcher 3 and make it run better. AMD also encouraged players to use their own pre-set setting that can be set using the AMD catalyst control centre than changing them in game. Nvidia's Hair works update especially released for The Witcher 3 is showcased in the video shown below.
Application Software used (Programming)
Application Software used (Programming)
CD Projekt used their latest game engine, the red engine 3 which is only usable with 64-bit systems. This engine was specifically designed to create open world environments, according to CDP Witcher 3's map is 20% bigger than Skyrim map and 35 times bigger than Witcher 2's map. What really makes this engine truly next gen is that CD Project managed to make this massive medieval fantasy world with amazing attention to detail without any loading screens when going to other areas. Red engine 3 manages to have no loading screens by only loading the graphics details that the player would see only when the player is close up to them in the area around the player and loosing minimum details and landscapes in the distance to save memory usage.
Graphical API
The Witcher 3 uses Direct3D 11 which came out with the release of windows 7. This API which is built similar to the design of Direct 3D 10.1 includes new features such as multi threaded rendering and resource creation, compute shader, support for 10level9 feature levels and WARP10 software rendering device. This also features new Direct3D 11 class hardware such as fetaures such as tessellation using hull and domain shader, BC6H and BC7 texure compression formats,shader model 5.0 and dynamic shader linkage. This API is compatible with Direct3D 10 and 10.1 class video cards but some cards may lack support with features such as 10level9 feature levels.
The Witcher 3 uses Direct3D 11 which came out with the release of windows 7. This API which is built similar to the design of Direct 3D 10.1 includes new features such as multi threaded rendering and resource creation, compute shader, support for 10level9 feature levels and WARP10 software rendering device. This also features new Direct3D 11 class hardware such as fetaures such as tessellation using hull and domain shader, BC6H and BC7 texure compression formats,shader model 5.0 and dynamic shader linkage. This API is compatible with Direct3D 10 and 10.1 class video cards but some cards may lack support with features such as 10level9 feature levels.
(http://hothardware.com/articleimages/Item1497/small_SoDx11-Unigine2.jpg)
Sound API
FMOD Studio is a sound designing software or audio engine used for games. FMOD has been implememnted to countless engines such as the RED Engine that was used for Witcher 3. FMOD is developed by firelight technologies which is an industry leader in game audio and middle ware. Fmod has gained a strong reputation for its powerful software mixed architecture and the its ease to use. The many features of the Fmod is showcased in the video shown below.
TV
The PC version of the game has no limits to it's graphical power, this is the only platform that the developers can show the game's full potential since there are no hardware restrictions. A monitor used with a high-end PC can run this game with no frame cap at 4K resolution with higher definition textures, greater draw distances. Since there is no frame cap to the PC version, player can use monitors or TVs with higher refresh rates such as 144hz onwards to see more than the normal 60 frames per second make the game look smoother. The PS4 version of the game runs at 1080p (full HD) frame capped at 30 FPS because of the it's hardware limitations, so any full HD telivision is able the show all the graphics the PS4 can handle. The Xbox one version of the game runs at an even lower 900p resolution at 30fps so same as the PS4 any full HD TV can show the its maximum graphics the Xbox can handle.
Counter Strike : Global Offensive
Platform dependency
Counter was developed by Valve Co-operation and Hidden Path Entertainment and has has always been a game native to Windows and PC. The latest instalment of counter strike was Counter strike : Global offensive which was released in 2012. This was a huge success to valve at time with all the returning original counter strike players who were waiting for a newer counter strike with up to date game play and graphics. Counter strike GO was first released to windows, Mac OS, Steam OS and Linux. Later was released for the Xbox 360 and PS3 but the xbox 360 version did not last long because of the it's control set and was harder to control and play the game to it's full potential so as of 2013 the valve has stopped updating the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game with new content and there is hardly no people playing it. So I would say that as of now Counter strike Global offensive just like all counter strike games before is native to PC.
Operating systems used
Operating systems used to create the game were Windows, linux and Mac OS since the source engine runs on each of those operating systems .Counter strike GO was first released to windows, Mac OS, Steam OS and Linux mainly.
Drivers Needed
No specific extra drivers are needed to run CS:GO because its no exactly a demanding game. All the players has to worry about is the hardware they are using. A DirectX- 9 compatible video card with the support of pixel shader 3.0 is required to run counter strike. The video card manufacturers such as AMD and Nvidia updated the drivers to work with pixel shader 3.0 that will support counters strike and all other 3D games that came in that era. With some computer manufacturers while new systems shipping with Windows Vista will include video cards with WDDM drivers, and new drivers for a number of popular video cards are included in the box, Windows Vista continues to support the ability to use older XPDM drivers for upgrades and corporate editions.
Application Software used (Programming)
Valve and hidden entertainment used the source engine to develop Counter Strike : Global Offensive which came which focussed a lot on real world physics. Source Engine is a 3D game engine developed by Valve. it has unique features such as flexibility, modularity, shader based renderer, accurate lip sync and facial expression technology and very powerful network enabled physics system. The source engine was introduced to the world using a well known game tittle that most PC gamers hold dear to their heart or as I like to call it a master piece, Half Life 2. Half life 2 featured amazing graphics and physics for the time it was released showing off this new amazing engine. The engine also features a multilayer system that supports LAN and internet based games, predicting collision and hit detection which can be very usefull for shooters and also optimized for high latency and packet loss for 56k connections.
Graphical API
The source engine uses Direct3D 9 made by Microsoft as their main graphical API. This version of direct X features a more powerful shader programming models for Direct3D . DirectX 9 was primarily released with the release of Windows Vista. it it happens to be that the Source engine was developed in that era, in order to ensure that they are up to date with graphics Valve implemented DirectX 9 API into the Source engine. To ensure full compatibility with older versions of Windows, some quirks of the old driver model must be emulated even with the new Windows Vista display driver model. Even though this API is old counter strike still manages to keep up to date with graphics with the help of constant updates from VALVE.
Sound API
The Source engine uses Miles sound system for its audio which is one of the most popular pieces of middle ware ever released and has been licensed for over 5000 games. The first version of MSS was released in 1991, the early days of gaming. Today a more updated version of that same software features a no-compromise toolset that integrates high-level sound authoring with 2D and 3D digital audio, featuring streaming, environmental reverb, multistage DSP filtering, and multichannel mixing, and highly-optimized audio decoders (MP3, Ogg and Bink Audio).
TV
Counter strike GO supports resolutions up to Full HD (1080p) on all operating systems and platforms it was released for. But loking at the frame rate there is no frame cap to limit the number of frames you can get in a computer, so the better computer you have the more frames you will have. Most pro players and hardcore gamers by monitors with a higher refresh rate to see more smoother game play with the help of more higher frame rates believing that it would give them and advantage over other players only using monitors that are 60hz where you can only see up to 60fps.
(CS:GO)
Sound API
FMOD Studio is a sound designing software or audio engine used for games. FMOD has been implememnted to countless engines such as the RED Engine that was used for Witcher 3. FMOD is developed by firelight technologies which is an industry leader in game audio and middle ware. Fmod has gained a strong reputation for its powerful software mixed architecture and the its ease to use. The many features of the Fmod is showcased in the video shown below.
