Game Platform

In your post, include reference to important people that helped develop arcade game platforms.

David Rosen

In 1966 the first electronic game was invented by the company Sega who made a game called Periscope and this game platform was designed by a man called David Rosen who also made the company Sega.

In 1967 a company called Taito invented the first 2 player game called Crown soccer special and was invented by a man called Michael Kogan.

The Game Pong

Space Invaders

Pac-Man

In 1969 Sega introduced the first ever arcade game to incorporate the use of a joystick and was called Missile.

In 1972 the introduction of pong was brought in to play for arcade games and then shortly after the release of sega's new game called killer shark was introduced and top the tables for arcade games.

In 1978 Taito's space invaders was introduced and spurred the moment for arcade games to come in caused wide spread arcade games to be introduced in to shops and shopping malls around the world.

In the 1980's sega also introduced more games and some of there best games introduced were Pac-Man and Donkey Kong which spurred the golden age for arcades once again.

In the early 1990's arcade games had risen once again from its decline due to cap-com creating an arcade game called street fighter 2 which made arcade games rise again.

Critically comment on why Atari was so influential in the development of Arcade machines.

Nolan Bushnell

Atari was so influential in the development of arcade machines because Nolan Bushel and Ted Dabney engineered firm which introduced the first ever designed and built arcade game for futures to come. 

In 1972 Nolan Bushnell had a new design member of his Atari Inc. called Al Alcorn to design a arcade game which eventually be called Magnavox Odyssey's tennis game which would eventually turn out to be called 'Pong'. 

In 1979 Atari later designed the arcade game called Asteroids and became one of the most popular games in the golden age of arcade games.

In 1981 because of the success of the Asteroids game the company Atari later designed a revamped version of the asteroids called asteroids deluxe.

Asteroids

In 1982 the company atari also designed more games to follow on from asteroids game and made  game called space duel which turned out to be another success for atari in arcade games.

In 1987 the company atari also influenced the arcade game market once again by introducing a game called Blasteroids which set the bench mark for atari once again.

Analyse Why Arcade Machines Declined in the 1990's

Arcade machines declined in the 1990's because of the introduction of the game console by other games company which caused an up roar because it made games more affordable and more accessible for people world wide and caused sales in arcade machines drop because people didn't see the point on wanting to play arcade games at an arcade store when they could purchase a games console  and have the luxury of playing arcade games all day long for free.

Also due to the fall of arcade games, Arcade companies began to have still the upper hand on game consoles due to the interactions the player could do at arcade venues all around the world and this still caused people to play games at arcade machines.  

Also because home game consoles began to out match arcade machines in game graphics and technology this also caused the decline in arcade games and arcade stores across america and also the introduction of the internet also set the bench mark for game consoles to come and soon arcade games couldn't come close to matching game consoles technology and eventually it declined and the rise of games consoles began to start. 

Nintendo and Sega developed influential games on Arcade machines please give examples.

Nintendo:

Mario bros.

Donkey Kong

some influential games in the arcade era from nintendo were:

Donkey Kong junior
Mario bros.
Punch out

these games were the most influential arcade games by nintendo

Sega:

some influential arcade games by sega were:

Pengo

• Pengo was an influential game
• star trek was another influential arcade game by sega
• zaxxon also was another game that produced huge sales for sega

Conclusion

My Conclusion is going to explain my views and what were the limitations of arcade machines at there present success during release.

During the time of release of new arcade machines and the new games involved, the limitations were high compared to its competition which was the home console market, and this was due to the fact that, arcade machines could only play one specific game at any given time, the user had to continuously put money in to the machine if he or she wanted to carry on playing the game, but compare this to the home console which at the time could play more than one game at anyone time and didn't cost the user also of money when playing the game because he could buy the game once and once only and could play the game as many time as he or she likes.

In addition, arcade machines were only in given places around the world which caused problem for some children at the time because they couldnt play the arcade machines if they were to far away from an arcade building, and this caused a drop in arcade machines, but the main problem of arcade machines was the fact the user had to keep paying to play the games and could be spending a lot of money just to have some fun.

