Modern video gaming consoles Essay Example for Free

Modern video gaming consoles Essay Abstract: There are many ways for entertainment, sometimes these activities are very expensive for all people to offer these activities, as solution for this in the 1970s a new entertainment method has been introduced in the market place, and this new method was popularly known as video games [1]. Video games created large impact among the game lovers. Time to time, people who develop video games, introduces different consoles using advance technologies. Today the leading competitors using very advance technologies to market their consoles to the consumers. Among that Nintendo Wii U, PlayStation Vita, Nintendo 3DS are some of the high end video gaming consoles which are available in the present arena. These consoles equipped with very advance hardware structure like high powered processors, vast capacity of media and storage, user friendly user interface with multiple options, advanced video output, and controllers with advance technologies. On the other hand another set of video gaming consoles has been dominating in the present world which is motion control based consoles. The top motion control console PlayStaion move and xBox Kinect took the gamers to a different track from the traditional gaming consoles. These type of motion based game consoles provide real time game play to the gamers. Today video gaming industry has become one of the most revenue making business, and the evolution of this device is quite interesting, from the most basic models to today’s very complicate play station gaming devices, the demand for the product grown very rapidly. And further international cyber gaming event have made a great impact among individual who are fond of this aspect. 1. 0 Introduction to modern video gaming consoles The technological development in the area of video gaming is an amazing evolution in the world of digital gaming, the history of the gaming industry runs down to the 1970,s, since then the industry has seen a huge development, which were beyond the imagination of human mind at the time of its discovery. The development in this field can be seen from the change that has occurred to the basic gaming device, in the initial stage this mechanism had only used simple joysticks, but today they have developed in to more complicated joystick and move device with more function, because this equipments come wireless they are convenient to handle. Going beyond the gaming arena, you can use the device in various ways, this technology can be used in other sectors as well, and as steering wills are available we can use this kind of devices in training drive and pilots which can save immense cost to the respective institutions. Further looking far beyond the above we can use this technology in the process of developing war strategies which would eventually save not of money and resource, when handling terrorism. More over by using gaming devices we observe the effectiveness and the efficiency of the human brain, and as per the above discussed this industry has potential to grow in the future. Leading competitors of the video gaming industry such as Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft used their own technological approach to enhance their quality of the product. Time to time they have come up with different products and draw the gamers to a different path. A popular game development company Nintendo announces their new product Nintendo Wii U at Electronic Entertainment Expo 2011 last year [2]. This most advance console of Nintendo, which built up with amazing features than their previous releases. Nintendo Wii U will be ship with Wii remote an upgraded version, Wii remote plus and the Wii Balance Board. Electronic tycoon Sony introducing their PlayStaion VITA this year, targeting its portable video console customer base [3]. PSVITA will be available on the market from the third quarter of this year; will be carrying lot of feature than the PSP. Sony introduce NVG card, new format of flashcard to store games and enable 3G to connect through internet to access PSN (PlayStation Network) for online gaming experience. GPS, Multi-Touch Touch screen, built-in microphone, two analog sticks, rear Touch Pad, Cross Play support (play online games WITH PS3 users), SIXAXIS motion controls, and front and rear Cameras that allow for AR Games are some of the new features from its original PSP. Section 2 provides an overview about the video gaming consoles. Section 3 is critically reviewed on categories and major developments of the devices. Section 4 describes the technologies involved in modern video gaming consoles, section 5 provides future directions of video gaming consoles, Section 6 discuss about Threats to modern video gaming consoles section 7 explains a discussion about the area. 2. 0 Overview of the modern gaming consoles Over the decades, video gaming culture becomes more popular among the individual who are fond of this aspect. Hence a higher task is assigned for the video game industry to provide the output according to the user requirements. As s result of these different products from different manufactures came to the market in a large scale. In the early 1950’s smaller researches carried on to develop video games and the researches last until the late 1960’s. The golden era of video gaming begins from the early 1970’s and the growth is massive. 