TV
The PC version of the game has no limits to it's graphical power, this is the only platform that the developers can show the game's full potential since there are no hardware restrictions. A monitor used with a high-end PC can run this game with no frame cap at 4K resolution with higher definition textures, greater draw distances. Since there is no frame cap to the PC version, player can use monitors or TVs with higher refresh rates such as 144hz onwards to see more than the normal 60 frames per second make the game look smoother. The PS4 version of the game runs at 1080p (full HD) frame capped at 30 FPS because of the it's hardware limitations, so any full HD telivision is able the show all the graphics the PS4 can handle. The Xbox one version of the game runs at an even lower 900p resolution at 30fps so same as the PS4 any full HD TV can show the its maximum graphics the Xbox can handle.
Counter Strike : Global Offensive
Platform dependency
Counter was developed by Valve Co-operation and Hidden Path Entertainment and has has always been a game native to Windows and PC. The latest instalment of counter strike was Counter strike : Global offensive which was released in 2012. This was a huge success to valve at time with all the returning original counter strike players who were waiting for a newer counter strike with up to date game play and graphics. Counter strike GO was first released to windows, Mac OS, Steam OS and Linux. Later was released for the Xbox 360 and PS3 but the xbox 360 version did not last long because of the it's control set and was harder to control and play the game to it's full potential so as of 2013 the valve has stopped updating the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game with new content and there is hardly no people playing it. So I would say that as of now Counter strike Global offensive just like all counter strike games before is native to PC.
Operating systems used
Operating systems used to create the game were Windows, linux and Mac OS since the source engine runs on each of those operating systems .Counter strike GO was first released to windows, Mac OS, Steam OS and Linux mainly.
Drivers Needed
No specific extra drivers are needed to run CS:GO because its no exactly a demanding game. All the players has to worry about is the hardware they are using. A DirectX- 9 compatible video card with the support of pixel shader 3.0 is required to run counter strike. The video card manufacturers such as AMD and Nvidia updated the drivers to work with pixel shader 3.0 that will support counters strike and all other 3D games that came in that era. With some computer manufacturers while new systems shipping with Windows Vista will include video cards with WDDM drivers, and new drivers for a number of popular video cards are included in the box, Windows Vista continues to support the ability to use older XPDM drivers for upgrades and corporate editions.
Application Software used (Programming)
Valve and hidden entertainment used the source engine to develop Counter Strike : Global Offensive which came which focussed a lot on real world physics. Source Engine is a 3D game engine developed by Valve. it has unique features such as flexibility, modularity, shader based renderer, accurate lip sync and facial expression technology and very powerful network enabled physics system. The source engine was introduced to the world using a well known game tittle that most PC gamers hold dear to their heart or as I like to call it a master piece, Half Life 2. Half life 2 featured amazing graphics and physics for the time it was released showing off this new amazing engine. The engine also features a multilayer system that supports LAN and internet based games, predicting collision and hit detection which can be very usefull for shooters and also optimized for high latency and packet loss for 56k connections.
Graphical API
The source engine uses Direct3D 9 made by Microsoft as their main graphical API. This version of direct X features a more powerful shader programming models for Direct3D . DirectX 9 was primarily released with the release of Windows Vista. it it happens to be that the Source engine was developed in that era, in order to ensure that they are up to date with graphics Valve implemented DirectX 9 API into the Source engine. To ensure full compatibility with older versions of Windows, some quirks of the old driver model must be emulated even with the new Windows Vista display driver model. Even though this API is old counter strike still manages to keep up to date with graphics with the help of constant updates from VALVE.
Sound API
The Source engine uses Miles sound system for its audio which is one of the most popular pieces of middle ware ever released and has been licensed for over 5000 games. The first version of MSS was released in 1991, the early days of gaming. Today a more updated version of that same software features a no-compromise toolset that integrates high-level sound authoring with 2D and 3D digital audio, featuring streaming, environmental reverb, multistage DSP filtering, and multichannel mixing, and highly-optimized audio decoders (MP3, Ogg and Bink Audio).
TV
Counter strike GO supports resolutions up to Full HD (1080p) on all operating systems and platforms it was released for. But loking at the frame rate there is no frame cap to limit the number of frames you can get in a computer, so the better computer you have the more frames you will have. Most pro players and hardcore gamers by monitors with a higher refresh rate to see more smoother game play with the help of more higher frame rates believing that it would give them and advantage over other players only using monitors that are 60hz where you can only see up to 60fps.
Sources
(Witcher 3)
(Witcher 3)
http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/49364/platform-dependent
http://www.examiner.com/article/possible-witcher-3-tease-with-cd-projekt-red-next-gen-engine-announcement
http://www.pcgamer.com/the-amazing-technology-of-the-witcher-3/
http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/Optimizing-The-Witcher-3.aspx
http://www.geforce.co.uk/whats-new/articles/geforce-352-86-whql-driver-released
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfCbvnDg7-0
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ee417756(v=vs.85).aspx#d3d11
http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/Optimizing-The-Witcher-3.aspx
http://www.geforce.co.uk/whats-new/articles/geforce-352-86-whql-driver-released
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfCbvnDg7-0
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ee417756(v=vs.85).aspx#d3d11
http://www.fmod.org/
http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Witcher-3-PS4-Xbox-One-Framerate-Resolution-Revealed-69722.html
http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Witcher-3-PS4-Xbox-One-Framerate-Resolution-Revealed-69722.html
(CS:GO)
http://store.steampowered.com/app/730/
http://www.develop-online.net/interview/valve-on-source-and-studio-culture/0117030
http://www.moddb.com/engines/source
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ee417756(v=vs.85).aspx#direct3d_9
http://www.radgametools.com/miles.htm
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ee417756(v=vs.85).aspx#direct3d_9
http://www.radgametools.com/miles.htm
Task 2 - Hardware Technologies for Game Platforms
Human computer interface(HCI)
"HCI is a field that blends techniques such as design and computer science to improve the way of interaction between humans and technology to create user interfaces that are an ease to use. Human-computer interaction (HCI) is an area of research and practice that emerged in the early 1980s, initially as a specialty area in computer science embracing cognitive science and human factors engineering.".
One of the first computer interfaces were paper punch cards in the 1960s. since then user interfaces have progressed and made computers much more usable and help integrate computers to out everyday life. Today HCI is focused on natural computer interaction it strives to improve human interactions with computers by making the experience feel natural to the user, Natural meaning that there is no artificial devices used for example mouses, keyboards or on screen indications of the interaction such as a cursor and the interface is usually invisible. We can see graphical user interface as known as GUI in almost any device with a display, the GUI is the graphical part of the user interface such as the icons on your home screen. User interfaces are a part of our everyday life, they take advantage of technologies such as multi touch and gesture control to create an interaction that is natural as seen in smart phones and tablets.
At the moment the for front of human computer interaction is the Google glass this is a wearable device that allows one to see virtual objects in reality that you can interact with in real time.Because the interface of this device is more basic to the common user it is easy to master the controls and the functions of the device without even breaking a sweat.Voice recognition is a primary way that the user interacts with this device.This also eases the use of technology by making the Human computer interaction more advanced.Shown below is a video that demonstrates and showcases the Google glass.