Other limitations of the arcade market was the introduction of the home console and its success, because of the success of the home console, most of the arcade games that were made solely for the arcade machines where now being made for the home console's market and was making more people buy the home console over arcade because they could enjoy the same games of the arcade era to the home console's era in gaming. 

Console Controller & Display devices

Console Controller & Display devices

To connect your games console to a display device is as followed, you need a HDMI cable to be connected in to the HDMI port located on the back of the console next to the ethernet port, then you locate the same HDMI port on your TV  which should be labeled 'HDMI' and then you can be able to see the screen content for for your game console. 

Step two should be to connect the HDMI Cable inside the HDMI port and should look like this, and this how your TV should look on the other end of the HDMI cable.

and step three should look like this when the HDMI cable is connected to the port and should look exactly same.

Then step four should be where you connect the power cable to the power port so your games console can start to receive power and then you are able to start receiving a signal for your HDMI channel on the TV display.

Step five should look like this and then the other end of the power cable which plugs in to a wall socket which then allows you to receive power from the mains. but when connecting the power supply, all other cables must be connected first to ensure a proper connection.

Step six is where you then must connect your game controller to the console you can move and play games properly, and doing this you need a 2.0 USB lead.   

Step seven is to connect this end of the cable in to the USB port located at the front of the game consoles as shown above and then the other end of the cable must be connected to the controller which uses a different type of connection.

This end of the USB 2.0 cable must be connected to the controller port which uses the same and then once the controller and ps3 have been linked they can the be used wirelessly due to a bluetooth connection.

The 2.0 USB lead connect inside this controller port then once again when the  cable is connected and you turn your games console on with the cable connected and the number 1 light on controller will light up to say the controller is linked then you may unplug the cable and can play your games console wirelessly 

the limitations of the PS1 controller and the PS3 controller were very different, for example the PS1 controller was lmited on the range of player from the actual console meaning they had to sit very close the console because of the length of controller cable, now compare this to the PS3 controller, you could virtually sit at any distance from the console because of a wireless feature which allowed up to a 20 meter range from the games console, also the PS1 didnt allow for advanced control movment using SIXAXIS controller setup, compare this to PS3 you couldnt just control the play using the D Pad or anolog units, you could also control the player on abasis of SIX axis using wireless motion mevement from the controller allowing for better interactions with the character.

The best Displays device when using a PS3 games console would be a Full HD display TV which uses 1920x1080 resolutions and the best way to use the graphics of the console to its full potential would be to use a HDMI cable also knows as High Definition Media Interface which uses the full resolutions of the screen.

now from the older generation consoles, the introduction of AV output cable for the PS1 was very limited because it limited the graphics display on the TV screen and also the TV's them selves were limited on what they could play, for example HDMI graphics for display was a 1920x1080 resolution but when looking at the AV output cable for PS1 and PS2 the graphics for these consoles were 640x480 resolution display and this limited the consoles in the past because it ment the graphics were less compared to modern day consoles which use HDMI display for the best qualtiy picture today and most likely for another few years in gaming.

And also to get the maximum sound from your games console you will need at least a 2.1 ration speaker setup and have an optical cable leading in to the back of the games console so your surround sound can play the sound from the Games console in to the special speaker system.

now i will produce a step by step guide on how to connect and older generation of consoles to display devices.

now when the processes involved when connecting an older generation of consoles for example the PS1you first need to connect your games console to the mains power supply so the games console can be powered and eventually played. and as you can see this type of power connection port is standard for all generation of consoles from the company sony and has been a very reliable way of powering a games console. 

when you have connected the power supply from the mains to the console you will then need to connect this end of the cable to the serial out connecter show on the image below for the screen to receive a display picture.

once you have the serial out connecter cable it then must be connected to the port located at the back of the game console.

now when you have connected the serial cable to the serial port on the back of the games console, you will then need to connect the Left, Right and video out cable to the back of the TV display for the game console to start sending graphic images to the screen.

