P2, M2, D2

HCI:

HCI or Human computer interface is the study of how the user communicates with a computer, this can range from GUI to language.

In terms of gaming HCI is used to see how the user communicates with the gaming platform they are using. An example of HCI in gaming is the use of controllers, controllers must be easy to understand and operate without much fuss or learning, this can be achieved with similar button layouts.  

Another example of HCI is the increase in touch screen technology. Before touch screen technology hit the market there would of been a lot of studies looking into if people of different languages, nationalities and disabilities could all use them and from these studies we finally got touch screen devices that most people can use with most phone apps having similar finger movements to operate and without much difficulty.

Central processor unit (CPU): 

CPU or Central processing unit is located in every computer and handles all of the normal computer system commands such as moving the mouse and running applications. There are two different types of processor architecture 32bit or 64x, modern computers use 64bit because it allows you to allocate more RAM to application as well as run programs especially designed for 64bit. A processor also contains many cores which work together to allow your computer to run more effectively and run more programs at the same time without you seeing a difference in performance.

You can improve your computers performance by getting a CPU with more cores such as a Dual Core or a Quad Core processor but some higher end computer have multiple CPU’s which gives them more cores.

A CPU is the rate in which the CPU can complete a full cycle and is measured in megahertz or gigahertz (Mhz, Ghz), one megahertz is equal to one million cycle a second and one gigabyte megahertz is equal to one billion a second. 

Graphic processor: speed; two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional(3D) processor, eg pixels, polygons, nurbs; speed; graphics memory

Most computers also contain a GPU or Graphics processing unit which is designed to process 3D functions that the CPU find difficult to process. You can find most GPU’s attached to the motherboard within the computer but with some mobile phones the GPU is integrated into the motherboard which is good for space but has trouble cooling down. Having both a CPU and GPU within a computer allows it to run normal application and 3D graphics such as games effectively and without performance issues.      

Pixel or “picture element” are small shapes (dots, rectangles, triangles) which make up computer screens, each of these screens are made up of millions of pixels which merge together to make a picture/ display.

Print: Cyan, yellow, magenta, keytone(black) 

A pixel is made up can of red, green and blue which is determined by the number of bits it corresponds to, an example of this 8-bit colour allows 2 to the 8^th or 256 colours.

Memory: purpose; random access memory (RAM); capacity; type, eg rambus dynamic (RDRAM), static(SRAM), dynamic (DRAM), unified

RAM or random access memory is made from small memory chips that create a memory module which is then placed onto the motherboard. Every time you open a program or application it goes from the hard drive to the RAM, this is because reading data through the RAM is much quicker than through the hard drive. Running programs and applications through the RAM allows the computer to run without any latency issues. The more RAM you have installed into your computer the more application you can run, you can buy RAM in sticks of 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, 64GB.

ROM or read only memory is built in commands that the computer needs to use before anything else runs when you start up a computer.   

Cache stores newly used information so that it can be quickly accessed later on. There are many types of cache found in a computer, the first is browser cache which take HTML’s, images or JavaScript’s from websites you have visited and when you reload that website the computer will reload the HTML’s, images or JavaScript’s instead of downloading them again.

The second is memory cache, this is when you have open an application the computer may cache things from the RAM which reduces lag.

Thirdly disk cache is a small amount of RAM located on the HDD or SSD which is used for holding a small amount of data so it can be easily reopened such as a large folder full of files.

The last is processor cache which is even smaller than disk cache and is only used to store commonly used commands so the CPU can access them quickly.

RDRAM or rambus dynamic random access memory is the fastest memory available for a computer.

SRAM or static random access memory is a type of RAM which stores it memory statically this means the data will stay on the RAM as long as it has electricity. 

DRAM or dynamic random access memory is a type of RAM which stores its memory on separate capacitors. 

Game storage medium: proprietary; standard; flash memory; digital versatile disc (DVD); optical disc; universal media disc (UMD); magnetic tape; internal; speed; size; advantages and disadvantages; antipiracy

A hard drive is where all your data is stored inside your computer.IDE is a widely used hard drive interface which only supported hard drives up to 540mb of data but the new EIDE (enhanced-IDE) can now support hard drives that contains more than 250GB of data as well at doubling the data transfer rate. Some newer hard drives may use SATA which improves both speed and power consumption.

