8/8/2019 g a m i n g c o n s o l e s

1/21

G A M I N G C O N S O L E S

INTRODUCTION

Gaming consoles have proved themselves to be the best in

digital entertainment. Gaming consoles were designed for thesole purpose of playing electronic games and nothing else. 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.

DEFINITION

A gaming console is a system that is exclusively dedicated for

gaming. It has been optimized for game playing as that is its

core function. One can play games on a PC or even a cellphone

but these are not systems dedicated for gaming, so they cannot

be termed gaming consoles.

8/8/2019 g a m i n g c o n s o l e s

2/21

A BRIEF HISTORY OF VIDEO GAME CONSOLES

Video games have been around since the early 1970s. The first

commercial arcade video game, Computer Space by Nutting

Associates, was introduced in 1971. In 1972, Atari introduced

Pong to the arcades. An interesting item to note is that Atari

was formed by Nolan Bushnell, the man who developed

Computer Space. He left Nutting Associates to found Atari,

which then produced Pong, the first truly successful

commercial arcade video game.

That same year, Magnavox offered the first home video game

system. Dubbed the Odyssey, it did not even have a

microprocessor. The core of the system was a board with about

four-dozen transistors and diodes. The Odyssey was very

limitedit could only produce very simple graphics, and

required that custom plastic overlays be taped over the

television screen. In 1975, Atari introduced a home version of

its popular arcade game, Pong. Pong was a phenomenal

success, opening the door to the future of home video games.

8/8/2019 g a m i n g c o n s o l e s

3/21

THE ATARI 2600

Although the Fairchild Channel F, released in 1976, was the

first true removable game system, Atari once again had the first

such system to be a commercial success. Introduced in 1977 as

the Atari Video Computer System (VCS), the 2600 used

removable cartridges, allowing a multitude of games to be

played using the same hardware.

The hardware in the 2600 was quite sophisticated at the

time, although it seems incredibly simple now. It consisted of:

MOS 6502 microprocessor

Stella, a custom graphics chip that controlled the

synchronization to the TV and all other video processing

tasks

128 bytes of RAM

4-kilobyte ROM-based game cartridges

8/8/2019 g a m i n g c o n s o l e s

4/21

The chips were attached to a small printed circuit board

(PCB) that also connected to the joystick ports, cartridge

connector, power supply and video output. Games consisted of

software encoded on ROM chips and housed in plastic

cartridges. The ROM was wired on a PCB that had a series of

metal contacts along one edge. These contacts seated into a

plug on the console's main board when a cartridge was plugged

into the system. When power was supplied to the system, it

would sense the presence of the ROM and load the game

software into memory.

Systems like the Atari 2600, its descendant, the 5200,

Coleco's ColecoVision and Mattel's IntelliVision helped to

generate interest in home video games for a few years. But

interest began to wane because the quality of the home product

lagged far behind arcade standards. But in 1985, Nintendo

introduced the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), and

everything changed.

The NES introduced three very important concepts to the

video game system industry:

Using a gamepad controller instead of a joystick

Creating authentic reproductions of arcade video games for

the home system

8/8/2019 g a m i n g c o n s o l e s

5/21

Using the hardware as a loss leader by aggressively pricing

it, then making a profit on the games themselves

Nintendo's strategy paid off, and the NES sparked a

revival in the home video game market that continues to thrive

and expand even now. No longer were home video game

systems looked upon as inferior imitations of arcade machines.

New games that would have been impractical to create for

commercial systems, such as Legend of Zelda, were developed

for the home markets. These games enticed many people who

had not thought about buying a home video game system

before to purchase the NES.

Nintendo continued to develop and introduce new game

consoles. Other companies, such as Sega and Sony, then

decided to create their own home video game systems.

BASIC COMPONENTS OF A VIDEO GAME CONSOLE

The core components that all video game consoles have in

common are

User control interface

CPU

RAM

Software kernel

8/8/2019 g a m i n g c o n s o l e s

6/21

Storage medium for games

Video output

Audio output

Power supply

The user control interface allows the player to interact with the

video game. Without it, a video game would be a passive

medium, like cable TV. Early game systems used paddles or

joysticks, but most systems today use sophisticated game

controllers with a variety of buttons and special features.

The CPU is the heart of the video game console. It is a

microprocessor that powers the game system. Microprocessors

are required for the operation of any computational device. On

a game console, the CPU coordinates the functions of the

various hardware and software units.

Ever since the early days of the Atari 2600, video game

systems have always relied on RAM to provide temporary

storage of games as they are being played. Without RAM, even

the fastest CPU could not provide the necessary speed for an

interactive gaming experience.

8/8/2019 g a m i n g c o n s o l e s

7/21

The software kernel is the console's operating system. It

provides the interface between the various pieces of hardware,

allowing the video game programmers to write code using

common software libraries and tools.

