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.