Game Consoles

Game Consoles Time line of game consoles (1st Generation Gaming)

Magnavox Odyssey

The 1st ever mass produced video game console was produced in 1972 by an electronics company called Magnavox and they produced a games console called the Magnavox Odyssey and was to become the 1st ever games console to connect direct to a TV and use that as a display monitor, and thanks to the fluctuation of the game pong, which help to make games consoles more popular, Magnavox company cancelled the production of the Magnavox Odyssey to produced less powerful model's which became called the Odyssey 100 and later produced the Odyssey 200 which was a more higher end model's. 

The game console Odyssey used the 1st ever produced analog controller which had one joystick as the movement for the game. 

Cartridge board

And to produce the games on the Odyssey console the company designed a cartridge type game which was called the printed circuit board which had interlocking circuits which would link to the console and produce the desired game on the screen.

Game Consoles Time line of game consoles (2nd Generation Gaming)

The 2nd generation of gaming was introduced by a company called Fair child who later produced a game console called the Fair Child Video Entertainment System which was released in 1976 and became the 1st ever games console to incorporate the use of CPU also know as a Central Processing Unit, Robert Noyce who worked on the Fair child F8 later disbanded from the company and produced the company called Intel and this move would later be the down fall of the company Fair child.

Fair Child Video Entertainment System 

this generation of game console was better in the limitations of the previous generations console because it used cartridge based games which had all the information stored on a cartridge and compare this to the previous console (Magnavox Odysseys) used a cartridge based system but it was used to make up part of the game because the other connectors were inside the console meaning you were limited to the games you could play.

Also the Fair child would later be the rise in the production of the cartridge based game, to store the information making consoles slightly more powerful due to less components being used for the consoles production. and thanks the to the company Atari, who later capitalised on the use of cartridge games, they produced games quicker before the market got filled cartridges and practically stole most of the money from Fair child over the cartridge sales and then Fair child console later became unpopular because of Atari stealing the lime light.

Video game crash in 1977

In 1977 the older companies that produced games console later sold the old stocks of consoles at a loss and the market later dropped in sales and most companies would later close down leaving the likes of Atari company and Magnavox Odyssey still producing games for the nation.

And due to the 2 companies being left in the battle, both companies later produced there own cartridge based systems out and the market took another high again, and with the introduction of the arcade version space invaders on arcade machines and then later produced it for there consoles and the market soon took a high for sales.

Video game crash in 1983

In 1983 the market when into another depression on sales of game consoles because of most companies  producing mass game consoles and very low quality games which soon put people of buying game consoles from even the likes of Atari who produced a flop game called E.T. which valuable customers of there sales.

Game Consoles Time line of game consoles (3rd Generation Gaming)

Nintendo Famicom

In 1983 Nintendo Later released the family computer or a.k.a the Famicom consoles, and with the introduction of this new console by Nintendo the new console could support higher resolutions, more sprites, and even more tiled backgrounds.

Light Zapper

typical features of this console were the introduction of 60 pin cartridge system which was used to make the consoles smaller in size, and what made this console better than the previous console was included with the console was a light zapper giving more interactions with games, also came with two controller pads and also two games making it more desirable than the Fair Child games console.



Game Consoles Time line of game consoles (4th Generation Gaming)

Sega Mega Drive/Genesis 

In 1988 Sega released the next generation of console called the Sega mega/genesis drive, which revolutionised the storage capacity of games because they Incorporated the new CD drive or compact disc. and Sega later released the newer model of the console called the 32X version which add more polygon functions and increased graphic quality.

and because of the introduction of the 32 Bit system gaming, it meant game consoles were stepping up in the market from the previous console, which used a 16 Bit system which limited the graphics and performance of the previous console. and the resolutions of the screen were also limited, but were better than the last because the Sega 32X system had a resolution of 320 x 480 screen resolutions which added better display for gaming.