HCI is seen everywhere today from the operating system of our computers to the display on your watch. From the moment we wake up and the moment we go to sleep at this day in age we have interacted with UI at least once. The HCI makes the product, there are many technological products with great potential fail because it, without a great interface to humans to interact with the product fails to show what it can do to all the consumers leading to failure. for an example some of the demographic despises the android OS in smart phones purely because of its HCI.
Shown below are some of the User interfaces of some recent products,
(PS4)
(Windows 10)
CPU which is also known as Central processing unit does the calculations in your computer, and one of the main contributors to the speed and responsiveness of your system. The The clock frequency refers to how many cycles the processor goes in a second, for an example a 3 GHz processor does 3 Billion cycles per second, the more cycles the faster the processor does tasks. How ever the efficiency of each cycle is also important, the efficiency of each cycle is known as IPC (Instruction per cycle). A CPU can have a higher clock frequency but be inefficient to a one with a lower frequency depending on the IPC. So a CPU with a higher clock frequency as well as IPC would make a machine run faster. Another concept on processors is cache, the cache is simple fast accessible memory within the processor, cache stores data temporarily which maybe required from the CPU. If the CPU has to get Data from the RAM modules it would take more time so most CPUs have Cache which is a instantly accessible memory for the CPU without using other components. So based on this the bigger the cache the faster the CPU will be at performing tasks. Another important factor in CPUs nowadays are cores, we have come to hear of Dual core, Quad core or even hexacore processors these days. The more cores a CPU the easier it is for it to deal with data, the function of a core or a channel in a CPU is to divide the data into the different cores depending on the number of cores each core would work on a lower number of data at a time making the processing lighter to the CPU than having to deal with a lot of data using just one core. So the more cores a processor has the more Data it can process at a time more efficiently. The video below explains the process in more detail.
Graphic processors
"Architecturally, the CPU is composed of a only few cores with lots of cache memory that can handle a few software threads at a time. In contrast, a GPU is composed of hundreds of cores that can handle thousands of threads simultaneously. The ability of a GPU with 100+ cores to process thousands of threads can accelerate some software by 100x over a CPU alone. What’s more, the GPU achieves this acceleration while being more power- and cost-efficient than a CPU."
A GPU or a graphic processing unit is used to process or render graphics when the computer is used for Video editing, gaming, animation and anything that dealing with graphics.This is usually a card that goes into your motherboard using a PCI or a PCI-E Slot. A graphics processor processes and translats all the information from your CPU and other hardware into a viewable image on your monitor. Having a dedicated graphics processor in your computer means that it can handle a lot in graphical load such as rendering and video editing. The main companies that makes video cards are Nvidia and AMD, these two companies have different technologies in their units each one made for a particular purpose. for an example one graphics unit maybe good at only video editing and the other maybe only good at rendering and video editing. Nowadays some processors like the AMD APU series come with graphics processors built into them, while they might not be as powerful as a dedicated graphics card this still can take the load off the work from the graphics card or work by its self to provide decent performance. The GPU is the usually the main output source from the computer to a monitor, they usually have ports like VGA, DVI and HDMI for output.
Shown below is an integrated graphics card.
The video Below Showcases some GPUs and Explains what they do
RAM (Random Access Memory)
"Alternatively referred to as main memory, primary memory, or system memory,Random Access Memory (RAM) is a hardware device that allows information to be stored and retrieved on a computer. RAM is usually associated with DRAM, which is a type of memory module. Because information is accessed randomly instead of sequentially like it is on a CD or hard drive, the computer can access the data much faster."
RAM allows you to have store data to be accessed in any random order and allows you to work on multiple things at once. This also dictates how much random access you can have or how much different things you can work at a time allowing more data to be processed simultaneously depending on the Size. So the less RAM memory you have the less things you can work on at a time. Every RAM module has its own speed and are measured in MHz, this measures how fast your RAM processes the information. So higher the speed of your RAM the faster the information is processed making your Computer faster. The first Generation of RAM were called SD RAM this uses 1 to 1 maths so if you had a 100 MHz module this would just multiply once with the memory of the CPU. The second generation RAM called the DDR does the same thing but doubles the speed by having more core bus speed and this trend continued with more modern DDR2, DDR3 and DDR4.
Display
"A display is a computer output surface and projecting mechanism that shows text and often graphic images to the computer user, using a cathode ray tube ( CRT ), liquid crystal display (LCD ), light-emitting diode, gas plasma, or other image projection technology."
A display is used to translate electrical signals and output or present them in a visual form. There are many technologies used in displays such as LCD and LED. LED or liquid crystal displays are used in many hardware products such as calculate, tablets and some computer monitors.In LED monitors the back light is usually generated from he bottom of the monitor and spread out evenly by the help of an element that consists of several layers. The Main layer is the glass panel that is installed on top of it, this panel is also composed of various layers,first of all their are 2 polarization filters that are orientated at a 90 degree angle to each other. The upper polarization filter polarizes the in polarized light, it creates this just using one polarized plane.The lower polarization filters out the light because of its rotations of 90 degrees. The Polarized light should be rotated by 90 degrees in order to pass through the lower filter, this will be accomplished using a liquid crystal. This rotates the light in 90 degrees allowing it to pass through the lower filter and display and image through the screen.
LED uses the same technology as the LCD but added LED lights to create a back light, the short video below explains this briefly.
Sound
"All sounds are vibrations traveling through the air as sound waves. Sound waves are caused by the vibrations of objects and radiate outward from their source in all directions. A vibrating objectcompresses the surrounding air molecules (squeezing them closer together) and then rarefiesthem (pulling them farther apart)."
The way that sound gets into computer side of things are using speakers and headphones. Speakers are used to provide sound by converting the signals they get from their source into sound waves. Sound refers to the frequencies a human ear can hear, speakers move back and forth decreasing and increasing air pressure which produces acoustical energy. In a speaker a circular wire called the voice coil is attached to a cone, the voice coil sits in the gab of a circular magnet. The magnetic field in the gap is radial pointing directly outward or directly inward. A flexible spider keeps the keeps the voice coil centred in the gap so it does not rub against the magnet. The surround attaches the front end of the cone to the frame of the loudspeaker. The image below shows how a speaker works more clearly.
It is essential for a speaker to be inside a cabinet or shell because this substantially increases the loudness of the speaker.the video below demonstrates how speakers work and what they do.
Sound cards-
"Alternatively referred to as an audio output device, sound board, or audio card. A sound card is an expansion card or IC for producing sound on a computer that can be heard through speakers or headphones."
Computers to resemble for this on the side of input for speakers, computers use sound cards to output and input sound, using ports such as HDMI and 3.5mm audio jack. Many motherboards have their own integrated graphics card but consumers in the music or audio field tend to invest in a dedicated sound card. Just like the graphics cards the sound cards does the same function as the the integrated ones do but better. Dedicated sound cards plugs directly into your motherbaord and acts as and expansion with ports on it. A sound card converts computer signals into sound, the signals that is being sent to your headphones or speakers are converted using a sound card. Sound cards uses 3 sound standards, the first one is 8 bit which tends to be lower quality to most consumers' taste, the second one 24 bit and above sound which produces digital or CD quality sound and the third one is MIDI produces the same sound as a musical instrument.