There are a few different types of hard drive, the first is a hard disc drive which is when the data is stored on a disk no bigger than your hand which is mounted inside your computer, the data will stay on the disks even though the power supply has been cut off because it stores the data magnetically, these disk spin incredibly fast on an average 5400 or 7200 RPM so that is can be accessed at any time. One problem with this is that there may a slight latency issue because the head must find the data, a good solution for this is the other type of hard drive a SSD drive or Solid State Drive, this type of hard drive doesn’t have any moving pieces like the hard disc drive which decreases latency and access time. An SSD might run quick and have less latency problems but the price of them are 7 to 8 times more than a hard disk drive.

You can have more than just one hard drive installed into your computer at any given time, to do this you must have a Master and Slave system. This system allows the hard drives to communicate with one another as well as share data eg saving a piece of work may be split onto too different hard drives.

A Flash drive is a type of storage which allows the user to connect portable memory to their computer via USB.  

ports; wireless; cabled; analogue; digital; controller ports

Ports: 

Ports can be found on the back off the computer and come in many different forms USB, Serial and Parallel. A serial port is used to connect things to your computer such as mice and keyboards but can only transmit one piece of data at one time where as a parallel can transmit multiple piece, but most newer computers use a more compatible ports a USB or Universal serial bus as it is much quicker than a serial or parallel ports, a USB 3.0 has a transfer speed of up to 5GB a second.

Power supply: internal battery; external source

A power supply is a component inside of a computer which supplies electrical current to other components which allows them to run. A power supply can be internal or external, internal means that the power supply is stored inside the PC case and external is stored outside the case. In gaming the reason for having internal and external is because of heat, an external power supply is much more transportable and much cooler than an internal one which is the reason for them being used on laptops.

Sound card:

A sound card is a computer component which controls audio input and output, most sound cards contain an analog line input and one stereo line ouput.

 

Peripherals:

A peripheral can be any external device which provides an input and output for a computer. Some examples of a peripheral is a mouse, speakers and a printer

Display:

A display can come in many different forms. The most used form of display is a monitor, a monitor is used to display the user interface and any programs the computer is running.
A monitor can be any thing from LCD to CRT's, LCD stands for liquid crystal display, these displays tend to be very thin and used in laptops and smart phones. The image is created by squashing two electrodes with electrical reactive materials such as liquid crystals. The image can be changed by decreasing or increasing the amount of electric current going through it.    

 

Connectivity: 

WAN is used to connect multiple people on multiple different consoles from all over the world so that they can play together online.

LAN is used to connect multiple consoles together so that players can play together.

Interface:

One type of interface on a computer system is a GUI. GUI acts as an interactive barrier between the user and the computer’s hardware, this allows for multiple functions to be performed more easily.

 

P3,M3,D3

Open GL and Direct X
Software utilities

P4 M4 D4

Connecting and configuring platforms: 

PS3:

I firstly plugged the power cable into the back port of the PS3 then into the plug socket which was located on the wall.

I then plugged the HDMI cable into the back of the PS3 and then the other end of the cable into the TV/monitor HDMI port.

Once all those steps have been done I turned on the PS3 by the touch sensitive button on the right of the console and turn't the TV/monitor on as well.

I could tell that I had performed all of the steps correctly because the PS3's main menu was being displayed on the TV/monitor.
Video set up on PS3 Xbox 360: 

For setting up the Xbox 360 I used a guide which I wrote myself.

I first plugged the power cable into the back of the Xbox and the other end into the power socket.


Secondly I plugged the HDMI cable into the back of the Xbox and into the back of the TV/monitor.



I then turn't of both the Xbox and TV/monitor to check if my guide was correct, which in this picture you can see it was.

I also got a student in my class to use my guide to see if it was easy to understand and if they could use it to set up the Xbox 360 as well, here is evidence of them doing so.

Xbox One:
I firstly plugged the power cable into the back of the Xbox, this socket was located in the bottom right hand corner, I then plugged the cable into a plug socket.






Secondly I plugged the HDMI cable into the back of the Xbox, the socket is found right next too the power cable. I then plugged the other end of the HDMI cable into the TV/monitor.







I turn't both the Xbox One on and the TV/monitor and it started displaying the Xbox logo from which I knew I had finished the set up successfully.

Configuring an Xbox One changing resolution:

Firstly I went to the main menu and clicked settings, this then took me to the settings menu.

I then clicked display & sound which took me to another menu with more options.

