task 1 - Software Technologies for Game Platforms

The two games hat I have cosen to compare is Minecraft and  League of Legends.

Platform dependency 
Games that are platorm dependent are games that are made for only one type platform lik or example, Leaue of Legends can only be played on a PC or a PC type device like a lap top. Console companies use the platform exclusive stratg to icrease sales by making plaform eclusive games so that people will buy that certain console just so that they can play the because it's not available on any other consoles. Not all console games are like this, most console games can played on other consoles as well but even then you would still need to buy the game in a disc built to run on that certain type of cosole like for example, ou can't just take an Xbox 360 game and then put it in a PlayStation 4 and expect the console to run the game because it won't cause it's not built for that type of system.

Minecraft:
Between plaform dependency and independency Minecaft is very much platform independent because of the act that it can be played on my other platforms apart from e PC which was it's target platform o begin with but now the game has spread onto consoles like Xbox, Mobile phone, and other types of platforms. Although it's available to be played on other platforms they don't all play the same way like for example, because most phones today are touch screen you can only do limited things, less than what you could do on it's targeted platform which is for PC, With the PC version you can add in mods to ake the game more fun and you can also play with your friends on multiplayer mode.


League of Legends:
League of Legends is platform dependent because of the way that it's been layed out, from the camera angle, to the mechanics of the game. The way they engineered the games mechanics was solely for the purpose of playing it on a PC type platform. MOBA genre games are typically designed to run on PC but there is this one game called Smite Smite is also a in the MOBA genre but because the game deigners and developers designed to have a behind the back third person camera angle so that it suits the play style needed for that kind of platform.

I think that in the future games could either stay the same having some being platform dependent and independent with platform exclusives, or it might go in the direction where technology get even more advanced and people will be able to play games on any platform.

Links:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2854456/laptop-computers/the-best-pc-laptops-of-the-year.html 
https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/explore/ps4/

operating systems used 
The operating system in a computer is oe of the most important part for a computer as the computer won't be able to run any other programs without it, the operating systems manages the computers memory, storage, progress and all of it's softwares and hardwares.

Mac OS X
Mac OS X or macOS is the current series of  Unix-based graphical operating systems which is developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is designed to run on Apple's Macintosh computers it was preinstalled on all Macs since the year 2002. It is the second most widely used desktop OS within the market of desktop, laptop and home computers and by usage of web after Microsoft Windows.

Mac OS was first released on March 24 2001 and has recently rleased a much newer version known as Mac OS Sierra which is the image shown below.

Links:
http://getpcsoft.wikisend.com/mac-os-x-mountain-lion-10-8-5-free-download.html 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacOS


Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system that was assembled and built under the model of free and open-source software development and distribution. This means that it's possible to be modified and distributed to other systems around the world meaning that it is free for anyone to use. The difference between it and other operating systems like mac and windows is the fact that it is free and adjustable which enables the user to have more freedom with their applications.

Another good thing about this operating system is is that it's a cross-platform operating system based on Unix meaning that it is available to use on other platforms unlike the mac OS X which is built just for Apple Macintosh products. Platforms in which it's available for installment are laptops, mobile phones, PCs, video game consoles etc.

The image below shows one of the environments that is good for Linux however it has both pros and cons. Pros is that its simple and easy to use and it's functionality can be expanded through extensions. It's cons is that it lacks many features you would otherwise see on other desktop environments and it also seems to have poor extension management.



Link:
http://www.cio.com/article/2885122/linux/the-8-best-desktop-environments-for-linux.html#slide3
http://www.techradar.com/news/software/operating-systems/best-linux-desktop-which-is-ideal-for-you--1194516


Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows or Microsoft OS is an operating system that was first developed by Mirosoft in the mid 80's. This operating system is probably one of the most popular operating systems used on personal computers today. The reason behind this operating system's popularity is that it was the first operating system to establish the first graphical user interface which was compatible with a PC and since then it has drastically dominated the markets. The majority of PCs around the world today run this operating system with over 80% of PCs running it.

Since then Microsoft has released many different versions of it and the most popular ones were windows 10 which was released in 2015, Windows 8 which was released in 2012, Windows 7 which is probably the most popular among the list was released in 2009 and two years before it Windows Vista was released. The latest Windows is now preinstalled in PCs because of the fact that it's became so popular and mainsream that it's what people now epect to see when they open their PCs.