Game storage medium
"A hard disk drive (sometimes abbreviated as Hard drive, HD, or HDD) is a device used to permanently store and also retrieve information. There are many variations, but their sizes are generally 3.5" and 2.5" for desktop and laptop computers respectively. "
A hard drive is a the main storage unit in a computer not to be confused with memory (RAM), A hard drive saves everything in your computer by storing the files within allowing you to retrieve the files when you turn the computer on and off. Hard drive comes in different sizes for laptops and computers, and also comes in different interfaces.A hard drive sits in a compartment in your PC case with two ports connecting one to your motherboard and the other to the power supply. The newer interfaces we see today is the SATA interface and the older interface which is an IDE. Inside the hard-drive you are able to see sort of a mini record player, which has an aluminium disk like a CD and an actuator arm to read the data on the aluminium disk. Hardrives are usually purchased in Gigabytes(Gb) and Terabytes(Tb) today which refers to space inside the disk the chart below shows the units used to measure DATA space in computer drives.
Hard drives are also purchased according to the speed of the drive measured in RPM (rounds per minute), referring to the rounds that the aluminium disk spins per minute. So the faster the RPM is the faster your hard drive will be at performing tasks. We are able purchase hardrives in RPMs such as 5400 and 7200.
There is also a micro chip technology that is used in most phones and tablets that uses a different technology to this the traditional hard drives.They are much smaller in size and can be used with all portable devices. This same technology is used in flash drives which is a portable mean of memory to carry around with you.
Interface Devices
"An interface device (IDF) is a hardware component or system of components that allows a human being to interact with a computer, a telephone system, or other electronic information system. "
An interface device is a device that lets a human interact with a computer, which is usually a device that can input information into a computer and control it.There are many interface devices that can be used with a computer, but the main devices that is required for a computer is a mouse and keyboard. Some of the latest computers (all in one PCs) have touch screen monitors that lets you have an alternative to the usual mouse and keyboard but most consumers still prefer out usual peripherals. There are also other inventions designed replace our usual interactive devices such as track pads, controllers, trackballs etc.
Connectivity
"He internet is a global network of computers that works much like the postal system, only at sub-second speeds. Just as the postal service enables people to send one another envelopes containing messages, the internet enables computers to send one another small packets of digital data."
The internet allows to obtain information from the internet from anywhere in the world with an internet connection. I would rather think of it as a web that covers the world and this web is full of information that any one with a piece of this web can connect to and have access to. At this day in age everything is run using the internet, from banking to gaming. The internet is that we got to out houses usually comes through a wire weather it is fibre optic, satellites or even through cellphone networks. A server is a computer that is connected straight to the internet and webpages are the contents on that server. Every server has a unique IP address (Internet protocol), similar to a postal address IP addresses help computer find each other.The computers we use at home are not connected directly to the internet, the normal computers are called clients, we connect to the ISP (Internet service provider) which connects us to the internet. Internet service providers being companies like Virgin media, B.T, talk talk etc.
The video below explains how the internet work in more detail.
LAN netwoks
LAN sands for Local Area Network,this can be network of computers that is made using 2 or more devices connected to he same local network.That forms a network within that doesn't necessarily have to be connected to the internet. A LAN connection can be formed using an Ethernet cable or a wireless connection depending on the router that you are using. The video below briefly explains how LAN networks work.
Power supply
A power supple converts the normal electricity coming from the plug socket into smaller voltages to individual components inside a computer that requires power. This also converts from AC voltages into DC voltages. It is very important to get a high quality power supply because if a power supple fails all the other components are in risk of being shocked by unstable voltages and being damaged.
Power supplies comes in different voltages for different computers depending on what components you have inside of the computer. There is a also two types of power supplies you can buy in terms of cable management called modular and non modular, modular power supplies gives the consumers a choice if they want to use a specific cable or take it out but non modular power supplies comes with all the cables fitted to the power supply which you cannot take out and tends to make a mess with lots of cables. There are also standards or efficiency ratings which rates the power supply on the quality and the reliability of it. so getting a power supply with a high efficiency rating is safer than a lower rated.The video below explains how a power supply works.
Power supplies comes in different voltages for different computers depending on what components you have inside of the computer. There is a also two types of power supplies you can buy in terms of cable management called modular and non modular, modular power supplies gives the consumers a choice if they want to use a specific cable or take it out but non modular power supplies comes with all the cables fitted to the power supply which you cannot take out and tends to make a mess with lots of cables. There are also standards or efficiency ratings which rates the power supply on the quality and the reliability of it. so getting a power supply with a high efficiency rating is safer than a lower rated.The video below explains how a power supply works.
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwiBp-Oohvs
http://cdn.eteknix.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/cx500m.jpg
http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/p/ps.htm
http://simonhaughton.typepad.com/.a/6a0120a530561e970b01a73de27db3970d-pi
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https://documentation.apple.com/en/soundtrackpro/usermanual/index.html#chapter=B%26section=1%26tasks=true
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http://www.explainthatstuff.com/lcdtv.html
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http://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2009/12/16/whats-the-difference-between-a-cpu-and-a-gpu/
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https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/book/the-encyclopedia-of-human-computer-interaction-2nd-ed/human-computer-interaction-brief-intro
Task 1 - Game platform Development Timeline
History of gaming before gaming platforms.
1950s
The first video game "Bouncing ball" was produced using the Whirlwind computer (the first computer to display real time video signals), this was the first computer that was able to display text and graphics on the same screen at once. While bouncing ball which was created by Charly Adama wasn't an interactive game this was the starting point of many games to come.
In 1958 "Tennis for two" was developed by William A. Higinbotham, Which was a simulation of tennis played by two players.
1960s
In 1961 Steve Russel and group of students developed a game on DEC DPD1 called space ward, which let two players control to ships that was capable of firing missiles at each other. This game was eventually distributed among the players with the same hardware.
Not too long after that Ralph Baer created the first home video console called the "Brown Box" as well as created the first video game called "corn dog" which was the first video game ever to display on a standard television set which set into motion the video game technology available to us today.
Then later down the line came Arcade machines which took the market by storm in the 70s,
Arcade machines
What is an arcade machine?
An arcade machine is a quite large coin or token operated games platform that can be found at arcades, restaurants, pubs etc. The idea of this is to players to go in to these places that they can find arcade machines at and use coins or tokens to play them. Older arcade machines uses a two board system where one board is dedicated to graphics and the other to processing the game. The display is a quite small CRT monitor inwards the machine which shows all the graphics or images. The main glass in the front magnifies these images to show the player a bigger picture.
1970s
In 1971 the first ever coin operated video game machine came to the market. Soon after in 1972, Atari released their very first game coin operated video game called pong, which proceeded to sell more than 35 000 units which made pong a huge commercial success. Pong is a very low 2 dimensional graphics of 3 objects on a black screen which simulated a tennis games consisting 2 tennis rackets and a ball. This was a 2 player game where the players' objective was to the defeat the opponent by achieving a higher score. This game is a landmark of the games industry and where this multi million dollar industry began.
1950s
The first PC game "Bouncing ball" was produced using the Whirlwind computer (the first computer to display real time video signals), this was the first computer that was able to display text and graphics on the same screen at once. While bouncing ball which was created by Charly Adama wasn't an interactive game this was the starting point of many games to come.