1985 Nintendo came up with their new device Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), a separate device which is designed for video gaming. Similar consoles like Sega Master System III, Atari XEGS, Action Max, Commodore 64GS, RDI Halcyon were introduced to the gamers with different technologies. Video gaming consoles industry has been rehabilitee with the entry of Sony Corporation. In the year 1994 Sony introduced an advanced gaming device called PlayStation [4]. While Sony dominating throughout the decade other consoles like Atari Jaguar II, Sega Saturn, Nintendo 64, Nintendo 64DD, Game Boy Color, Playdia were also available in the market. Another notable incident took place in the year of 2001 with the present of Microsoft to the industry. Microsoft makes their present with a remarkable console xBox, which is a big competitor to Sony’s PlayStation 2. Portable devices and Handheld gaming consoles also played a vital role in the video gaming console industry. Motion controller based console is another popular device in today’s gaming field. Motion control based devices came to the market with the present on Nintendo Wii and later Sony and Microsoft introduces their controllers Move and Kinect in late 2000s [5]. The functionality and the efficiency of modern gaming consoles are excellent. At the present there is a high competition between Sony’s PS3 and Microsoft’s xBox 360, while Nintendo dominates the motion control console market. Meanwhile the expectations of eighth generation video gaming consoles are very high. The announcement for PSVITA, Nintendo Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, Razer Switchblade, EVO2 were already made and gamers expecting their arrivals. It is expected that Motion control based consoles will dominate the eighth generation video consoles. These eighth generation consoles are expected to have a centralized online system, which is similar to xBox Live and Apple’s game centre. Ported games will be differentiated on platforms via DLC and it facilitates the player to download the game for different platforms. The controller of these consoles will be Controllers will be motion-capable, which comes through an evolution from the SIXAXIS where the motion could be detected by six degree. These consoles will be fully fledged media centers. They are mostly equipped with media streaming, video streaming playback videos through Netflix and adding online video banks like YouTube and Justin. tv. 3. 0 Categories and major developments of modern gaming consoles There are different types of consoles widely available in the market. They can be categorized as motion based console, Controller based consoles, handheld consoles etc. Among that motion based consoles are the very famous one which is popularly used by the gamers. 3. 1 Motion based Consoles These are the most advanced consoles that are available in the market. Japan’s popular game development firm Nintendo introduced their first motion based console Nintendo Wii back in 2005. A big amount of research and development carried out throughout the past and finally Sony Corporation and Microsoft came up with their products. Sony launched their motion controllers Move for their PS3, while Microsoft releases Kinect for xBox. Mean while Nintendo announces their next generation motion based gaming console Nintendo Wii U, which will be built up with advanced technologies than their previous version. These consoles have been built up with massive technologies. 3. 1. 1 PlayStaion Move PS Move bundle contains with a sensor camera and the controller. The controller in the user hand will be detected by the camera and that particular controller will be synchronized with the video game. Once the player moves with the controller, the character in the video game also moves to the direction. FIGURE I: PLAYSTATION MOVE CONNECTED TO A DISPLAY The camera, called Eye is capable of using edge detection, facial recognition, and basic motion tracking to map a room. The glowing Orbs plays an important role to detect the controller by the camera. PS3 Move uses LED tracking and edge detection to determine the controllers distance from the screen. By measuring the size of the orb in relation to the incoming video feed allows the system to calculate the precise distance of the controller from the camera. The color change of the Orbs helps the PS3 eye to differentiate the controllers from other objects that can be captured by the camera and from one another in a multi-controller setup. While determining distance is the primary purpose for the orb design, the orbs also assist in pointer detection. The tilt, rotation, velocity, and orientation of the controller is determine by an array of inertial sensors. Three kinds of sensors have been used in the motion controllers which are accelerometer, a magnetometer, and angular rate sensor. Accelerometer is used to detect the upward orientation of the controller as well as to determine the tilt. Magnetometers are typically used to determine the magnetic field and it helps the system in establishing the directional orientation of the controller. The angular rate sensor is used to measure the velocity of the move controller’s motion. This allows the system to accurately determine the actual speed of how fast the player moves or swings the controller. Motion controllers can be connected to the main console both wired and wireless. Wireless connectivity is based up on Bluetooth, which creates a firm bridge between the console and the Motion controller [6]. 