Tag Archives: Systems
Microsoft Xbox: The New Generation of Game Systems
Microsoft Xbox: The New Generation of Game Systems
Entertainment is an integral part of our lives. In fact, there are various forms of entertainment that existed during the pre-colonial era, such as watching opera and musical theater plays. Betting is also an active recreation during the colonial times. It is designed to provide pleasure to individuals of varying age groups and areas of interest.
However, with the rapid development of technology nowadays, entertainment is not just about watching operas and musical plays. Entertainment in the 21st century is now dependent on the development of technology—animated and digital films, television programs, and video game consoles.
Video game console means entertainment for the younger members of our society. Because of the animated game characters and graphics similar to real-life characters, video game consoles became one of the hottest items in the electronic market. Since its existence in 1972 (when Magnavox released its 1st home video game console, which is the Magnavox Odyssey) until the continuous release of its new generation game systems, video game consoles are now what we call the “entertainment of the 21st century and beyond”.
Because of the popularity of these video game consoles to the gaming public, particularly to the young generation, different technology firms released different game consoles that cater to the needs of the gaming public. It paved the way to the birth of the sixth generation of video game consoles, which the Xbox belongs to.
Xbox’s producer, which is no other than the Bill Gates’ Microsoft Corporation, said that Xbox game console takes you away beyond the ordinary entertainment. It redefines the way you play the game of your choice. Aside from games, you have access to music and movies through this high-technology game console system. Thus, it lets you share good times with your friends and even lets you compete with other gamers around the world.
Xbox was Microsoft’s first independent business enterprise in the video game console industry, after the development of the tools for MSX (the standardized home computer architecture of Microsoft in the 1980s) and the operating system for Windows. It was launched on different dates: November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Europe.
The development of Xbox was initially facilitated by a small team formed by Microsoft, which included the famous high energy physicist and game developer Seamus Blackley. The rumors of the release of a Microsoft-developed video game console first spread at the end of 1999 following interviews of Microsoft big boss Bill Gates, saying that the company is developing a gaming and at the same time a multimedia device that is essential in the convergence of digital entertainment era. And the company confirmed such rumors through a press release on the “Xbox project” on March 10, 2000.
As previously mentioned, the first launch of Xbox was in North America on November 15, 2001. On its first launch, most of Xbox’s launch titles became one of the best-selling games at the end of 2001. Some of the successful launch titles of Xbox were the Halo: Combat Evolved and its sequel, Halo 2 (which became the most played game in the Xbox Live), NFL Fever 2002, Dead or Alive 3, and Project Gotham Racing.
Xbox’s design was based on the fact that there must be a game system that will take advantage of the slowdown of saturated PC gaming market and at the same time integrate a built-in Ethernet adapter. It was the first video game console to integrate a hard disk drive into its system, which is used mainly to store game data compressed in a ZIP archive and content download from Xbox Live. Thus, it eliminated the need for a separate memory card, which is popularized by Sony’s Playstation. Most of the Xbox games make use of the console’s hard drive as the disk cache for quicker game loading time. There are also games that support “Custom soundtracks”, which allows the user to rip music from standard audio CDs and add it to the soundtrack of the game.
With the Xbox as one of the modern video game consoles ever produced, it provides unusual entertainment for gamers; especially those who are looking for a gaming experience that will make them crave for it.
Yes, Microsoft’s Xbox did it—one of the game systems that you will love once you get your hand on it.
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History of Video Game Systems: Knowing About What Started it All
History of Video Game Systems: Knowing About What Started it All
Video games have come a long way in terms of graphics and sound technology. Although video games didn’t exist a hundred years ago, the enhancement in graphics and sound technology revolutionized on what people think of video games today.
Unlike what you see in video games today that has amazing 3D and realistic graphics and sounds, it all started out with a video game called the Computer Space. This video game was released by Nutting Associates in 1970 and was the first coin-operated arcade video game.
In 1972, the Odyssey 100 video game system was introduced. This particular video game can be attached to a standard television to display the graphics and play the game. In the same year, Atari launched Pong. This is a coin operated machine and is played with two short vertical lines that you move up and down to avoid letting the “ball” pass.
The real video game revolution began in the late 70’s. Atari introduced the Video Computer System or the VCS (renamed Atari 2600 later). This system uses cartridges and delivered colored graphics and sounds through the television. The game was played using a joystick or paddles.
The Atari 2600 were the most popular gaming systems ever invented in its time. The system was always in demand that retail stores constantly ran out of stock, especially on the holidays.