In 1958 "Tennis for two" was developed by William A. Higinbotham, Which was a simulation of tennis played by two players.This game was developed on an oscilloscope a device thats primary use is to monitor different voltages of electricity.
1960s
In 1961 a student in Massachusetts institute of technology created Space War the first interactive computer game.This was a 2 player where each player has control of ship and their objective is to destroy each other. This game was a developed on a PDP-1 which on of the first digital computers created.The graphics for the game space war was created using ASCII text characters.
1970s
In 1970 Intel unveils the their first dynamic access memory, the Intel 1103. In 1973 IBM developed a portable computer prototype named the SCAMP, this used an IBM made processor, Philips cassette drive and a fully functional keyboard.This was a revolutionary computer since this was the world's first portable computer.
1980s
In the 1980s computers were further developed to home use, and there was a lesser learning curve to use a computer.In 1981 IBM released their PC called the IBM 5150. This PC came with a joystick port that allowed consumes to plug in a joystick for games such as flight simulators.In 1985 Microsoft released windows which was meant to be a shell or a graphical operating system for MS-DOS.Later in the 80s some of the lower cost Pc gaming machines like the commodore 64 started being released which caused a rise in home computing and gaming. These computers motivated users to also developed their own games with the resources, most of the games designers we see today came from this era. IBM also started to overtake consoles with their hardware capabilities which resulted of higher graphical games being developed in the PC. But the lack of gaming hardware that could be used for gaming on he pc kept consoles superior.
1990s
Fast forwarding into the 90s , After being dominated by the arcade and console gaming market PC began rise up once again with games such as Half life 2, Doom etc with the release of Windows 95 and 96. Computer hardware began to get more powerful by the day by the constant release of hardware by companies such as ASUS and Intel. Specifications shown in these machines are almost laughable at looking at the technology we have today. The video below will show you what they considered "The ultimate gaming PC" in the 90s.Some of the higher detailed games were released in this time period. In 1999 Wifi technology was released which boosted up the online gaming community greatly.
2000s
1950s
The first video game "Bouncing ball" was produced using the Whirlwind computer (the first computer to display real time video signals), this was the first computer that was able to display text and graphics on the same screen at once. While bouncing ball which was created by Charly Adama wasn't an interactive game this was the starting point of many games to come.
In 1958 "Tennis for two" was developed by William A. Higinbotham, Which was a simulation of tennis played by two players.
1960s
In 1961 Steve Russel and group of students developed a game on DEC DPD1 called space ward, which let two players control to ships that was capable of firing missiles at each other. This game was eventually distributed among the players with the same hardware.
Not too long after that Ralph Baer created the first home video console called the "Brown Box" as well as created the first video game called "corn dog" which was the first video game ever to display on a standard television set which set into motion the video game technology available to us today.
Then later down the line came Arcade machines which took the market by storm in the 70s,
Arcade machines
What is an arcade machine?
An arcade machine is a quite large coin or token operated games platform that can be found at arcades, restaurants, pubs etc. The idea of this is to players to go in to these places that they can find arcade machines at and use coins or tokens to play them. Older arcade machines uses a two board system where one board is dedicated to graphics and the other to processing the game. The display is a quite small CRT monitor inwards the machine which shows all the graphics or images. The main glass in the front magnifies these images to show the player a bigger picture.
1970s
In 1971 the first ever coin operated video game machine came to the market. Soon after in 1972, Atari released their very first game coin operated video game called pong, which proceeded to sell more than 35 000 units which made pong a huge commercial success. Pong is a very low 2 dimensional graphics of 3 objects on a black screen which simulated a tennis games consisting 2 tennis rackets and a ball. This was a 2 player game where the players' objective was to the defeat the opponent by achieving a higher score. This game is a landmark of the games industry and where this multi million dollar industry began.
http://blogoscoped.com/files/pong/pong-machine-large.jpg
In 1975 Tomohiro Nishikado Gun fight was released which was the first ever game to use a microprocessor and the the first game to depict human on human combat in the games industry. This game consists of two cowboys with revolvers having a stand off, the player who shoots the other cowboy wins.
In 1978 Space invaders which is a well known tittle to this day was released by Taito Corp. Space invaders is one the earliest shooter games that nearly everyone has heard of. his game involves the player who is a ship that has to defend itself from aliens by shooting them.The player has to shot the aliens without getting shot by them which adds a lot of challenge to the game. this game also fetures the early days of game UI by using the game machine's processor to control the UI (Aliens). This game also featured shield like structures where the player could take cover from the aliens if its taking too much fire from the enemies, these would deplete over time as they take fire which eventually lead them to disappear.
1980s
1981, the year of the release of Donkey Kong by Nintendo the game that is still talked about to the day and many remakes of this game with the technology at the time. This is also one of the first platformer games released and the second game ever to release player levels. This game also had a cliché back story to it which featured the "rescue the princess" setting to it similar to some of the other games by Nintendo.The game play consisted of a gorilla throwing barrels down the platform and the the player has to jump over the barrels to get to the top of the platform to save the princess. This sold 60 000 units in just a year which made it a huge commercial success.
In the same year one of the most famous videos games ever was released, PacMan was released which was once of the most successful video games ever released by selling 350 000 arcade machines and making 2 billion dollars in profits.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Donkey_Kong_arcade.jpg
1990s
In the 1990s Capcom released street fighter and games like mortal kombat became a huge success, These games made a all the arcade fighter games a big hit in the 90s because it let a payer control a human that could combine certain moves and give each other a chance to fight each other in the game.These games which started in the arcade machines also made their way into other platforms and sequels to these games are still released to this day as AAA titles on video games consoles and PC.
2000
Sega flight simulation game "strike fighter" was released on arcade machines, which was one of the closest simulations of flying a plane at the time. I've also had 1st hand experience playing this game and it was one of the best simulation games I had played at the time. In 2005 Sega began to fit in camera's into arcade machine with Mario Kart arcade GP. Later down the line Dead heat street racing introduced to sharing screen and sharing pictures via social media. Most of the games in these years were released in high definition.
2015
4D arcade machine is released with the game "Dark Escape 4D", which combines features like surround sound,High definition 3D screen, vibrations, blasts of air and heart beat monitor to give the players a fully immersive experience. Also with this came the game big buck hunter which allows players to compete for real cash prizes for an additional fee and this also let players to share score and such via social media.
http://i1.wp.com/arcadeheroes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/DE4D-Cabinet.jpg
Consoles
What is a video games console?
A video games console is a piece of hardware or a specialized computer designed and dedicated to play video games and has the ability to output digital video of a television. There is more than 70 different consoles made to this date these include consoles that are not portable are only played by connecting to the TV and hand held consoles that includes a screen to display all images on the console. In the past, most of the mainstream consoles had different architectures and slightly different hardware which required games designers to specialize in consoles games and PC games since they were different they had to design the game to be compatible with one or the other. At this age the latest mainstream consoles like the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox one has similar architectures to PC (64 bit) which makes it easy for the developers to develop games for PC and consoles at the same time and less time is wasted converting games to be compatible with consoles or PC. Games consoles provides a bridge between arcade games and PC games making the console more appealing to the average consumer by giving them hardware power as well as arcade style controls.