3. 1. 2 Microsoft Kinect for xBox 360 Kinect has been introduced by Microsoft in the year 2010 for their primary gaming console xBox 360. A record making sales occurred world wild after it debuts the market. Kinect use a slightly different technology from PS Move and Nintendo Wii. Kinect only built with a sensor camera, which allows the player to interact with the console without any handheld controller. FIGURE II: PRIME SENSE THAT HAVE BEEN USED IN KINECT Kinect uses Prime Sense’s sensing technology which can maps thousands of points, and can accurately read body movements, complex gestures and even verbal cues [7]. In order to adapt to varying room layouts and sensor positioning, Kinect is capable of automatically adjusting its orientation with a motorized swivel and tilt mechanism built into the base, While the tilt mechanism is pretty solid, it can be damaged by improper care or attempting to manually adjust the sensor. The sensor connects to the Xbox 360 via either the auxiliary port built into the new Xbox 360 S or USB on previous models. The new Xbox 360s auxiliary port is an all-in-one solution that both powers and communicates with the sensor, whereas older systems will have to use an included AC power adapter to power the device. Setting up and calibrating the Kinect can be simple or a bit of a hassle, depending on the type of playing environment. Not only is there an extensive on-screen setup process, but players must physically prepare a room for Kinect. In order to play with Kinect user must choose a clear large space at least 6 feet between the player and the sensor and any object that are intermediate should be moved. Kinect is recommended players play in rooms with bright, even lighting, though our experience showed that just about any lighting environment produces reasonable result. 3. 2 Handheld video gaming console 3. 2. 1 Nintendo Wii U Wii U is the upcoming gaming console of Nintendo, expecting to launch next year. Wii will carry with lot of advance feature from their previous product Nintendo Wii. This console is compatible with Wii peripherals such as Wii control and Wii balance board. Wii U’s Hardware architecture and the design have been completely enhanced with comparing Wii U is Approximately 1. 8 inches tall, 6. 8 inches wide and 10. 5 inches long. An IBM Power Architecture-based multi-core 45 nm microprocessor based on the POWER7 will be use as the CPU, while the GPU will be a custom designed AMD RADEON similar to the R770 chip. FIGURE III: CONTROLS OF WII U AND THE COMPONENT ARCHITECHTURE The console will have internal flash memory, as well as the option to expand its memory using either an SD memory card or an external USB hard disk drive. It will also build up with 12cm proprietary high-density optical discs and 12cm Wii optical disc. Will U will be launched with an amazing port and peripheral functionalities including SD memory card slot (supports SDHC cards), USB 2. 0 ports (2 at front of console, 2 at rear), Sensor Bar power port, AV Multi Out port and HDMI 1. 4 out port. Video output will be sync with 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 480p and 480i. Compatible displays over HDMI, composite, component and S-Video while Audio output will be use AV Multi Out connector with Six-channel PCM linear output through HDMI. Wii U. A brand new controller with a complete new design will be shipping along with Nintendo Wii U Approximately, which is 5. 3 inches high, 0. 9 inches deep (not including buttons and other projections) and 9. 0 inches long. The new controller designed with a 16:9, 6. 2 inch touch LED display which contains all the traditional button controls and along with new two analog Circle Pads. The interesting is the potential for the two screens (controller display and the giant display) to work in direct tandem, an extension of ideas tested on DS. A touch screen interface enables play types that have escaped buttons and analogue sticks. Likewise, inbuilt gyroscopes and accelerometers act as a third set of analogue control inputs, allowing gamers to physically move the device to adjust their aim or orientation on screen. Nintendo Wii U is the Nintendo’s sixth home console and the very first console with 1080p high-definition graphics, and features a new controller with an embedded touch screen. This touch screen enables the player to continue the come if the television display turned off [8]. 3. 2. 