The two most common storage technologies used for

video games today are CD and ROM-based cartridges. Current

systems also offer some type of solid-state memory cards for

storing saved games and personal information. Flash memory

cards can be used to store personal information and game

progress. Newer systems like the Microsoft XBox and the Sony

PlayStation 2 have DVD drives.

All game consoles provide a video signal that is

compatible with the television system. Depending on thecountry or region, this may be NTSC or PAL/SECAM. NTSC

is commonly found throughout America while PAL/SECAM is

the dominant TV system in Asia and Europe. Most consoles

have a dedicated graphics processor that provides specialised

8/8/2019 g a m i n g c o n s o l e s

8/21

mapping, texturing and geometric functions, in addition to

controlling video output.

Another dedicated chip typically handles the audio

processing chores and outputs stereo sound or, in some cases,

digital surround sound. Modern game consoles have sound

processors that have DTS functionality.

Power supply is required in some form or the other by

virtually any device today.

THE GAMES

The software used on these dedicated computer systems

has evolved amazingly from the simple rectangular blips used

in Pong. Games today feature richly textured, full-color

graphics, awesome sound and complex interaction between

player and system. The increased storage capacity of the

cartridges and discs allows game developers to include

incredibly detailed graphics and CD-quality soundtracks.

Several of the video game systems have built-in special effects

that add features like unique lighting or texture mapping in

real-time. There is a huge variety of games available for the

various game consoles today.

8/8/2019 g a m i n g c o n s o l e s

9/21

A T Y P I C A L G A M E C O N S O L E

JOYSTICK

A joystick is used mainly to control on-screen movement

in computer games. It feeds three kinds of information to the

computerhorizontal movement, vertical movement, and on-off

signals when the action buttons are pressed. Joysticks designed

for flight-simulator players have an extra control called a top

hat on the top of the stick, providing an additional set of thumb-

operated horizontal and vertical movement controls.

The image cannotbe displayed. Your computer may nothave enough memory to open the image, or the image may have been corrupted. Restartyour computer, and then open thefile again. If the red x still appears, you may have todelete the image and then insertit again.

8/8/2019 g a m i n g c o n s o l e s

10/21

Joysticks were once the ultimate in controllers for electronic

gamers, but other types of controllers are increasingly

becoming popular. For driving games there are realistic steering

wheels which often come with a separate foot pedal unit for

accelerating and braking.

One recent development is force feedback technology,

found in some high-end joysticks and steering wheels. Instead

of just passively being pushed around, a force feedback

controller has motors that make the controller actually move in

your hand, reflecting the on-screen action.

WORKING

Joysticks take something entirely physicalthe movement of

your hand-and translate it into something entirely

mathematicala string of ones and zeros (the language of

computers). With a good joystick, the translation is so flawless

that one completely forgets about it. When one is really

engaged in a game, one feels that there is direct interaction with

the virtual world.

8/8/2019 g a m i n g c o n s o l e s

11/21

The technology has evolved a great deal from the first

game console designs to the sophisticated force feedback

models available today.

THE MICROSOFT XBOX

The game consoles that are available today are never enough

for video gamers; their attention is always focused on what the

next great thing will be. In 2000, it was the PlayStation 2. The

game console wars heated up as Nintendo unveiled its latest

console, called GameCube. But the big news was that the

computer software giant Microsoft entered the multi-billion

dollar game console market with the XBox.

The console is a black box with a large X imprinted into

the top. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has said that the XBox

has more power than any console currently on the market.

Microsoft unveiled the XBox's final industrial design at the

2001 Consumer Electronics Show.

Microsoft says that its marketing for the XBox has been thelargest effort ever for one of its products. In fact, the XBox's

8/8/2019 g a m i n g c o n s o l e s

12/21

marketing budget is the largest for any game console in history,

easily surpassing Sega's $100 million campaign in 1998.

On paper, the XBox has more brute power and speed than any

game console on the market.

INSIDE THE X

In March 2000, rumors that Microsoft was developing a

game console were confirmed when Gates took the wraps off

the XBox demo unit. In January 2001, the demo model, a big

chrome X with a Green-glowing light in the middle, was

replaced by a more traditional black box. As analysts predicted,

the only part of the demo model to make it into the final design

is the glowing green light on top of the box. The sidewinder

controller pad used with the demo unit was also altered for the

final XBox design.

A lot has been made of the XBox's design, but it takes

more than a cool look to sell gamers on a product. Just like a

book, it is what is inside the cover that really matters. One

advantage that Microsoft has enjoyed is that it has been able to

sit back and watch what other game console manufacturers

have done. In doing so, Microsoft's designers have examined

what has worked and what has failed in recent game consoles.

