Consoles
What is a console? A console is a home entertainment system which is primarily used for playing video games but also has other purposes like playing DVD’s or browsing the internet. A console is probably the most common gaming devise that people use today as it is purposely built to play video games without many other features. The look of a console even though it has changed through the ages all have similar features being a smallish box with a place to insert games either a disk or cartridge and with 2-4 ports to connect the controller to. Speaking of controllers they are the most common way that the console is controlled, usually consisting of buttons, analogue stick or d-pad or in the modern consoles case, both. Unlike the arcade where it is one game per machine the console operates on disk so you can buy the games you wish to play and operate them on it. Similar to the arcade the controllers you buy can be customised to suit individual game plays like a guitar for guitar hero or one of the most prominent a fight stick for any type of fighting games, this is a arcade style controller with large buttons and a joystick.
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Consoles features and limitations
For these features and limitations I will be looking at a modern generation of consoles, these include the X-box 360 and the ps3 (PlayStation 3)
X-box 360 features:
On line game play which can hold up to 32 players.
Can accommodate up to four people using the same console.
Large choices of games.
Social game play and chats when using X-box live.
Removable hard drive and storage devices allowing for saved games unlike arcade.
Wireless internet connection via a dongle attached to or built into later models (X-box 360 slim).
X-box 360 limitations:
Unable to be played by itself, what I mean by this is that the device needs something else to be played this is the same for all console devices, It needs a TV or some external display device.
As listed in features the X-box quite prominently has online play, but the limitation of this is that you are required to pay for X-box live this is on a scheduled basis ex monthly, yearly. This means you are constantly paying out for the console if you wish to play online.
The red ring of death is a common over heating problem with the early X-box 360s due to its hard ware limitations
PlayStation 3 features
The PS3 has many of the same features as the x-box 360 including all the ones I have listed, some additional features it has are:
Blue-ray disks
PlayStation network for online game play.
PlayStation limitations
The PlayStation holds many of the same limitations as the Xbox minus a few which are
Since the PlayStation has blue-ray the disk storage is a lot higher than a standard DVD disk meaning there is a lot less space on the internal drive took up.
Unlike the X-box PlayStation network is free allowing for online game play with friends without having to pay.
X-box 360 features:
On line game play which can hold up to 32 players.
Can accommodate up to four people using the same console.
Large choices of games.
Social game play and chats when using X-box live.
Removable hard drive and storage devices allowing for saved games unlike arcade.
Wireless internet connection via a dongle attached to or built into later models (X-box 360 slim).
X-box 360 limitations:
Unable to be played by itself, what I mean by this is that the device needs something else to be played this is the same for all console devices, It needs a TV or some external display device.
As listed in features the X-box quite prominently has online play, but the limitation of this is that you are required to pay for X-box live this is on a scheduled basis ex monthly, yearly. This means you are constantly paying out for the console if you wish to play online.
The red ring of death is a common over heating problem with the early X-box 360s due to its hard ware limitations
PlayStation 3 features
The PS3 has many of the same features as the x-box 360 including all the ones I have listed, some additional features it has are:
Blue-ray disks
PlayStation network for online game play.
PlayStation limitations
The PlayStation holds many of the same limitations as the Xbox minus a few which are
Since the PlayStation has blue-ray the disk storage is a lot higher than a standard DVD disk meaning there is a lot less space on the internal drive took up.
Unlike the X-box PlayStation network is free allowing for online game play with friends without having to pay.
What's is in a console?
Consoles Timeline
One of the big developments that helped the console start was the invention of the processor, it was built by intel in 1971 and was known as the 4004 4-bit microprocessor.
The internet did not have one single developer there was a fast amount of people that contributed to its creation, initially starting with Leanordo Kleinrock’s who published his first paper titled “Information flow” in large communication nets on 31st May 1961. So how does this link to the development of consoles, the internet helped in one key feature of console development which was on-line game play. On-line game play helped the newer generation of consoles really set off. At first there was a wired connection to the internet but the people started using Wi-Fi. A wireless connection which uses the feature I talked about, the dongle which comes as an attachment for most newer generations of consoles or comes built in. Wi-Fi was invented in 1991
The hard drive is what consoles use to store their data on either being internal or external. The hard drive was invented on 24th December 1954 by IBM
Here is a list of consoles and what date they were released on.
