Gaming Consoles.Pdf
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
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 the sole 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. 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. 1 T E T 2600 Alt g t Fairchil 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 synchroni ation to the TV and all other video processing tasks 128 bytes of RAM 4-kilobyte ROM-based game cartridges 2 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. 3 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 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. 4 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 the country 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 5 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 TS functionality. Power supply is required in some form or the other by virtually any device today. 6 A T Y P I C A L G A M E C O N S O L E 7 joystick The basic idea of a joystick is to translate the movement of a plastic stick into electronic information a console can process. Joysticks are used in all kinds of machines, including F-15 fighter jets, heavy earth moving equipment, cranes, bulldozers, wheelchairs and industrial automation. The same principles applicable for game console joysticks also apply to other sorts of joysticks. The various joystick technologies differ mainly in how much information they pass on. The simplest joystick design, used in many early game consoles, is just a specialised electrical switch. This basic design consists of a stick that is attached to a plastic base with a flexible rubber sheath. The base houses a circuit board that sits directly underneath the stick. The circuit board is made up of several µprinted wires¶, which connect to several contact terminals. Ordinary wires extend from these contact points to the computer. The image cannot be displayed. Your computer may not have enough memory to open the image, or the image may hav e been corrupted. Restart y our computer, and then open the file again. If the red x still appears, you may have to delete the image and then insert it again. AN EARLY ATARI JOYSTICK 8 The printed wires form a simple electrical circuit made up of several smaller circuits. The circuits just carry electricity from one contact point to another. When the joystick is in the neutral position±when one is not pushing one way or another±all but one of the individual circuits are broken. The conductive material in each wire doesn't quite connect, so the circuit can't conduct electricity. Each broken section is covered with a simple plastic button containing a tiny metal disc. When one moves the stick in any direction, it pushes down on one of these buttons, pressing the conductive metal disc against the circuit board. This closes the circuit±it completes the connection between the two wire sections. When the circuit is closed, electricity can flow down a wire from the game console, through the printed wire, and to another wire leading back to the console. When the game console picks up a charge on a particular wire, it knows that the joystick is in the right position to complete that particular circuit. Pushing the stick forward closes the forward switch, pushing it left closes the left switch, and so on. In some designs, the computer recognizes a diagonal position when the stick closes two switches (for example, closing the forward switch and the left switch simultaneously would mean a forward/leftward diagonal position). The firing buttons work exactly the same way±when you press down, it completes a circuit and the console recognizes a fire command. 9 NEW ADDITIONS There are a couple of big problems with the conventional analog joystick system. First of all, the crude analog-to-digital conversion process isn't very accurate, since the system doesn't have a true analog-to-digital converter. This compromises the joystick's sensitivity somewhat. Secondly, the host console has to dedicate a lot of processing power to regularly poll the joystick system to determine the position of the stick. This takes a lot of power away from other operations. Joystick manufacturers have addressed these problems in a couple of different ways. One solution is to add a sensitive analog-to-digital converter chip in a specialised game adapter card or in the joystick itself. In this system, the converter spits out digital information directly to the computer, which improves the accuracy of the stick and reduces the work load on the host processor. These new joystick models can usually connect to USB ports, which also improves speed and reliability. Another solution is to skip the analog potentiometer technology all together. Many newer controllers use optical sensors to read stick movement digitally. The diagram below shows one common system. The image cannot be displayed. Your computer may not have enough memory to open the image, or the image may hav e been corrupted. Restart y our computer, and then open the file again. If the red x still appears, y ou may hav e to delete the image and then insert it again. 10 In this system, the two shafts are connected to two slotted wheels. Each wheel is positioned between two light-emitting diodes (LE s) and two photocells (the graphic only shows one photocell, LE pair for the sake of simplicity). When light from each LE shines through one of the slots, it causes the photocell on the other side of the wheel to generate a small amount of current. When the wheel rotates slightly, it blocks the light and the photocell doesn't generate current (or it generates less current).