2 PlayStation VITA Sony Corporation’s upcoming handheld video gaming console, which is expecting to be available in the market from the end of this year. PS Vita will have a 5-inch OLED capacitive touch-screen(960 x 544) capable of multi-touch, 512MB of RAM, 128MB of VRAM, powered by an ARM Cortex Quad-Core A9 chip and a PowerVR SGX GPU. There will be two VGA cameras (front and rear) capable of capturing images at 60 fps. Additional features include 802. 11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2. 1+EDR, 3G radio(optional), ports for game cards, memory cards, SIM cards (only 3G-equipped models), and a multi-use port that can support DC power input, USB, audio input and serial data. PSVITA facilitates it users to voice chat (‘Party Mode’) during the game play. A ‘Live Area’ will be created for the players to receive announcements from the developers and another option called ‘Activity Feed’ is designed to leave the feedback, check player’s recent activity, achievements, rank and the trophies of the friends. PSVITA also allows the players to exchange contents without starting the device which is similar to Nintendo’s 3DS Sreetpass. PSVITA contains a ARM Cortex A9 core (4 core) CPU and a SGX543MP4+ GPU. An advance 5 inches screens with ratio 960 x 544 (16:9) and approx. 16 million colors support will increase the game play. PS VITA also been built with an advanced OLED Multi touch screen. Ps VITA builds with two different memories of 512MB RAM and a VRAM with 128MB. Ps VITA will have two cameras Front with [emailprotected]? 240 (QVGA) and rear with [emailprotected]? 480 (VGA) FIGURE IV: CONTROLS AND THE COMPONENT ARCHITECHTURE OF PLAYSTATION VITA On the wireless side, the system ships with 802. 11 b/g/n wireless networking, Bluetooth 2. 1+EDR (which supports headsets and Bluetooth stereo), and an optional 3G radio, which will be sold as part of a separate model. There will also be ports for game cards, memory cards, SIM cards (on the 3G-equipped models), and a ‘multi-use’ port supporting DC power input, USB, audio input and serial data. On the multimedia area PSVITA supports music formats like MP3 MPEG-1/2 Audio Layer 3, MP4 (MPEG-4 AAC), WAVE (Linear PCM) video format like MPEG-4 Simple Profile (AAC), H. 264/MPEG-4 AVC High/Main/Baseline Profile (AAC) and image format like JPEG (Exif 2. 2. 1), TIFF, BMP, GIF, PNG. Ps VITA introduces Always on feature to connect with friends and colleagues anywhere, anytime with Wi-Fi or always-on 3G [9]. It will be ships with Newly designed Dual analog sticks which will enhance the intensity of First Person Shooters games. Another advance option of PS3 integration will be available in Ps VITA. Gamers can play games between PS3 and PlayStation3 continuous and uninterrupted. Multi touch Display will be embedded with Nintendo Wii U which enables many more advance features from their earlier Wii. Augmented Reality games will be supported with Ps VITA which merge the real world and the game world with front and rear camera enabled augmented reality. Present of PlayStaion VITA will be definitely drag the attention of the Hand Held video gaming consoles lover as well as the other people who is addicted to this aspect area of gaming world. 4. 0 Technologies involved in modern video gaming consoles Modern video gaming consoles are equipped with very advance technologies. Gesture recognition, Motion detecting, Image sensoring are some of the popular technologies which have been popularly used by today’s gaming consoles. 4. 1 Gesture recognition This technology Interface with computers using gestures of the human body, typically hand movements. In gesture recognition technology, a camera reads the movements of the human body and communicates the data to a computer that uses the gestures as input to control devices or applications. Nintendo Wii introduced this technology to the gaming console and later Ps Move and xBox Kinect featured with the technology. Nintendo Wii controllers are the very popular devices which use gesture recognition efficiently. This device that serves as the wireless input for the Nintendo Wii gaming console. The Wi i remote can detect motion and rotation in three dimensions through the use of accelerometer technology. Separating the controller from the gaming console, the accelerometer data can be used as input for gesture recognition. FIGURE IV THE Wii CONTROLLER (Wiimote) 4. 2 Motion detecting Another advanced technology widely used in modern gaming consoles. Sony’s PlayStation Move combines a video camera with a physical controller packed with motion-sensing electronics, making it the technological cross between Kinect and the Nintendo Wii. The Move Motion Controller, or wand, combines a gyroscope, accelerometer, and magnetic sensor (a sort of digital compass that uses the Earths magnetic field to determine the controllers orientation) to track the controller in three dimensions, while the glowing ball at the end gives the PlayStation Eye camera a visual reference for handling aiming, cursor movement, and other motion. Like Kinect, PlayStation Move requires room to function; Sony recommends 5 to 9 feet between the player and the Play station Eye, but you can play anywhere from 2 to 10 feet of the camera. In Nintendo Wii, all the motion-control magic is in the remote. An accelerometer tracks movement, while an IR sensor monitors the positioning of lights emitted by