Latest Gaming Console 1: Department of Computer Engineering, MCERC, Nasik
Latest Gaming Console 1: Department of Computer Engineering, MCERC, Nasik
Latest Gaming Console 1: Department of Computer Engineering, MCERC, Nasik
1
1. INTRODUCTION
Gaming consoles are one of the best digital entertainment media now available.
Gaming consoles were designed for the sole purpose of playing electronic games. A
gaming console is a highly specialised piece of hardware that has rapidly evolved
since its inception incorporating all the latest advancements in processor technology,
memory, graphics, and sound among others to give the gamer the ultimate gaming
experience.
A console is a command line interface where the personal computer game's
settings and variables can be edited while the game is running. But a Gaming Console
is an interactive entertainment computer or electronic device that produces a video
display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game. The
term "video game console" is used to distinguish a machine designed for consumers to
buy and use solely for playing video games from a personal computer, which has
many other functions, or arcade machines, which are designed for businesses that buy
and then charge others to play.
The origin of video games lies in early cathode ray tube-based missile defense
systems in the late 1940s. These programs were later adapted into other simple games
during the 1950s. By the late 1950s and through the 1960s, more computer games
were developed (mostly on mainframe computers), gradually increasing in
sophistication and complexity. Following this period, video games diverged into
different platforms: arcade, mainframe, console, personal computer and later handheld
games.
The first commercially viable video game was Computer Space in 1971,
which laid the foundation for a new entertainment industry in the late 1970s within
the United States, Japan, and Europe. The first major crash in 1977 occurred when
companies were forced to sell their older obsolete systems flooding the market. Six
years later a second, greater crash occurred. This crash—brought on largely by a flood
of poor quality video games coming to the market—resulted in a total collapse of the
console gaming industry in the United States, ultimately shifting dominance of the
market from North America to Japan. While the crash killed the console gaming
market, the computer gaming market was largely unaffected. Subsequent generations
of console video games would continue to be dominated by Japanese corporations.
The handheld gaming market has followed a similar path with several unsuccessful
attempts made by American companies all of which failed outside some limited
successes in the handheld electronic games early on. Currently only Japanese
companies have any major successful handheld gaming consoles, although in recent
years handheld games have come to devices like cell phones and PDAs as technology
continues to converge.
A device called the Cathode-Ray Tube Amusement Device was patented in the
United States by Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. and Estle Ray Mann. The patent was filed
on January 25, 1947, and issued on December 14, 1948. It is described using eight
vacuum tubes to simulate a missile firing at a target and contains knobs to adjust the
curve and speed of the missile. Because computer graphics could not be drawn
electronically at the time, small targets were drawn on a simple overlay and placed on
the screen.
In 1985, the North American video game console market was revived with Nintendo’s
release of its 8-bit console, the Famicom, known outside Asia as Nintendo
Entertainment System (NES). It was bundled with Super Mario Bros. and instantly
became a success. The NES dominated the North American and the Japanese market
until the rise of the next generation of consoles in the early 1990s. Other markets were
not as heavily dominated, allowing other consoles to find an audience like the Sega
Master System in Europe, Australia and Brazil (though it was sold in North America
as well).
In the new consoles, the gamepad or joy pad, took over joysticks, paddles, and
keypads as the default game controller included with the system. The gamepad design
of an 8 direction Directional-pad (or D-pad for short) with 2 or more action buttons
became the standard.
The Legend of Zelda series made its debut in 1986 with The Legend of Zelda.
In the same year, the Dragon Quest series debuted with Dragon Quest, and has
created a phenomenon in Japanese culture ever since.
Figure4.1. PS2dvd
5.1. Cartridges
Game cartridges consist of a printed circuit board housed inside of a plastic casing,
with a connector allowing the device to interface with the console. The circuit board
can contain a wide variety of components. All cartridge games contain at the
minimum, read only memory with the software written on it. Many cartridges also
carry components that increase the original console's power, such as extra RAM or a
coprocessor. Components can also be added to extend the original hardware's
functionality (such as gyroscopes, rumble packs, tilt-sensors, light sensors, etc.); this
is more common on handheld consoles where the user does not interact with the game
through a separate video game controller.
Standard game cartridges used for several popular consoles. From front to
back: Game Boy Color, Sega Genesis, and Atari 2600. Cartridges were the first
external media to be used with home consoles and remained the most common until
1995 continued improvements in capacity (Nintendo 64 being the last mainstream
game console to use cartridges). Nevertheless, the relatively high manufacturing costs
saw them completely replaced by optical media for home consoles by the early 21st
century, although they are still in use in some handheld video game consoles.
6.1. Nintendo DS
Figure6.1.1. Nintendo DS
6.7. Future
A newly formed US technology company, Infinium Labs Corporation, announced that
they will develop and market a new games console called ‘Phantom’. SONY
PLAYSTATION 4 for the next-generation PlayStation 4 Sony Computer Entertainment
Inc. plans to use more affordable components.
Just as there is a choice between a personal computer and a game console, there is
also a choice between a handheld computer and a portable game device. While a
handheld computer can run a variety of programs, including games, their user controls
do not lend themselves well to the type of “human interface” to which game-console
users are accustomed. Two game-console manufacturers, Nintendo and Sony, produce
handheld game devices with built-in screens, and controller buttons almost identical
to their desktop-console counterparts. Since handheld game devices are meant to be
held
and played in two hands, they typically have an array of game buttons on both sides
of a central display screen.
A read-only memory cartridge slot, or a small removable disc drive, loads the
game program, while a small bank of “non-volatile memory” stores player scores,
game settings and other related data. Borrowing from their handheld-computer
“siblings”, modern portable game devices are often equipped with wireless network
adapters. They can let the player browse Web sites (within the scope of their display
size) when the user is within range of a wireless host network. In addition, players
with the same handheld game device can link them wirelessly, allowing cooperative
or competitive play of the same game.
The Sony Play station Portable has only one screen, but it is larger than on the
Nintendo device and it has a “9×16” wide screen format. Commercial movies and
game programs have a more realistic appearance on the larger display, and more
Website content can be seen without “scrolling”.
Examples:
a. Splinter Cell series – Nivea skin care products for men, Philips Norelco shaving
products, and Sony Ericsson cell phones.
b. Need for Speed Underground – Cingular cell phone service, Burger King, Best
Buy.
On the whole, Gaming Consoles are the better option in the long run. They are
designed for gaming. This has helped the industry understand the basic requirements
of 3D and multimedia applications. Without a doubt, this will affect the designs of
PCs in the future and make them gamer friendly. Gaming is indeed heading in the
direction of becoming a mainstream form of entertainment. Gaming experience drives
technology requirements and in turn contributes to the growth of the IT industry.