Windows 10

links:
http://uk.pcmag.com/windows-10/69981/review/microsoft-windows-10




What operating system/systems does League of Legends use?
The minimum operating system requirements for League of Legends are Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista SP1, or Windows 7, I think that any operating system with the capacity between the four will be able to run it because at the moment I personally play league of Legends which is one of the reasons why I chose it as one of my examples but the operating system that my laptop is currently running is Windows 365 and the game is running just fine. The recommended operating systems for it are the same.

Links:
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/BGtROJeMPeE/maxresdefault.jpg
http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/requirements/league-of-legends/10933


What operatin system/systems does Minecraft use?
Because of the fact thatMinecraft is a platform independent type of game it means that it's able to run on many different platforms and because it's very versatile with it's platform this could also mean that it's versatility doesn't stop there, Minecraft is probably able to run on many different operating systems as well but the minimum operating requirements for Minecraft are very low with Windows XP, with Windows XP being it's lowest it means that anything with the same or higher capacity will be able to run the game.

Links:
http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/requirements/minecraft/11356
https://minecraft.net/en/store/?ref=m


Drivers needed 
Simply speaking a driver is a piece of software that that tells or drives a hardware how to run on certain type of operating system within a PC. Types of hardware that need drivers include your PC card, DVD drive, video card and other hardware all use drivers to make their operations work. It provides a software interface to hardware devices, this enables operating systems and other programs to acces the functions of the hardware without having to know accurate details of the hardware that is currently being used.
Because of the diversity of todays modern hardware and operating systems, dirvers can now operate in many different environments. Drivers are now able to interface with video cards, sound cards, printers, Low-bandwidth I/O buses of various sorts (for pointing devices such as mice, keyboards, USB, etc.) and many more.
I will be talking about the graphics card and the sound card in more detail.

Graphics API
First of all an API is a set of routines, tools and protocols used to build software applications. The API specifies how software components should be interacting and are used when you are programming a graphical user interface (GUI) components. A good API provides building blocks for programmers which makes it easier for them build something out of those building blocks.

The graphical API is what renders the images that you would normally see through your monitor be it a TV or through your PC monitor, the graphics API is what helps convert data into signal so that your monitor would be able to understand it and display the certain imagery.

Sound API
Just like the Graphics API the sound API but this API obviously focuses more on the audio. It is responsible for producing the sounds out of multiple devices the computer is currently using such as speakers, headphones, earphones etc. This provides input and output of audio signals from and to a computer that is under the control of computer programs.
It's typical uses includes having to provide the audio component multimedia applications such as music composition, editing video or audio, presentation, education and entertainment (games) and video projection.

League of Legends sound and graphics API requirements
The minium requirements for Legue of Legends video card is DirectX 9.0 or any video card that can support shader 2.0 but it's recommended requirements are Nvidia GeForce 8800/AMD Radeon HD 5670 or equivalent video card (Dedicated GPU with 512MB+ Video Memory(VRAM)).

As for the sound API I couldn't really find anythin about it but I do know for a fact that the sound API is what helps keeps a bit of logic withing League of Legends like for example if the in game camera was to follow your character while you were playing you would be able to hear their footsteps and hear them talk, but as soon as your character leaves or walks out of the camera view you would be able to hear their footsteps or their voice into the distance as they move away from the camera's view and I think its the built in sound API that helps distinguish whether your character was near or not, if not then it could just be the sound files that automatically come when you install the game.

Minecraft sound and graphics API requirements
The minimum requirements for Minecraft video card is (Integrated): Intel HD Graphics or AMD/ATI Radeon HD Graphics with OpenGL 2.1 but it's recommended video card requirements are GeForce 2xx Series or AMD Radeon HD 5xxx Series (Excluding Integrated Chipsets) with OpenGL 3.3.
With the sound card however because Minecraft uses Java it doesn't need any specific sound cards because Java is also responsible for the input and the output of the games sound.
But like League of Legends I think it also uses the PC's or laptop's built in sound API to distinguish through audio whether your character or something is near or far away like when a creeper get or an ender man get closer and closer to you the sound coming from them becaomes louder.