 I then clicked resolution and changed it from 1080p to 720p.

LAN: 
For this example of LAN I set up two PS3's.
The way I set up LAN was I first connected both PS3's to the college network. Doing this allowed both consoles to recognise each other and detect they were both connected to the same network.

I then inserted Rainbow Six Vegas 2 into both consoles and on one I launched a LAN game and on the other I searched for that game which you can see from this picture.

Once I found that game I clicked join and i was then playing LAN with the other PS3.

WAN:
The way I set up WAN is very similar to how I set up LAN.
I firstly connected a PS3 to the college network, this allowed me to connect to the PlayStation Network.

Once I connected to the PlayStation Network I launched Rainbow six Vegas 2 and searched for a game.
Once I searched I found 2 games available.

Installing a PC game: 
For the example of installing a PC game I installed Spore creature creator demo.

Firstly I plugged in the USB which had the exe file already on, I followed on by clicking the exe which opened up User Account Control which I then clicked yes.

Once I clicked yes it then opened the installer program, I clicked next which then opened up the licensing and conditions which scrolled down and read, after that I clicked accept and then next.

It now displayed option on how I want to install, I chose "Recommended" because it was the easiest and quickest.








Once I chose "Recommend" It then began to install. Once the demo has installed I then clicked finished and opened up the file from a short cut.









Time management:
While I connected all of these consoles and devices it was very important to time manage myself.
The first task in which I had to time manage was making a step by step guide on how to plug in a console. While making this guide I had to make it clear to the user so that they could plug in the console relatively fast.
The second task  was plugging in all of the consoles such as Xbox 360, PS3 and Xbox One. While I was plugging in all of the consoles I was limited to a few lessons to plug in all of the consoles as well as testing LAN and WAN so I made a plan to what I needed to finish by certain times and dates.

Fareham Byte Questnairre

Quiz

P1, M1, D1

Introduction:
What is a gaming platform? there are many types of gaming platform, an example of these gaming platforms are stand alone consoles, PC, handheld. These gaming platform also expand into genres such as Xbox 360, PC, Nintendo DS. Each platform has positive and negative points which is why people buy and invest times into different ones.

PC:
The first gaming platform I am going to investigate is PC.
The first game developed for a "Gaming PC" was 'Pong' which was released for the Odyssey in 1966.

 PC

A PC or "personal computer "is what most games are made on, a PC is made up of lots of components such as motherboard, CPU and RAM. The reason that most developer design and create games on the PC is because it others the most stability and range of features for developers.
One positive aspect of owning a PC as a gaming platform is that having up to dated hardware allows the user to have most game in the highest settings.

Another positive aspect  of having a PC is how easy it is to obtain content such as programs and games. This was mainly because of the use of Steam, which allows users to buy and trade games as well as offering tons of deals such as 50% off.

There are also bad points to having a PC, firstly the cost of having a gaming PC is quite high due to certain components that are used in the manufacture process.
Another bad point for having a PC is that owning a PC the user must be ICT competent. The reason That the user has to be ICT competent is because small problems arise a lot while using a computer and could vary from game crash all the way to error messages, having the user ICT competent hopefully they may be able resolve the problem without any other problems arising.

The future on gaming PC I think involves new technology and OS's.
The new technology I think will be the capabilities of the technology. an example of this is the capacity of servers for online gaming, a lot of the time servers reach a limit on how many people can join but in the future I think new types of servers may arise which may have unlimited numbers of people on.
Another new technology I think that PC gaming will go towards is using different OS's. Lately Steam (a huge distributor of PC games) has decided to design their own OS which is designed for PC games. The new Steam OS is a modded version of Linux which allows of customizable feature for the user.

Consoles:
The second gaming platform i'm going to investigate is consoles.

Consoles contains varied categories such as Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii. All of these consoles all contain components like PC's but consoles implement them in different ways such as integrated graphics cards. The first console to be commercially sold is the 'Brown box' which was developed by Raplh h.baer in 1922 and connected to TV's and could play six different games. 
One good point of having a consoles is that they are quite small compared to some PC's, this is useful because they will be able to be stored on TV stands or cabinets.
Another good point of having a console is that the user doesn't need to be very ICT competent, for example having multi-player on a console is a simple subscription where as some games on a PC require the user to set up a server.