1967-1972
In 1967 Ralph. H Baer who was an engineer at Sanders Associates. inc came up with the first ever console called the "Brown box", He is known as the father of video games. He also made games such as Pong, handball, volleyball and chase games. In 1972 Sanders licensed and released the brown box as Magnavox Odyssey which began a long line of video games consoles, This was a milestone of video games consoles history.
1970s
In 1975 Pong which was developed by Atari was a hit in the arcade world and they had this amazing idea to develop and bring his game for the Odyssey. At the same time Magnavox decided to improve make the odyssey compatible with pong so they released 2 more versions of the console, Adding a new features and improving it. IN 1972 Atrai was founded by Nolan Bushnell they released their biggest hit, A home version of Pong under the label of Tele-Games. After releasing a Pong for consoles Atari began working on cartridge based system so that a console can play multiple games one the same console, this also allows developers to sell games for a different consoles. The Atari 2600 was released to compete with the Magnavox Odyssey. Atari featured games such as Video pinball and stunt cycle to push the console further and give it more of a competition since they have more experience in the industry.
1980s
In 1980 Mattel releases a console to challenge the Atari and hoping to compete with it's dominance.The Intellivision had more than 20% of the billion dollar american gaming market due its superior sounds, graphics and a really strong ad camping which sold the console to the american market. But later down the line these companies attracted third party developers who released unlicensed games and such which caused many companies in the game industry to go bankrupt. Companies like Mattel and Atari abandoned the games industry at this time. In 1985 Japanese playing card company Nintendo released their first ever console the Nintendo Entertainment system (NES). Most of the US retailers were having second thoughts of the release of this console after the video game industry crash the previously but the demand of video games from consumers began to rise. After Nintendo releasing popular titles like Metroid, Super Mario bros and Legend of zelda and also implementing a strict licensing policy for third party publishers the NES started to break records in sales and proceeded to become one of the best selling console in the history of video games consoles. In 1989 Nintendo once again has done it by releasing the first major handheld games console, the Game boy. This also had an 8-bit architecture CPU similar to the NES, With the release of Tetris this console was a big success, the sales went through the roof and this console was the foundation for many handheld games consoles to come over the years.
1990s
In 1990 the Neo Geo was released this was a console with amazingly detailed 2D graphics for h eime it was released by giving arcade level graphics at home. The high launch price of this console and the games kept it from being popular, and making it a competition for other consoles. The Sega genesis was released by Sega in 1990 making it the first console to feature a 16 bit architecture CPU. Later down the line the Super NES was released. Even after its slow start in 1990 the super NES caught up to the Sega genesis because of its slight technological superiority. Using their new IP Donkey kong and their already out games such as Super Mario Bros, Metroid and Legend of Zelda. Later in the 90s the Super NES proceeded to be the most selling games console in the country. In 1995 the japanese company Sony came up with the first play-station which I also have first hand experience with. The Playstation provided stunning visuals for the time. This console featured a 32 bit CPU, which enabled the 3 dimensional game play and domination the 16 bit games technology. After coming out with CD based games it dropped the price of play-station games dramatically from those of cartridge based games. Some of he best games that everyone has heard of came from the PlayStation such as Gran Turismo, Tekken, Metal Gear Solid etc. Later in this year came the Nintendo 64 which featured cartridges as their main source of games yet again, but this time they claimed that the Nintendo cartridges loads much faster than PlayStation disks. They also continued to eliminate the use of a memory chip to save game files, Nintendo save game files were saved in he cartridge itself. The N64 featured games such as Super Mario 64, The legend of Zelda.
2000s
The 2000s was the decade of both 6th and 7th generations of consoles. Sony released the PlayStation in the year 2000, this was one of the few consoles that featured backward compatibility and the first console to feature a 128-bit system. This also functioned as a DVD player so this was no doubt one of the best multi featured home entertainment systems. The PlayStation featured games like the grand theft auto series, metal gear solid and the final fantasy series which made the PlayStation become the most popular;ar console of the 128-bit era. This also featured multiplayer gameplay through internet.
In 2001 the first games console by Microsoft was released called the Xbox. Microsoft used their PC technology in powering the Xbox which allowed the Xbox to have greater performance than the PS2 when compared. Xbox console exclusive games like Halo which made the the console one of the most popular consoles at the time.
Later down the line after their huge success with the Xbox,In 2005 Microsoft came up with their next console which was the Xbox 360. Microsoft beat Sony to the punch this time with the Xbox 360 releasing their console earlier for a launch price of $399. The Xbox 360 featured a Social multi-player network through the internet called Xbox live, this allowed players to add each other as friends in the console very similar to the social media websites seen today. Xbox live allowed players to play games with or against each other though the internet, this was when the "split screen" gameplay started to fade away because players did not have to be in the same place to play with one another. The Xbox 360 also featured a fully functional user friendly interface which was a big improvement from the consoles before this. This came also came with a microphone that could connect to the Xbox controller which allowed player to use real time voice chat in game. One of the only downsides for playing online with Xbox 360 was that there was and still is a monthly subscription fee to use the Xbox online. The Xbox 360 is still used to this day and there are still games being developed and released to it even 10 years later which only confirms that this is some long lasting hardware even it sounds like its not on paper. Microsoft later released more Xbox 360 models making them slimmer and giving them more hard drive space to store downloaded games.
After the release of the Xbox 360 Sony released there competition for this console which was the PlayStation 3. The PlayStation 3 was released 1 year after the Xbox 360 for the ridiculous launch price of $599 for the 60GB version. This really high launch price for the console made consumers have second thoughts about buying this and the PS3 didn't sell as everyone thought it would. But later down the line after some price cuts and the release of the PS3 slim it not only caught up with the sales but also over took the Xbox 360 in sales selling 82 million sales as of 2014. The PS3 had the same features as the Xbox 360 in terms of the UI (user interface) and online, but PS3 made the it's online subscription free which appealed to a lot of consumers. Sony also implement a built in blue ray player in the PS3 which was very useful for a living room console. Apart from these major consoles some consoles have been released that are more lower end like the Nintendo wii, Ouya etc.
The Nintendo Wii was released in 2006 which took a completely different to Microsoft and Sony, the Nintendo Wii featured a motion capture system that would require the players to perform certain real life actions to control the game. The Wii used a remote as a controller and a motion capture sensor that would go near the TV. The Wii is most suited for family gaming since it featured a lot of party games. Sony and Microsoft also released motion capture accessories called the Playstation move and the Xbox kinect. Some game play of the Nintendo wii is shown below.