However, in early 80’s, more and more video game manufacturers began coming out. An example would be Nintendo. Nintendo’s Family Computer was a worldwide success and sold over 500,000 units all over the world for a short period of two months. In 1985, Nintendo released a similar system in the United States called the Nintendo Entertainment System.
With the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System in the US, it also released the Super Mario Bros. video game that was a total hit. The Super Mario Bros. game reportedly had a worldwide sale amounting up to 40.24 million dollars and was declared as the best-selling game of all time.
In the late 80’s more and more video game manufacturers began releasing their latest video game systems. Sega Enterprises released the Genesis home video game system in the US and was a total hit. It generated sales amounting up to 14 million dollars.
In 1995, Sony Electronics released the 32-bit CD-ROM game system called the PlayStation in the US. It was a phenomenal hit and this was the beginning of the Sony PlayStation legacy.
The popularity of Sony PlayStation paved the way to more advanced graphics system and other video gaming systems manufacturers began to follow suit. The CD-ROM technology to be integrated in a video game system is now the most popular way to play a video game.
Sega Enterprises and Nintendo followed with a similar concept of using a CD-ROM to play its games instead of using cartridges.
Sega released the Dreamcast video game system in Japan in 1998 with features like a 200 MHz processor, 12X speed 1 Gigabyte CD-ROM drive and a 56 kbps modem. However, it arrived too late to threaten the Nintendo 64 and the much anticipated PlayStation 2.
In the year 2000, PlayStation released the PlayStation 2 with great success. About 1 million units were shipped from Japan on the first weekend and have been one of the most popular video game systems ever released since Atari.
Other companies also followed. Nintendo released the GameCube video game system and Microsoft released the Xbox game system in the United States. The Xbox had features that no other gaming system had. It had an 8 Gigabyte hard drive, 733 MHz Pentium III Processor and a 250MHz nVidia graphics coprocessor. Also, it was capable of being connected into a broadband internet connection.
In 2005 Microsoft launched the Xbox 360 video game system in the United States. It has a wireless controller, headset and a 20 Gigabyte hard drive.
As you can see, video game systems are rapidly advancing in graphics and sound technology. You can only wait and see what Sony, PlayStation, Nintendo and other video game system manufacturers can think of next in the near future. Sony even announced the release of the much anticipated PlayStation 3 on mid November 2006 in North America.
NES Game Systems: A Great Way to Relive Old Games
NES Game Systems: A Great Way to Relive Old Games
With the different kinds of gaming consoles appearing in the market today that are integrated with the latest graphics and audio technology, you will find it hard to imagine that one of these gaming console originated from a simple and humble beginnings. If you are familiar with the Nintendo GameCube, you have to know that it all originated in a gaming console called Nintendo Entertainment System or NES.
When Nintendo is mentioned, the first thing that comes into a person’s mind is video games. It is a fact that Nintendo has been producing and manufacturing different kinds of gaming consoles since the video game market was still in its infancy.
Unlike the gaming consoles that you see today that were developed by Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo is purely in the gaming industry. Sony is known for their hardware and Microsoft on the other hand is known for developing software. Nintendo have been in the business of video games for a long time and still remains as one of the best manufacturers of gaming consoles today.
With the Nintendo Game Cube, you would almost never expect that Nintendo also developed a primitive gaming console that was one of the most popular in the world. Nintendo started out with NES or the Nintendo Entertainment System.
NES is one of the more popular video gaming consoles in its time and is also one of the best selling video gaming console. The games in NES were simple but really entertaining, such as the Mario Bros. and Tetris.
In fact, NES games are so entertaining that many people today who owned NES gaming console are still hooking up their old NES gaming console to their TV and play their old NES games. It is also a fact that the entertaining features of NES games still attracts people from buying the console over the internet or download NES games that they can play in their own computer.
NES gaming console were in fact the best selling console of the company. Even their latest gaming console called the GameCube can’t compete in terms of sales against the NES. Nintendo had an estimated 61.9 million dollars in sales for NES worldwide while GameCube only sold units for only 20.9 million dollars. It may be because of the other competition in the gaming console industry but this proves that NES is one of the best gaming consoles ever developed in the world.
NES also has a wide variety of games. With this feature, many people have been playing NES for a lot of years until the arrival of a more advanced gaming system developed by different companies, such as Sony and Microsoft.
However, the popularity of NES didn’t entirely die. There are still lots of people who like playing NES games with NES gaming console. However, NES games are also readily available in the internet where you can download it for a price.