8/8/2019 g a m i n g c o n s o l e s

13/21

On the inside, the XBox is fairly similar to a PC. But Microsoft

maintains that it is not a PC for your living room. There's no

mouse or keyboard to go with it. The XBox does boast:

y A modified 733-megahertz (MHz) Intel Pentium III

Coppermine processor with a maximum bus transfer rate

of 6.4 gigabytes per second (GBps).

y The XBox possesses the fastest processing speeds for a

game console to date. For comparison, the PlayStation 2

has a 300-MHz processor and a maximum bus transfer

rate of 3.2 GBps. The Nintendo GameCube has a 485-

MHz processor and a 2.6 GB maximum bus transfer rate.

y A custom 250-MHz 3-D graphics processor from

NVIDIA that can process more than 1 trillion operations

per second and produce up to 125 million polygons per

second.

Polygons are the building blocks of 3-D graphicimages. Increasing the number polygons results in

sharper, more detailed images. The graphics

processor also supports high resolutions of up to

1920x1080 pixels. For comparison, the PlayStation

2 has a 150-MHz graphics processor and produces

70 million polygons per second. The GameCube

has a 162-MHz graphics processor and produces 12

million polygons per second. It should be pointed

out that the PlayStation 2 and XBox figures are

theoretical top speedsit is unlikely that a system

8/8/2019 g a m i n g c o n s o l e s

14/21

will reach that limit. Nintendo's figure is considered

a more realistic number for its console.

y A custom 3-D audio processor that supports 256 audio

channels and Dolby AC3 encoding.

y An 8-GB built-in hard drive (Having a built-in hard drive

allows games to start up faster).

y 64 MB of unified memory, which game developers can

allocate to the central processing unit and graphics

processing unit as needed (This arguably makes the XBox

more flexible for game designers).

y A stripped down version of Windows 2000 as its operating

system.

y A media communications processor (MCP), also from

NVIDIA, that enables broadband connectivity, and a

10/100-Mbps (megabits per second) built-in Ethernet that

allows you to use your cable modem or DSL to play

games online.As of November 15, 2002, the XBox online gaming

service is active. It requires a broadband connection and a

$49.95 subscription to XBox Live.

Other XBox features include:

y 5X DVD drive with movie playback (functional with

addition of movie playback kit)

y 8-MB removable memory card

y Four custom game controller ports (one controller sold

with the unit)

8/8/2019 g a m i n g c o n s o l e s

15/21

y HDTV support

y Expansion port

GAMING CONSOLE, EVOLUTION TO THE NEXT

LEVEL

Presently, two major players in the gaming console market.

SONY with its PLAYSTATION 3(PS3) gaming

console.

MICROSOFT with its XBOX 360 gaming console.

SONY PLAYSTATION 3 launched in 2006 is a

successor to SONYS PS1 and

PS2 gaming consoles launched in year 1995 and 2000

respectively.

MICROSOFT XBOX360 launched in 2005 is a successor

to its XBOX launched in2001.

PLAYSTATION MOVE

Motion controllerThe primary component of PlayStation Move, the PlayStationMove motion controller is a wand controller which allows theuser to interact with the PlayStation 3 through motion and positionin front of the PlayStation Eye webcam.

8/8/2019 g a m i n g c o n s o l e s

16/21

PLAYSTATION EYE

PLAYSTATION MOVE

Technology of PLAYSTATION MOVE

The PlayStation Move motion controller features an orb at the headwhich can glow in any of a full range of colors using RGBlight-emitting diodes (LEDs).[11] Based on the colors in the userenvironment captured by the PlayStation Eye webcam, the systemdynamically selects an orb color that can be distinguished from therest of the scene. The colored light serves as an active marker, the

position of which can be tracked along the image plane by thePlayStation Eye.[12][13] The uniform spherical shape and known sizeof the light also allows the system to simply determine thecontroller's distance from the PlayStation Eye through the light'simage size, thus enabling the controller's position to be tracked inthree dimensions[13][14] with high precision and accuracy.[fn 1] Thesphere-based distance calculation allows the controller to operatewith minimal processing latency,[17] as opposed to other camera-

based control techniques on the PlayStation 3.[18][fn 2]

A pair of inertial sensors inside the controller, a three-axis linearaccelerometerand a three-axis angularrate sensor, are used totrackrotation as well as overall motion.[12][15] An internalmagnetometeris also used for calibrating the controller'sorientation against the Earth's magnetic field to help correct againstcumulative error (drift) by the inertial sensors.[4] The inertialsensors can be used fordead reckoning in cases which the cameratracking is insufficient, such as when the controller is obscured

behind the player's back.[11]

The controller face features a large ovoid primary button

(Move),[19] small action buttons ( , , , ), and a regular-sizedPS button, arranged in a similar configuration as on the Blu-rayDisc Remote Control. On the left and right side of the controller isa Select and Start button, respectively. On the underside is ananalog trigger (T).[11] On the tail end of the controller is the wriststrap, USB port, and extension port.[20]