One bad point of having a console is that it doesn't offer as much power than a PC, by power i mean graphical  fidelity and capacity space. consoles compared to PC's have a lower graphical fidelity and most consoles only have a maximum of 500Gb which compared to PC's can have 1TB.  
Another bad point of having a console is that it isn't customization, all consoles such as PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii are a pre built system which doesn't allow for the user to install new components.

Just recently the new next generation of gaming has been released and in a few years time there will definitely be even new and better consoles but I think the future in consoles will become very expensive.      
The new consoles cost around £350-£450 which has increased by £100 and games have increased from £20 to £50 over the last few years.
The reason for console becoming more expensive is because the different technology that is being used inside them such as GPU's and processors.

Arcade:
An arcade machine is set of components configured for gaming then inserted into a wooden or plastic case which is then decorated with various pieces of art and graphics and are normally operated when the user inserts a coin.
The earliest arcade machine ever made was put inside Stanford University in 1971 and offered the students only one game 'Galaxy Game'. Over the next 15 years arcade machines started its golden age an example of this is in the late 80's there was a massive craze for arcade games,which lead Japan into a coin shortage.

One good thing about having an arcade machine was that at the time of there release they were relatively quite compact and small which meant you could fit a lot of them in a small space such as arcades.
Another good thing about an arcade machine is the use of Attract mode, Attract mode is a mode that an arcade machine will use when nobody is using it, it plays a pre-recorded demonstration of the game that it offers meaning that someone may view the game before spending any money on playing it.
There are also bad point of having a arcade machine such as the decrease in profit of the last 5 years, this is mainly due to the fact that new console like the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 have become available for a much cheaper price than an arcade cabinet.
Another bad point is that it only offers one game per cabinet which compared to consoles and PC's which can play multiple games.

I think the future of arcade machines should be the use of multiple games on one machine to give the user a choice on what they want to play, I also think due to better technology the cabinets should get smaller and possibly much cheaper which I think would give an increase of sales.

Handheld/Mobile:

A Handheld or Mobile is a type of gaming that is portable and small and contains such console like the Atari Lynx, Nintendo DS and PSP.

A handheld or mobile contains similar components to a PC but are of a much smaller size which does mean they aren't as powerful as their bigger counter-parts.
The first Handheld/ Mobile gaming was in 1970's with small devices that could only play one game such as Tic-Tac-Toe. In the late 1980's is where you can see a start for Handheld gaming with the release of the Atari Lynx which sod a massive 75,000 units, this compared to the Nintendo DS sales of 153 million by 2013 you can clearly seen an increase in revenue.

One good point of having a handheld is that it is portable and can be kept in bag and in some cases pockets, this is good because it allows people to play games on the move.
Another good point of having a handheld is that there quite cheap for what you get, most handheld consoles cost around £150.
There are also bad points of having a handheld, similar to consoles handhelds don't have a high graphical fidelity and screen resolution.
Another bad point of having a handheld is battery life due to the fact that it is portable and it is always connect to a plug it will drain power quite quickly, an example of this is the Nintnedo DS having a battery life of 19 if the settings are configured properly.

I think the future of handheld gaming is with the innervation of the Razor Edge, which allows the user to stream games from a PC onto the Handheld which means that the handheld will have the same graphical fidelity of the PC that is being used.
 
TV:
Over the last few years a brand new gaming genre has emerged, this genre is TV.
TV has always been used for gaming but as more as an monitor rather than an actual console, over the last few years Smart TV's have giving TV's another use.
Smart TV's allow the user to control their TV with their voice and hand movement, this was then moved into games which the user would control with varied hand movements and gestures.

The first good point of having a TV for gaming is that it doesn't take up much space considering TVs can be mounted onto walls.
Another good point is that most people can use it and learn it quite quickly due to the fact that the only thing the user needs to do is perform hand gestures.
There are bad point though, firstly most games available on TV's at the moment are games that have been imported from touch screen handhelds and phones which in some cases mean they have a small screen resolution.
Another bad point is the price of the TV its self, a Smart TV can cost up too £590.00 and in my opinion i don't think its worth that much just for a larger handheld device.

The future of Smart TV's I think is in the use of schools. One of the best ways to learn is practically, I think that schools should have a Smart TV in each class room and instead of paint going everywhere why not have interactive art on the TV or games such as snakes& ladders played during  breaks.
There is a problem with this though and that is the price being very high but over the next few years Smart TV's should get much cheaper and therefore more affordable to move into schools.