Also Nintendo released there console called the super Nintendo Entertainment System which would rival most companies in the game console market.

Game Consoles Time line of game consoles (5th Generation Gaming)

PlayStation 1

Between 192 and 1995 there were multiple consoles released which made composition harder between companies, and the console that rivalled all consoles during this era was the Sony PlayStation console which was the best selling console and sold over 100 million copies. The PlayStation was the eventual result of a breakdown of a business partnership plan between Sony and Nintendo to create a CD add-on for the SNES. Nintendo changed the deal and went to Philips and Sony later finished the product and only adding there name to the mix and Sony would later become one of the best game console companies going in future times.

now when the PS1 games console came around, there was a whole new bench mark set for how gaming would be done, and with PS1 the graphics content would be better than the last consoles for example the processing chip inside the PS1 was nearly 4x times the power of the previous console which was the Sega mega drive system yet it still ran on 32 Bit system and also had better graphics quality which the PS1 could support 640 x 480 resolutions compared to the Sega drive which supported 480 x 320 resolutions and this being the case this was why Sony and there PS1 was the best game of its generation.

Game Consoles Time line of game consoles (6th Generation Gaming)

Sega Dreamcast

during this era of gaming, the world began to see in change in consoles for example PC  began to hit the markets with the introduction of flash memory devices and hard drive memory systems and even on line gaming on the PCs.

Sega's dream cast was later to be their last console because they couldn't keep continuing the console production with the likes of Nintendo and Sony with their consoles.

early in 2000 Sony later released newest console called the PlayStation 2 which would later be the rise of Sony computer entertainment, and was the first game console to have a DVD player inside to play films on the console, and Sony later redesigned the console and made it smaller, and as of July 2008 over 140 million copies were sold.

Game Consoles Time line of game consoles (7th Generation Gaming)

PlayStation 3

in 2005 Microsoft later entered the gaming market with the introduction of xbox 360 which would later incorporate the use of a HDD or hard disc drive and later in the future the xbox would later be fitted with a device called Kinect which was motion control unit, and later that year Sony introduced there new line of consoles called the PlayStation 3 console, PlayStation 3 was the first console to introduce the use of HDMI output and utilised all the resolutions on the screen.

also with the new Sony console, it could have up to seven controls connected to the console via blue tooth and used a new revolutionised disc storage media called Blue Ray disc which tripled the number of storage layers on the disc increasing storage for games significantly. and compare the on line service to xbox, the on line service by Sony was free unlike Microsoft where you had to pay a fee to play on there on line servers.

Game Consoles Time line of game consoles (8th Generation Gaming)

Nintendo next home console, the Wii U was officially announced on June 7, 2011. The Wii U is Nintendo first console to support high definition graphics up to 1080p and will be the first console to use a controller with a built-in touchscreen. The Wii U will also be backwards compatible with all of the original Wii controllers and input devices.

and will soon revolutionise gaming in the future because of the introduction of the built in touch screen controller.

Failed Game consoles

Fair child

Failed game consoles: the Fair child video entertainment system this was due to the company Atari who later sore how well the cartridge based storage system, they soon started making more cartridges than Fair child and were soon stealing the market from them which caused Fair Child to loose customers and soon couldn't compete with Atari and later went out of business.

Sega Master System

The second failed game console was the Sega master system was designed to compete with the likes of Nintendo Famicom but got no real market share in the north America region and japan, but when introduced in to European market it out sold the Falcon system but still couldn't compete the likes of Nintendo consoles.

3DO Interactive Multiplayer

The third failed game console was the 3DO interactive multilayer system which was more powerful than both sega and Nintendo latest console combined and also cost twice as much, but could never really compete with the market, and then soon after Sony came out with the PlayStation 1 and then the 3DO soon became an outcast of generation consoles.

Atari Jaguar

The Fourth failed game console was the Atari jaguar which was released to give gamers a superior advantage in the technology market but soon faded in the market because it is was very hard to program the software, and due to the years before with other dominating companies, the market didn't open up for Atari and its new console and soon faded out. 