the sensor bar. Its motion-sensing abilities werent so great at first; initially, your movements with the Wiimote were reflected only approximately in games with gestures and broad motions. The addition of Wii MotionPlus, an accessory that gives the Wiimote a gyroscope sensor to complement the accelerometer, improves the motion detection greatly. Nintendo recently began to sell the Wii Remote Plus, a Wiimote with built-in MotionPlus sensors, removing the need for a separate accessory. The Wiis biggest weakness is its graphics; unlike the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, the Wii doesnt display high-definition content. FIGURE V THE PS3 MOVE xBox Kinect using totally different motion detecting techniques from Ps Move and Nintendo Wii. Camera plays an important role in detecting the motion of the player older software programs used differences in color and texture to distinguish objects from their backgrounds. PrimeSense, the company whose tech powers Kinect and recent Microsoft acquisition Canesta use a different model. The camera transmits invisible near-infrared light and measures its â€Å"time of flight† after it reflect off the objects. Time-of-flight works like sonar also been used to detecting the motion If you know how long the light takes to return, you know how far away an object is. Cast a big field, with lots of pings going back and forth at the speed of light, and you can know how far away a lot of objects are. Using an infrared generator also partially solves the problem of ambient light. Since the sensor isn’t designed to register visible light, it doesn’t get quite as many false positives. PrimeSense and Kinect go one step further and encode information in the near-IR light. As that information is returned, some of it is deformed — which in turn can help generate a finer image of those objects’ 3-D texture, not just their depth. FIGURE VI HOW KINECT DETECT THE MOTION OF THE PLAYER These types of advanced technologies providing a new dimension to video gaming industry. Developments with these new technologies are carrying out very rapidly and new invents are introducing time to time by the competitors. 5. 0 Future directions of video gaming consoles A very high demand for video gaming consoles have been created over the decade and expectation for future gaming consoles are very high. Almost predictions about Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Microsoft’s xBox 720 have been raised, though the two companies are not reveling about their future product [10]. With the new 3d technology and realistic HD displays console are surely becoming truly powerful multimedia machines. With the combination of features and ease of use, the future consoles will definitely be a worthy competitor against powerful desktop gaming computers which was not possible before. Future gaming consoles will be consider on enhancing features like Media Storage, Hardware Features, Hardware Processing Power, Controllers, Online Networks etc [11]. Also invention of new technology will be boosting the video gaming industry. 6. 0 Threats to modern video gaming consoles Domination of the multimedia based gaming devices has been increased over the decades, and different devices introduced to the market in different forms. Among that Smart phones and tablet PC has been consider as strong competition to the video gaming consoles. Highly portability, multiple purpose usage, high end gaming experience, less expensive, are some of the significant features of the Smart phones. Modern and future gaming console should take these threats as a serious issue. 7. 0 Discussion Although various types of video gaming consoles developed over the years, using different technologies there are some common advance features of the prevailing video gaming consoles. * Advance Graphics: High end multimedia graphics and video output of 1080p in High Definition with 3D enabled . * Hardware Processing Power: enhanced CPU with capable of multi processing. * Social networking: Share the achievements with social networks website like twitter and facebook. * Online Gaming: Enable players to experience the online gaming * Media Storages: Highly capacity media storage to store as many games as possible Acknowledgement I would like to thank my project supervisor Dr. L. Ranathunga who gave me advices throughout the paper and lot of insight on how to properly set this paper up. Also I would like to thank video gaming console manufactures who gave me this wonderful opportunity to review about their modern gaming consoles. References [1] Tech, S. , Video Game Consoles (1970 Present), http://techyshit. com/45-video-game-consoles-1970-present/, Date of Access: 10. 10. 2011 [2] Saenz, A. , Nintendo’s New Wii U Wows at E3, and Changes gaming forever Again, http://singularityhub. com/2011/06/07/nintendos-new-wii-u-wows-at-e3-and-changes-gaming-forever-again/, Date of Access: 10. 10. 2011 [3] Associated Press, Sony: PS Vita to miss 2011 release in US and Europe, http://www. computerandvideogames. com/314207/playstation-vita-release-date-is-2011-in-japan-2012-in-us-and-europe/, Date of Access: 10. 10. 2011. 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