You have to consider that NES, although has primitive games, develops entertaining games as well. If you have played with a NES before, you know how entertaining their games can be. With a lot of popular game titles, you will surely never run out of games to play with the NES.
So, if you feel like playing NES games again, all you have to do is hook your NES gaming console to your TV, choose the game you want to play and relive the time when you where still young and loved to play different NES games.
With NES, even your kids will enjoy playing with the old games. Even if you have the latest gaming console with different game titles, you will surely want to play with the NES over and over again.
However, if you don’t have a NES gaming console, you can still buy it through the internet. Or, you can download NES games and play it in your home PC. There are different emulators available today that will enable you to play NES games.
Playing with NES games is a great way to entertain yourself and relive the past. If you get tired of the same old games that are available today in the latest gaming console, you can easily step back and play simple and fun games for NES. Hook it up in your TV and start playing with the most popular gaming console ever sold in the market.
The Glory and Fall of Old Game Systems
The Glory and Fall of Old Game Systems
The seventh generation of video game systems is currently pushing its way to the gaming industry. In fact, Microsoft-produced Xbox 360 is the only video game system that has been released so far as far as the seventh generation of game consoles is concerned. Sony’s PlayStation 3, Nintendo’s Wii, and Evizions Computer Entertainment’s EVO: Phase One are all scheduled to be released at the last quarter of 2006. These video game systems have a long way to go and different game developers are on their way on creating the next generation of video game systems that will be released as soon as possible.
Beyond the new generation of video game systems, probably you already forgot its predecessors, particularly the first and second generations. Such generations became the “cream of the crop” of the gaming industry during its early years, and facilitated the development of subsequent video game systems until the seventh generation. What we do not realize is that new video game system becomes old video game system soon, and is soon forgotten in a dusty corner.
That is what exactly happened to the old game systems. Once, they have been glorified because of the extraordinary entertainment that it provides to the gaming public. But now, they are just within the sidesteps of our memory, being demolished by new game systems which, as previously mentioned, will soon become old technologies once newer systems will be introduced to the market.
At this point, we need to refresh our memories and take ourselves back to the time when old game systems were at the pedestal of excellent recognition during the first stretch of video game systems and rediscover why we loved these game systems in the first place.
Atari 2600
The Atari 2600, which was released in October 1977, became the first successful video game system to use plug-in cartridges instead of the traditional built-in games. It was originally known as Atari VCS (Video Computer System), which was changed in Atari 2600 in 1982 after the release of the more advanced 5200. It is equipped with two conventional joystick controllers, a game cartridge, and an adjoined pair of paddle controllers.
The fundamental layout of Atari 2600 is similar to other game systems and home computer during the 80s. Its central processing unit (CPU) was the MOS Technology 6507, an 8-bit microprocessor capable of addressing 8 KB of game memory, which is considered to be a lot during the 70s era. It was running at 1.19 megahertz on the 2600 model. The game system contains 128 bytes RAM for runtime data, which included state of the game world and call stack. In the absence of a frame buffer (a video output device which drives a video display from a memory buffer that has an extensive data frame), the 2600 made use of 2 bitmapped sprites, single-pixel ball, 2 single-line missile sprites, and a playfield. On the other hand, its video hardware gave 2600 the reputation of being among the game machines in the world that is difficult to program.
Atari 7800 Prosystem
The 7800 Prosystem was released by Atari in June 1986, which is designed to reestablish the company’s market supremacy against two of the prominent video game system producer during that time (Colecovision and Intellivision) as well as to replace the unpopular Atari 5200. The 7800 Prosystem addressed the shortcomings of 5200, particularly the joysticks and the compatibility with 2600-enabled games.
The 7800 Prosystem was Atari’s first video game system designed by other company, particularly the General Computer Corporation (GCC). Since it was designed to be upgraded into a complete home computer, the game system made use of a keyboard which had an expansion port in addition to other peripherals such as printers and disk drives. Furthermore, GCC came up with a high-score cartridge, which is a battery-backed RAM game cartridge that is developed for saving high game scores.
However, the 7800 Prosystem faced a severe software drought that marked the crash of all Atari game systems. There were few title releases made by Atari and most of them were lacking in feature and was generally unpolished. There were also some 7800 games that were made which are already available in the previous Atari video game systems. It was also noted that there were no effort in recruiting third party game developers, aside from several game titles. Later on, Atari finally announced that they were formally abandoning the 7800 Prosystem.
These are just two of hundreds of old game systems which had been glorified on the early years of video gaming. Although most of them have sad endings, their contribution to the video gaming industry will be remembered and will serve as an inspiration for present video game system development.