Games Console Development Timeline..

Games consoles have been around for over 40 years and have advanced in every way from being portable, low resolution, sound, multiplayer, online and interactive.

Timeline of console development:

- Magnavox Odyssey (worlds first commercial video console using printed circuit board cards and was released in 1972)

-Atari 2600 (Used Microprocessor hardware and ROM cartridges released in 1977)

-Nintendo Entertainment System (8 bit video console which used ROM cartridges and had two controller ports was released in 1983)

-Genesis (released in 1988)

-Atari Jaguar ( had a multi-processor and used ROM cartridges with two controller ports released in 1993)

Arcade Features

Arcades were the first Gaming that was available to the wide public which were reliable and really tested users gaming abilities, Arcades were huge at first as kids and adults usually found it hard to use the games consoles that were released for home as they weren't reliable or easy to setup.

Features of arcades:

-Coin operated

-Low end resolution

-Mains power supply

-Usually one player

-High scores

The image below is an average arcade game which includes all of the features above, as you can see you input the coin to gain credit, the low resolution game will then start and once completing the game or dying the game will either offer you a place on the leader board or to view the leader board depending on how well you did.

Consoles features

There are a number of consoles that have been released over the past 20 years but I will be be discussing the 3rd generation console features which include:

-Xbox 360
-PS3
-Nintendo wii
-PSP

All of these consoles are the latest console with the latest technology to run smooth graphics, produce high quality sounds, real time gaming, on-line gaming and built in hard drives to store the games files.


Xbox 360 s Features:

-Sound
-High resolution output
-Optical output
-Wireless controllers
-4 controllers at once
-Built in wireless
-Built in hard-drive 250gb
-Ethernet
-multi-player

The Xbox 360 s is a brilliant 3rd generation console it allows numerous users to play simultaneously on one console whilst playing on-line, streaming movies and music, importing images, importing videos, importing pictures and soon the ability to search the world wide web as well.

Limitations of the Xbox 360 s:

When the Xbox 360 was first released it had a major flaw called the red rings of death and Microsoft was forced to recall thousands of consoles, the Xbox 360 doesn't support blueray either so games size and graphics are lower than the PS3's. Online gaming also cost £40 per year and the play-station 3 has had the ability to surf the web for a number of years.

PC Feautes

Personal computers are the most advanced gaming equipment you can buy, there constantly being updated with new graphic cards, motherboards, RAM and software updates.

Features of a PC:

-High resolution output
-Sound
-Multiple players at a time
-On-line Gaming
-Offline Gaming
-Game streaming

The Desktop PC is the most powerful gaming console you can buy with Quad-core  processors, up to 64Gb or RAM, Dedicated graphics cards and dedicated sound cards, all of this power allows the computer to play  more than one game at a time with high resolution gaming without lag.

Mobile

Mobile Features

Handheld

Mobiles have revolutionised the world we live we can talk, surf the web and play games any where and everywhere. They simply fit in our pockets, can vibrate, play sounds and watch video with a simply press of a button or swipe of a finger. Handheld mobile gaming is revolutionionary as they allow us not only to play a few games on the move but have a huge app stores with free and paid for content ranging from high reswoultion games, to internet flash games and even gameboy colour emulators.

Television Features

Television

Interactive

The television provider sky which uses satellites to broadcast Television programs across allows for users to play games through an interactive service called play jam, Using the sky TV remote you can choose from a number of games to play which usually cost 50p for a weekend, the remote allows you to use the select button, arrows and colour buttons as gaming buttons where you can move characters, pointers and shoot however because this interactive service uses satellites to download and stream the games this service has very poor loading times, graphics and depending on the weather can crash or loose connection.