2010s
In 2013 Microsoft and Sony released their "next generation" consoles that featured x86-64 architectures. Both the Xbox one and the PlayStation 4 featured hardware that would used in a mid to high end gaming pc at the time, such as 8 core 64-bit processors, mid ranged graphics cards and 8 GB of ram. There was some controversy at the launch of the consoles that the PS4 had better graphical power than the Xbox one even though it costed £100 more. Both Sony and Microsoft took a similar approach in terms of social features, they implemented apps such as Facebook and twitter that would let consumers use these apps through the console and Telivision. And since sharing gameplay videos was a trend they implemented a system that would automatically record the last 15 minutes of gameplay that help players to share the gameplay and also edit the clips that were recorded before uploading. Both of the consoles featured console exclusive games on release to attract a certain the right demographic of people to the right console, they featured games such as kill zone shadow fall and Halo. The PlayStation 4 also featured a touch pad in the middle of the controller that would let the player control certain things in game as well as the system keyboard which works surprisingly well. The PS4 also added a speaker and an AUX port on the controller which allowed players to get the audio output of either the whole game or only chat audio though headphones.The Xbox was released with a kinect that came with the console as a bundle and this i is an enhanced version of the kinect that was released for Xbox 360. The playstion released a camera technology with the PlayStation that acted and looked more like a Xbox kinect, this has and incredible technology built in and a mini game built in to showcase this called playroom. This lets players interact with little creature that can only be seen on the tv but looks like they are here in real life. The camera renders these creatures as if they are real and also lets the player interact with them as shown in the video below.
In 2012 Nintendo released the Wii U which featured an interactive touch screen on the controller which allowed you to either use as a secondary screen on see the full picture on that screen. Hardware wise the Wii U has a tripple core cpu, 2gb memory and a lower end graphics card which proves that the Wii u was not trying to compete with the major consoles. Priced at $299 this console featured the traditional Nintendo games such as Mario, smash bros, legend of zelda etc.
PC Gaming
The first ever computer that was created similar to the computers today was created by Alan Turing in 1936, this was called the Turing machine, this computer is capable of receiving messaged through a strip line that passes through it with 0s and 1s. The Turing machine is the start for something that would develop heavily in the next 80 years to something truly extra ordinary. Almost everything today is done using computers from business to pleasure. Later down the line in 1941 Atanoff and his student developed a computer that could solve 29 equations simultaneously, this was the first time a computer was able to store information in its main memory.
The first PC game "Bouncing ball" was produced using the Whirlwind computer (the first computer to display real time video signals), this was the first computer that was able to display text and graphics on the same screen at once. While bouncing ball which was created by Charly Adama wasn't an interactive game this was the starting point of many games to come.
In 1958 "Tennis for two" was developed by William A. Higinbotham, Which was a simulation of tennis played by two players.This game was developed on an oscilloscope a device thats primary use is to monitor different voltages of electricity.
1960s
In 1961 a student in Massachusetts institute of technology created Space War the first interactive computer game.This was a 2 player where each player has control of ship and their objective is to destroy each other. This game was a developed on a PDP-1 which on of the first digital computers created.The graphics for the game space war was created using ASCII text characters.
1970s
In 1970 Intel unveils the their first dynamic access memory, the Intel 1103. In 1973 IBM developed a portable computer prototype named the SCAMP, this used an IBM made processor, Philips cassette drive and a fully functional keyboard.This was a revolutionary computer since this was the world's first portable computer.
1980s
In the 1980s computers were further developed to home use, and there was a lesser learning curve to use a computer.In 1981 IBM released their PC called the IBM 5150. This PC came with a joystick port that allowed consumes to plug in a joystick for games such as flight simulators.In 1985 Microsoft released windows which was meant to be a shell or a graphical operating system for MS-DOS.Later in the 80s some of the lower cost Pc gaming machines like the commodore 64 started being released which caused a rise in home computing and gaming. These computers motivated users to also developed their own games with the resources, most of the games designers we see today came from this era. IBM also started to overtake consoles with their hardware capabilities which resulted of higher graphical games being developed in the PC. But the lack of gaming hardware that could be used for gaming on he pc kept consoles superior.
1990s
Fast forwarding into the 90s , After being dominated by the arcade and console gaming market PC began rise up once again with games such as Half life 2, Doom etc with the release of Windows 95 and 96. Computer hardware began to get more powerful by the day by the constant release of hardware by companies such as ASUS and Intel. Specifications shown in these machines are almost laughable at looking at the technology we have today. The video below will show you what they considered "The ultimate gaming PC" in the 90s.Some of the higher detailed games were released in this time period. In 1999 Wifi technology was released which boosted up the online gaming community greatly.
2000s
The 2000s computer games became more greater in quality, since the hardware becomes a lot more advanced and powerful. With all that hardware power it was only a matter of time for developers to use it to make games that use the all of the hardware. The developers started to polish fully immersive 3D environments that we have already seen. Most of the developers were making games for consoles for higher sales because not every PC can play a certain games, the hardware has to be god enouh. But his is no the case with consoles since every console sold can run a game released for that console. while these developers were developing games for consoles, Companies like Blizzard remained faithful to the PC community releasing games such as Diablo 2. Later down the line blizzard released World of Warcraft in 2004 which took the gaming market by storm, This is still the most played MMO RPG. In 2003 the first ever online game distribution platform was released, steam. This was and is the mostly used games platform software to this date. Steam was the reason why we rarely see physical copies of PC games anymore. This software allowed you to have an account with a games library that will stay in your account for as long as you want. This also implemented a friend list system to add a social aspect for the program which is still been used today to add friends and play with them. A year later, half life 2 was released from valve which was one of the best games ever in my opinion an I am sure that most of the PC gamers will agree. Valve also released the Counter strike series which introduced a more tactical and competitive approach to the first person shooter (FPS) genre. In 2003 AMD released the first 64-bit based Processor for for consumers which opened up the door for better quality PC games. Some of the more high scaled games were released taking advantages of this such as Arma, Battlefield etc.The video below shows some of the components used in a gaming pc in the 2000s.
Later in 2009 windows 7 was released which was a more stable version of windows compared to windows vista. And of course Apple kept up with releasing the Mac to compete with windows but gamers preference was always windows because of its compatibility. As games such as Call of duty and need for speed became hits on consoles PC was always the hardcore gamer's choice because of its hardware capabilities and the PC exclusive games such as world of Warcraft, Dota 2 etc. Steam is is now the most used games platform with at least 1 million players online at any given time of the day.Right now in 2015 the games have improved a lotloosking back, from the graphics detail to game play, everything seems so much better than before. This is because of the rate the technology is advancing in this day of age. Computer parts manufactures come up with more powerful parts every year which lets the game developers take advantage of these hardware. Shown below is a Top specification gaming PC as of 2015.
The video above also show cases the technology and hardware used in this PC that will allow almost all games for the next 2 years run in the highest settings.Shown below are some of the newest and upcoming games that shows drastic improvement to the games that we've seen before, graphics and mechanics wise.
Evolution of games graphics
Mobile
Mobile games are designed for mobile devices such as smart phone, featured phone, handheld consoles etc.Mobile has become one of the most used platforms for game, in this day in age everyone has a phone and has access to games on the go. Since gaming in mobile phones were quite recent compared to other platforms I will also include hand held consoles under mobile.
1970s
In 1977 Mattel electronics released one of the first hand held video games consoles, this took some of the consumer hands off the massive arcade machines that took up a lot of space. This a LED screen screen and a game of football came with it the console.In this game all the players were shown using LED lights. Later in 1979 a well known game even today, Block buster was released by micro vision and became the first company to introduce interchangeable cartridges in video games. But this hand held gaming system had some technical issues like cartridges doing permanent damage to the system and the console could be damaged even due to small static shock which made it too fragile for general use.