Sega Dream Cast

And another failed games console was the Sega dream cast, which failed because of one major reason, which was Sega introduced a new storage media device which would be use to combat the piracy market of games, but soon after the software was cracked and Sega later began software making and publishing only and discontinued there console career.



Hardware that has changed gaming media

Typical storage of a CD-ROM at the time of it being introduced

Two specific hardware devices that changed the game market for futures to come was the introduction of the CD or compact disc which helped increase the size the storage for games, making game graphics better and with the introduction of the CD laser which helped scan the new media format which also made the reading of information of the game quicker making games render quicker giving smoother game play.

Example of the compact disc being useful was CD-ROM drives employ a near-infrared 780 NM laser diode, The laser beam is directed onto the disc via an opto-electronic tracking module, which then detects whether the beam has been reflected or scattered and the reflection or the scatter would show the specific binary coding for games and helped the game be read quicker.

And this type of hardware made the PS1 very successful was due to the storage of games on media storage devices was increasing and meant there could be more information stored on the CD at anyone time making graphics and game play longer.

And the second hardware that made a change in the gaming market was the introduction of the HDMI output cable, and this made a huge change in the gaming media because the game consoles introduced with this like the PS3 was able to utilise the full resolution of a HD screen which is 1080p resolution and if it wasn't the introduction of this consoles that was later introduced may never have been having top resolution graphics and the consoles may never have been fully utilised.

Latest games consoles

The latest games consoles available in present day games console markets are the PS3, Microsoft's Xbox 360 and the Nintendo wii, and all these consoles have very different gaming markets but still appeal to a huge audience.

PS3 Controller

For example the PS3 when Sony released there console, it set the bench mark for new features of gaming consoles and how each game would play, and comparing these features from older generation consoles you can see how much technology has risen from each generation. for example the ps3 game console uses a new designed games controller called the ps3 wireless six-axis controller, which with certain games sold for the PS3 you could control the character using motion movement, hence the name six axis because you could control the character on six different axis and also because of the capabilities of a wireless controller, it meant the player wasn't limited to the position of his games console when wanting to play games because he could use the controller wireless. and when playing flight simulations games you can actually control the full movement of the aircraft using the six axis function.

PS1 Controller

Now when comparing these game controllers from older generation, you will find a huge difference in controllers, for example the PS1 games controller used a controller with no wireless capabilities and also had to be constantly connected to the games console limiting the position of the games console and also limiting the position of player, and you were also limited on the number of controllers being connected at any one time, for example the PS1 could have only 2 games controllers being connected at anyone time, but compare this to Sony's latest games console you can fit up to 7 game controllers wireless allowing more people to play the game console.

Blue-Ray Disc

For example the Xbox 360 when Microsoft released there console, the capabilities you could do with it was in competition with Sony and there console, for example, Microsoft had the wireless capabilities of wireless controllers like Sony but couldn't  as many controllers as Sony, and also the game console was limited to the size of the disc and data stored, for example Sony used a new generation of DVD storage called the blue Ray disc which depending on the disc could hold up to 10x more data than Microsoft with there disc storage which gave Microsoft major limitations because the size of the games them selves had to be reduced in size compromising in the graphic and mass content of games.

Now when you compare the Xbox 360 to older generation consoles Microsoft did have the upper hand over older consoles but was still limited for example Sony with there older models of consoles like the PS1 and PS2 Microsoft didn't have much more than what these consoles offered, apart from the wireless controller units, and better Internet gaming experience, but with the arrival of the PS2 you could play on line thanks to the introduction of the Internet, and the PS2 could hold up to 4 controllers at any one time thanks to an adaptor alloying extra controllers being connected, but when comparing these games console you will find Microsoft and there game console is not much different to the PS2 which is why there is still a market for Sony in there games consoles because they offer more for less.

