Hardware Technologies For Game Platforms (P2/M2)

Introduction
In this blog I am going to be talking about the different types of hardware technology showing comparisons and illustrative examples. I will be explaining what the different types of hardware does and why they are necessary to the gaming platform.

Human-computer interface - Interface devices are used every gaming platform, why? Because it wouldn't be a gaming platform if the user couldn't play on it. For the user to play on it they need a device which can help the interact with the platform. For PC users, a keyboard (Figure 1) and mouse (Figure 2) is the usual setup, these devices are powered by USB. The keyboard works by the computer recording keystrokes, a keystroke is when a key is entered, it sends a signal that the computer understands and the PC displays it on the screen. This is the same scenario with the mouse, except there not keystrokes, a optical mouse takes 1,500 images from this tiny camera, this allows it work on most surfaces, it also has a red LED - (light emitting diode) which bounces light of the surface and sends it back to the CMOS - (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) sensor. This sensor is constantly looking for light so it can send images to the DSP (digital signal processor) which is operation at 18 MIPS (million instructions per second) so one it located that the image is changing in a given axis, it will send the information the PC with the given coordinates. There are alternative option you can uses for most platforms a gamepad/controller, in (Figure 3) you can see a controller with a USB, this is important because most platforms comes with a USB port, so this controller is adaptable. A controller works similarly to a mouse and keyboard combined, it has the ability to send coordinated to the PC whilst having many buttons that can interact with the computer. Out of these three, the most user friendly in my opinion is (Figure 3), its comfortable, its easier to locate buttons, its easier to use and most games are optimised for game pads. Game pads are also easier to sort out your button configurations, because they only give you buttons that you need, however the keyboard has a lot of extra keys which are not needed.

Figure 1


Figure 2


Figure 3

Central Processing Unit (CPU) - The CPU comes in different sizes and strengths, some have single cores and others have multiple. The more cores the quicker the CPU can read and process information. The better CPU you have the better the gameplay experience will be, this is because it will be able to read the game data faster causing the game to run smoother. However you need more than multiple cores to make a game run smooth, you can have a quad core processor at 1.5GHz and then have a single i7 at 4.50GHz, the i7 has more power so it will be better. Why have a multiply core processor? If you have more than one you can dedicate a core to do a certain task, an example of this is if you had a quad core processor you could give one core to the operating system, one or two to the game and the fourth to all the background processes. This will run better than having a single core, todays games require at least a dual core so now there is requirements that need to be met. Figure 4 shows a single core processor and Figure 5 shows a quad core, if there was no text on the processor, you wouldn't know the difference.

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Figure 5

Graphic Processor - The graphic processors job is to display the data in a image format, the graphic processor doesn't really improve the image quality of the normal desktop (not noticeable) however its noticeable in games. Games today require a lot of processing power from the GPU, they require certain speeds to play on certain settings, an example would be if you wanted to play in 'High' settings you may require at least a Gigabyte of memory and at least 1000MHz clock speed. Also it depends on if you playing the game in 2D or 3D, not all GPU's support 3D. These numbers can always change depending on the game and the graphic requirements. You can get integrated GPU's which can do the basics, but anything more you really need a graphics card. Figure 6 shows a integrated graphics card and Figure 7 shows a graphics card.

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Figure 7

Memory (RAM) - RAM is required to make a computer run, without it, it wont work. What the RAM does is that it sends information to the hard drive in a certain location for quicker access, the larger the RAM, the more storage is can save, and the quicker it can access it. The more RAM you have the quicker it can load processes, this will improve load times in games and gameplay itself, because the entire game is made up of data and RAM's job is to load it. There are different types of RAM the two main ones that are used are DRAM and SRAM. SRAM is mainly used to sort and manage cache and DRAM is used for managing storage for quicker access.

Display - The display is very important in terms of gaming because you need to be able to see and see well. The display you have must be a high resolution with a quick refresh time, so you don't get jumps in the image and it looks crystal clear. Some displays are CRT, some are LCD, some are LED, some are plasma. The way I listed these are in order of creation and in order of quality, CRT's are old and rubbish, whereas plasma's are clear and fast. Figure 8 shows a CRT, Figure 9 shows a LCD, Figure 10 shows a LED and Figure 11 shows a plasma.

Figure 8

Figure 9

Figure 10

Figure 11

Sound - sound is quiet important to gaming, some games require you to have sound so the atmosphere is set correctly. All computers have a integrated sound card, some are mono some are stereo, it is better to buy a sound card which supports at least 5.1 surround sound, this will make the gaming experience amazing. PC's usually come with two jacks a green one and a pink one, the green one is where you plug your speakers, your headphones etc and the pink one is where you'd plug your microphone, this is alright for the basic gaming with alright sound quality. However if you want the best sound you'd buy a graphics card which comes with 4+ jacks. Figure 12 shows the normal jacks and Figure 13 shows the sound cards jacks.

Figure 12

Figure 13

Game Storage Medium - To play games you need a storage device for which to install you games and to be able to run it of it. Its advised to have two hard drives, one containing the operating system and one containing everything else, this will help with stability, also a faster read speed will help the PC read the information on the hard drive faster and more reliable. Another storage medium is the disc itself, it contains information to run the game (run the installer). Today loads of these storage mediums come with a anti piracy protection, meaning copying data from the disc or hard drive or USB, whatever the case it will block you from doing so. Figure 14 shows a hard drive and Figure 15 shows a CD.

Figure 14

Figure 15

Connectivity - Connectivity is another word for different types of connections, an example of a connection is LAN, LAN is usually your router and everyone connected to that router. You can play on LAN games with others in your household. WAN is where your router is connected to the internet and you can join other servers and networks to play games outside of your household. Another term of connectivity could be interface devices connecting into controller ports, another one could be WiFi. There are many types of connectivity for all types of devices. Figure 16 shows Bluetooth which is another type of connectivity.

Figure 16

Interface Devices - When playing games, the players may which to change there interface device to suit there needs. What I mean by this is a steering wheel may be used when playing a car/racing game due to it being easier and more comfortable to use. Another example is Guitar Hero, using the controller that comes with the console is good, but to bring out the true experience using the actual guitar will make that experience much more enjoyable. The basic interface devices are: Keyboard, Mouse and Controller, there are many more for all different games, you can still play games using a different interface, for example you can play guitar hero with the steering wheel if you wanted, but its not recommended. Figure 17 shows a guitar hero interface device, Figure 18 shows a steering wheel and pedals, and Figure 19 shows a joystick (used for fighting games)

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Figure 18

Figure 19


Power Supply - Most consoles and PC's require a power supply to keep it powered, the power supply takes the 230 volts and lowers them so they don't fry any component within the system. Laptops power supply is made to charge a battery not to maintain power, although you can run the laptop of a power supply but it is not recommended. Whereas Xbox 360, PC, PS3 all are there to lowered the volts, and they can't run without constant power, there is no battery in either of the consoles to keep it running. Power supplies come in all different shapes and sizes, Figure 20 shows a PC power supply and Figure 21 shows a Xbox 360 power supply, both very different yet the job is the same.

Figure 20


Figure 21