In 1983 the Nintendo entertainment system was released by Nintendo.
In 1986 Sega Master System was released. This could play with both cartridges and saga cards.
In 1990 Nintendo released the 16 bit console called the Super Nintendo entertainment system. It played famous games such as Super Mario World. Also in 1990 Saga Mega Drive was released.
1994 Legend of Zelda was released with a save function.
In 1995 Sony Computer Entertainment released the PlayStation 1 this was a 32 bit console and is part of the fifth generation of gaming and was probably one of the first consoles to set of the use of disks for games. Also in 1995 the 32 bit Sega Saturn was released .
In 1996 the Nintendo N64 was released even though this was a 64 bit console it chose to use cartridges instead of disks.
In 2000 Sony released the PlayStation 2 the first console released in the sixth generation of games.
In 2001 the Xbox was released by Microsoft. This console had Microsoft’s graphics API and DirectX. Also the Game cube was released in this year selling 21.4 million world wide.
In 2005 Xbox 360 was released this was the seventh generation of games this console is known as being one of the top consoles today in the world.
In 2006 on 17 November Sony released PlayStation 3 this was the first console to use blue ray disk player as its disc reader and had its own network. On 8th December the Wii was released by Nintendo, one of the first consoles to use interactive movement. This has led onto things known to date as the Xbox Kinect.
In 2012 on 18th November the Wii-U was released this had a new touch pad addition with this unique feature it has a niche that none of the other consoles do.
In 2013 on 29th November PlayStation 4 was released, With the increased complexity of the hard wear and the improvement of the graphics and FPS it was catching up with the PC. Also in November 2013 the Xbox One was released and like the PlayStation 4 it also had a dramatic increase on the hard wear and soft wear of consoles.
The internet did not have one single developer there was a fast amount of people that contributed to its creation, initially starting with Leanordo Kleinrock’s who published his first paper titled “Information flow” in large communication nets on 31st May 1961. So how does this link to the development of consoles, the internet helped in one key feature of console development which was on-line game play. On-line game play helped the newer generation of consoles really set off. At first there was a wired connection to the internet but the people started using Wi-Fi. A wireless connection which uses the feature I talked about, the dongle which comes as an attachment for most newer generations of consoles or comes built in. Wi-Fi was invented in 1991
The hard drive is what consoles use to store their data on either being internal or external. The hard drive was invented on 24th December 1954 by IBM
Here is a list of consoles and what date they were released on.
In 1983 the Nintendo entertainment system was released by Nintendo.
In 1986 Sega Master System was released. This could play with both cartridges and saga cards.
In 1990 Nintendo released the 16 bit console called the Super Nintendo entertainment system. It played famous games such as Super Mario World. Also in 1990 Saga Mega Drive was released.
1994 Legend of Zelda was released with a save function.
In 1995 Sony Computer Entertainment released the PlayStation 1 this was a 32 bit console and is part of the fifth generation of gaming and was probably one of the first consoles to set of the use of disks for games. Also in 1995 the 32 bit Sega Saturn was released .
In 1996 the Nintendo N64 was released even though this was a 64 bit console it chose to use cartridges instead of disks.
In 2000 Sony released the PlayStation 2 the first console released in the sixth generation of games.
In 2001 the Xbox was released by Microsoft. This console had Microsoft’s graphics API and DirectX. Also the Game cube was released in this year selling 21.4 million world wide.
In 2005 Xbox 360 was released this was the seventh generation of games this console is known as being one of the top consoles today in the world.
In 2006 on 17 November Sony released PlayStation 3 this was the first console to use blue ray disk player as its disc reader and had its own network. On 8th December the Wii was released by Nintendo, one of the first consoles to use interactive movement. This has led onto things known to date as the Xbox Kinect.
In 2012 on 18th November the Wii-U was released this had a new touch pad addition with this unique feature it has a niche that none of the other consoles do.
In 2013 on 29th November PlayStation 4 was released, With the increased complexity of the hard wear and the improvement of the graphics and FPS it was catching up with the PC. Also in November 2013 the Xbox One was released and like the PlayStation 4 it also had a dramatic increase on the hard wear and soft wear of consoles.