Wii Remote

Now when we look at the features of the Nintendo Wii console, the features for this console was in heard of, and this was because Nintendo didn't want people to just play games using a controller they actually wanted the player to interact with the games and use the body movement as the controller by using a wireless infra red controller which when the player made a movement, the movement would be shown on the display device. and thanks to Nintendo using this, the audience for Nintendo was in serious competition with Sony and Microsoft because people began to like the idea of interacting with there games making them enjoy the games they play.

Now when comparing the WII console with older generations of console there not far from being the same apart from the interactions with game, for example the graphic quality of the wii console is no better than graphics seen on PS1 and PS2 and this was due to the fact the size of interactions of the character in the game. now when you compare features of the wii you will find it uses the same storage capacity as Microsoft meaning the game and game data are limited to what you can make.

Still making Sony the better console in the market because you can do more than Microsoft and wii consoles combined, for example Sony has motion capabilities same as wii, and the Sony console has same graphics if not better on certain games than Microsoft, and Sony offer a free on line service unlike Microsoft where you have to pay a fee each year to play on line. and Sony being the company there are they have always lead the way in technology advancements for example the introduction of the CD or compact disc which revolutionised storage of games since. and offered better graphics per generation console thanks to more advancement in technology in the microchip production.

On line capabilities of the modern Console

The on line capabilities of modern game consoles can vary because each console has different features available when on line gaming, for example the PS3 has on line gaming and offers there customers free on line gaming compared to the Xbox 360 which charges there users for the use of on line gaming but some of the customers do rival the issues that xbox 360 servers are better than Sony servers. now when comparing the Wii which has on line gaming, but there on line gaming is completely different to the likes  of Microsoft with the xbox 360 and Sony's PS3 and this is because wii uses the motion movement as the player interaction which means there on line capabilities have to be redesigned to accommodate the motion movement making wii rival most game console on line capabilities when playing on line.

PS3 on line capabilities and uses:

PS3 Software update Menu

The PS3 on line capabilities can vary from what you are actually wanting. for example the multiple uses that PS3 offer for on line are, software updates to keep you systems software up to date and get new features on the XMB software for the PS3 console.

Playstation store Menu

You also have the use of the PlayStation store which allows the user to download new content for their console like films, games and applications, and also the user can download content for portable devices such as the PS vita and PSP.

Multiple Account holders Per Console

You also have the option to create a PlayStation account which allows the user to make an account name of the choosing and play other users from around the world on games which have multiplayer capabilities.






Predictions of Eighth Generation gaming would be:

In my personal opinion, i believe that the next generation of gaming would begin to rival the likes of PC capabilities and this is because as technology progresses so does the size and quality of gaming, for example the PS3 console uses a processing chip which is twice as powerful and twice as quick at processing information that the most GPU's are used in PC's so i believe that if Sony were to create anew generation of gaming consoles, the graphics and processing capabilities of the GPU would be up to 4x the speed and power of a general PC of today.

Xbox kinect

But because of the limitations involved when making consoles, the consoles in the future may only have the gaming quality of computers today, also with the introduction to motion movement being used on TVs and with Xbox and wii consoles, i believe as gaming becomes more popular motion movement will be a huge break through in gaming, you could have the introduction of leg and hand straps which would be used for the characters leg and arm movement and as technology advances improve so does the information that can be processed from the motion movement software and hardware.

PRS-T2 3D Viewer

Also I believe with Sony just releasing there new visor unit which has two 2.5" inch 3D screens at the correct distance from the eye this new design in gaming has set a bench mark for the consoles because it allows the player to immerse them self in the action more and become 'one with game' and with this visor unit most players could use the word virtual reality when gaming because this visor unit would be something you would see in fiction films. but when combining the use of motion movement and a visor unit as complex and technologically advance you could be looking at more of virtual gaming than ever seen before.

And with the introduction of portable gaming devices like the PS Vita i believe in the next generation of consoles, Sony would have designed a way where you can play actual games from your console on to your portable device through wi-fi and have the joy of most top rated games on the console being played on the portable devices as-well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=7vcGqha6xJ0