The motion controller features vibration-based haptictechnology.[11] In addition to providing a tracking reference, the

8/8/2019 g a m i n g c o n s o l e s

17/21

controller's orb light can be used to provide visual feedback,[11]simulating aesthetic effects such as the muzzle flash of a gun, orthe paint on abrush.[21]

Using different orb colors for each controller,[11] up to four motion

controllers can be tracked at once with the PlayStation Eye.[21]Demonstrations for the controller have featured activities using asingle motion controller, as well as those in which the user wieldstwo motion controllers, with one in each hand.[12][22] To minimizethe cost of entry, Sony has stated that all launch titles forPlayStation Move will be playable with one motion controller,with enhanced options available for multiple motion controllers.[23]

All image processing for PlayStation Move is performed in thePlayStation 3's Cell microprocessor.[17] According to Sony, use ofthe motion-tracking library entails some Synergistic ProcessingUnit (SPU) overhead as well an impact on memory, though thecompany states that the effects will be minimized.[24] According toMove motion controller co-designer Anton Mikhailov, the libraryuses 1-2 megabytes of system memory.[17]

XBOX360 KINECT

Kinect for Xbox 360[4], or simply Kinect (originally known by the

code nameProject Natal, is a "controller-free gaming and

entertainment experience" by Microsoft for the Xbox 360 videogame platform. Based around a webcam-style add-onperipheralfor the Xbox 360 console, it enables users to control and interactwith the Xbox 360 without the need to touch a game controllerthrough a natural user interface using gestures, spokencommands,[5] orpresented objects and images. The project is

aimed at broadening the Xbox 360's audience beyond its typicalgamer base

Technology of XBOX KINECT

The Kinect sensor[5] is a horizontal bar connected to a small base

with a motorized pivot, and is designed to be positioned lengthwisebelow the video display. The device features an "RGB camera,depth sensor and multi-array microphone running proprietary

8/8/2019 g a m i n g c o n s o l e s

18/21

software",[13] which provides full-body 3D motion capture, facialrecognition, and voice recognition capabilities. Voice recognitioncapabilities will be available in Japan, the United Kingdom and theUnited States at launch, but have been postponed until spring 2011in mainland Europe and Canada.[14] The Kinect sensor'smicrophone array enables the Xbox 360 to conduct acoustic sourcelocalization and ambient noise suppression, allowing for thingssuch as headset-free party chat overXbox Live.[5]

The depth sensor consists of an infrared projector combined with amonochrome CMOS sensor, and allows the Kinect sensor to see in3D under any ambient light conditions.[5][15] The sensing range ofthe depth sensor is adjustable, with the Kinect software capable ofautomatically calibrating the sensor based on gameplay and the

player's physical environment, such as the presence of furniture.[16]

Kinect is based on software technology developed internally byMicrosoft and range camera technology by Israeli developerPrimeSense, which interprets 3D scene information from acontinuously-projected infrared pattern.[17][18]

Described by Microsoft personnel as the primary innovation ofKinect,[19][20][21][22] the software technology enables advancedgesture recognition, facial recognition, and voice recognition.[23]According to information supplied to retailers, the Kinect iscapable of simultaneously tracking up to six people, including two

active players formotion analysis with a feature extraction of 20joints per player.[24]

According to information supplied to retailers, the Kinect sensoroutputs video at a frame rate of 30 Hz, with the RGB video streamat 32-bit colorVGA resolution (640480pixels), and themonochrome video stream used for depth sensing at 16-bit QVGA

resolution (320240 pixels with 65,536 levels of sensitivity). TheKinect sensor has a practical ranging limit of 1.23.5 metres (3.911 ft) distance. The sensor has an angular field of view of 57horizontally and a 43 vertically, while the motorized pivot iscapable oftilting the sensor as much as 27 either up or down. Themicrophone array features four microphone capsules,[25] and

operates with each channel processing 16-bit audio at a samplingrate of 16 kHz.[24]

8/8/2019 g a m i n g c o n s o l e s

19/21

8/8/2019 g a m i n g c o n s o l e s

20/21

Milo has an AI structure that responds to human interactions, suchas spoken word, gestures, or predefined actions in dynamicsituations. The game relies on a procedural generation systemwhich is constantly updating a built-in "dictionary" that is capableof matching key words in conversations with inherent voice-actingclips to simulate lifelike conversations.

8/8/2019 g a m i n g c o n s o l e s

21/21

CONCLUSION:-

These two breakthrough technologies show that

INNOVATION is

devoid of boundaries.

Thereisnothinglike IMPOSSIBLE inthis MODERNAGE OF

TECHNOLOGY .

REFERENCE:-

www.wikipedia.com

www.youtube.com

www.xbox.com

in.playstation.com

www.gameguru.com