1980s
Competing with mantel's electronics Nintendo released their first instalment of the Game and watch series.Unlike the mattel electronics Led lights, this featured a fully functional LCD screen and also unlike the cartridge system Nintendo released console per game, this way they released nearly 50 portable consoles with different games pre installed such as Donkey Kong, Pinball, Zelda etc. Nintendo continued to develop game and consoles for the game and watch series till the early 90s. The Nintendo game and watch also featured and alarm and a clock, but the real attraction for the consumers were the games. In 1989 arguably the most popular games console was released called the game-boy, this took the mobile and handheld gaming market by storm. The biggest succes for this console was the price of just $109 at launch. This was the best hand held gaming system released yet, with an amazing screen and a well thought out cartridge system that actually worked.this featured a green display which some consumer despised but the games kept them around. Nintendo released improved versions of the console which featured a back lit display the and the Nintendo light. In 1989 Atari came into handheld and mobile market releasing their Lynx series. This was a far superior hand held console hardware wise but the size of it and the price still kept the game boy high up in sales.Atari Lynx featured a standard resolution coloured display with back light and a CPU that was used in apple home computers,
1990s
In 1990 Sega released their instalment to the hand held gaming market called the Sega Game Gear. The Sega game gear featured the same features as the Atari lynx such as the coloured display and superior hardware but kept the price reasonable at $149 which appealed to some consumers. Sega released far better games than the Atari and came to the lead with their amazing games, low price and superior hardware.
In 1994 the first smart phone was released called the IBM-Simon by he company IBM. This was the first step in the smart phone direction where a phone can be a multi purpose device. In this day in age where everyone has a smartphone, this was the first step to it all. The IMB-Simon had the ability to perform all actions that a usual mobile phone could such as calling and then additional it could send faxes and e-mails but this phone was way too expensive to general use at the time.
The first game was released on Hagenuk MT-2000 in 1994 which featured a black and white display, This was the well known arcade game Tetris .In 1997 Mobiles phones came into the gaming scene after Nokia releasing the snake game on 1997 on the Nokia 6110 which also featured a 2 player mode through in-fared.This was a GSM released by Nokia also in 1997, the phone featured 3 games including Snake, Memory and Logic. This was the start to a new era of gaming and a billion dollar industry.
2000s
In 2001 the game boy advance was released, Technically speaking the hardware on this hand held console was on par with the super Nintendo and was 32 bit.Which made the Game boy advance one of the most anticipated hand held consoles in the history. Nintendo brought back all their usual titles for this and also a new IP called Advance wars. The Gameboy had a custom graphics unit which made the games look the best at its time for hand held consoles and a 16 Mhz processor to run everything smoothly. And later in the years Sony released the PSP and Nintendo released the Nintendo DS but at this point Mobiles started slowly comming into the video games section with the release of smartphones.
Also in the early 2000s the Tetris came out on the mobile gaming platform in Japan again, but this time it was downloaded by thousands more uses because of the popularity of mobile phones at this day in age. Later in 2005 EA (Electronic Arts) bought the rights to Tetris and re- released it bumping up the downloads to millions in 2010. In 2004 Nokia released the N-Gage, a phone that is dedicated to gaming. This device was capable of calling someone as well as gaming to a level of a hand held console.This also packs a punch in terms of hardware featuring a 104 Mhz Cpu and running the Symbian operating system. All these features aside this wasn't very popular among gamers because they likes to keep a mobile phone a games device separate.
After long line of attempted smart phones by companies such as Ericsson, palm, Nokia and IBM. Apple released the I phone which was a revolutionary product, As steve job said in the unveiling this was 5 years more advanced than any phone in the the market at the moment. The iPhone featured astonishing specifications for the time. The video below showcases it's specifications.
With the release of the iPhone came a game called "Lights off" this was native to the iphone and this was the first ever 3rd party application developed from the iPhone dev UI kit. This failed to get to the iphone because of apple not allowing 3rd party apps on their apps tore till 2008.
A year later in 2008 HTC released their competition to the Iphone and IOS by releasing the android OS. Later down the years with the release of the apple and android app stores, Iphone and android got games such and doodle jump, Flappy bird, angry birds adn even more graphicaly intense games such as asphalt, modern combat etc. Some developers started converting early pc and console games into mobile games such as Grand theft auto, assasin's creed and call of duty zombies. Shown below are some of the latest mobile games with the latest graphics .
Short timeline of mobile games created by Gameloft.
Some Graphically intensive Mobile games showcasing what mobile hardware can do at this day in age.
Television
The Television is one of the most used invention today, every house has a television or a screen these days. Gaming wouldn't be possible without the invention of the television, even today the monitors we use for out computers have adapted from the television.
1900s
The first television was revealed by John Logie Baird in 1928, This was named the W3XK and it was owned by Charles Jenkins.In the same year RCA began work on a large screen television. A year later the television was introduced in the United Kingdom and Germany. The first Television was sold for $75 at the time. CBS was founded in the same year which proceeded on to being a major broadcasting station. In 1938 the first UK public demosntartion of the Colour Television was demonstrated by John Logie Baird.
1950s
The first ever interactive TV show was first aired on CBS on 1953 , this was an interactive show for children for drawing. The host of the show guided the children through drawing a certain object and the children are supposed to draw with him. But this concept failed after some years because of the drawing on TV screens. But this still; goes down as the first ever interactive TV show which can be also looked at as a game. Shown below is a clip of the show to get a better understanding.
1970s
In 1970s the BBC service came up with a new Tele-text service called Ceefax which was the first first teletext service. This was a broadcast consisting of just text, showing news, weather time etc. on in the form of slides.This was taken down after 38 years of service on air because of the lack of viewers in 2012.
1990s
After Ceefax came many more Teletext services such as Oracle and 4 Tel. The 4 Tel service became a more child friendly service with it's Kids pages, puzzles, games and cartoon strips.Open.... was a british interactive broadcasting service, this opened a new world to some gamers, the Open.... was available though a satellite transmission so it wasn't a requirement to go online and download data. this allowed users to play games on the TV using the TV remote as sort of a controller. Open.... offered games such a Fathom, Sheep Dip and Marvin Mole. Later in 1999 the TV gaming demographic sky rocketed with the release of TiVo a cable box lets Televisions perform additional tasks such as record TV shows and much more. The TiVo box and its competitors were able to hold
games in their memory and not too long after this was also used as a games platform by some users.
2000s
Fast forwarding into late 2000s to some companies like Sky and virgin media adopting the TiVo box and their cable box and the release of smart Tvs games became a much more common use for TVs. Virgin media, sky and other Tv and cable services partnership with TiVo to make their cable box have TiVo features. So at this point their is a TiVo box at nearly every home and everyone with a TV subscription has access to these games. Some of the latest Televisions now has operating systems in implemented in them so they dont need an external devices to perform certain tasks, these are called smart TVs. Smart Tvs are able to access the internet, stream videos and even go the extra mile of taking video calls (Skype). With all these features comes all the games, most of the smart TVs come with android now and able to download and play games that are featured in the android store and play using the remote. some TVs have the function so you can connect your devices such as your smart phone or games controller directly to the TV and play games that way, the video below demonstrates that.
In 2014 Sony also unveiled a new technology that allows players to rent and play AAA game titles directly on the Sony TV. The players just have to connect a controller and they are good to go, the video below demonstrates that.
Sources : ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
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https://www.tivo.com/about
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