Links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Device_driver#Applications
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/A/API.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_card
http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/requirements/league-of-legends/10933
http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/requirements/minecraft/11356


Application software used (programming)
"An application is any program, or group of programs, that is designed for the end user. Application software can be divided into two general classes: systems software and applications software. Applications software (also called end-user programs) include such things as database programs, word processors, Web browsers and spreadsheets." - http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/A/application.html

Application softwares were softwares designed to help computers to do more than one task and to function at the same time. So it's like an operating but the difference between an application software and an operating system is that and operating system helps run a computer but an application is more for the benefit of the user as it helps people perform an activity. There are many different types of application oftwares with each having specific uses but one of the most used and well known programming language is Java most websites today use JavaScript as their progrmming language for web designs as Java is what makes a website interavtive.

What application software was used for League of Legends?
For League of Legends I didn't gather that much information as to what they used to programme the game but when I went to the Riot Games website which published and developed the game the job discription said that you must be proficient in C++ and have experience working in it.

Links:
http://www.riotgames.com/careers/163873
 
What application software was used for Minecraft?With Minecraft just like it's sound API I think that Minecraft uses mostly Java as its programming language although Java can be slow at times but because of Java it has become a cross-platform meaning its possible to play it in higher quality just by simply changing the platform that your playing it in like for example when you play it on Xbox it would be in much higher quality because these days people use TVs as the monitors and because TVs are bigger it means they're more powerful and can display much higher quality images than if you were to use a PC monitor.

TV 
These days people play their console using TVs as the monitor because they're built to display higher images therefore using them as monitors, people can then enjoy playing their games even more because of the higher quality that the TV has to offer.
Recently the word 4K is becoming more and more well known for TVs because of the high resolution that it offers, the higher the resolution the better. The way that people connect their consoles to the TV is by connecting it using a HDMI cable. A HDMI cable is a proprietary audio/video interface used for transferring compressed or uncompressed digital audio/video data from a HMDI-compliant source device like a console or a laptop. I think that technology won't stop at 4K but it will just get even higher and higher and I think that the design of HDMI cables will get even more sleeker and efficient or you might not need one in the future because it's now possible to display your phones interface to the TV wireless but as far as I know it's only Apple TV that can do this at the moment.

Links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI
http://4k.com/65-inch-tv-reviews-best-in-depth-guide-for-65-inch-smart-led-4k-ultra-hd-tvs-for-sale-buy-a-65-inch-4k-flat-screen-television-with-confidence/

Task 2 - Platform Game Showcasing Research

Task 3 - The Connection and Configuration of Game Platform

First I explained how you would be able to play games in the raspberry pi using different devices like a mouse, a keyboard and an Xbox controller and how you would connect them using USB cables. Along with that explanation I also explained which device was better to use for certain types of games like if was doom it's much better to use the keyboard because that what the games mechanics consisted of and that people would be much familiar using a certain type of controller because of how the games is laid out. Then I talked about how with iPhone it's limited to only tapping dragging and holding your finger down on the screen as the are only designed for those kinds of mechanics. 

Here I explain how you are able to change the brightness and saturation of the game based on what suited you current situation like for example its more effective to turn the brightness up is you were to play the games outside to kind of combat the brightness of natural lighting. And if it was the other way around and you were to play the game in the dark its much safe to play in low brightness because if it was too bright it could damage your eyes.

 I then moved onto the iPhone explaining the fact that because its touchscreen decreasing and increasing the brightness is as easy as tapping and sliding your finger across the screen but there is also an option where you can turn on auto brightness and it would adjust the brightness for you automatically depending on the current natural lighting your in. 

Here I explain how you could turn down the volume with different options like master volume, music volume, and environment volume. Computer games tend to have a lot more technical options compared to mobile games because like the mechanics its limited to fewer options like with the volume mobile games are only limited to master volume and Ambient volume.
With video games based on PC and other bigger devices you can also decide how high you want the games resolution to be but with mobile games there is no need for that because they were all built to fit the phone's digital capacity, however different games have different needs and if your phone's storage is less than the games storage requirements then you won't be able to install it which brings me to the installation topic and for mobile games you can download them from the app store or the play store for androids. but with games that can be played on PC you can get them from steam but there are other games like League of Legends where you have to go to their official website to install the game because with games like that they need much more complex and specific needs.

Task 2 - Hardware Technologies for Game Platforms

Human Computer Interface
The human computer interface is basically the things that you see on the screen of whatever device it is
that you are using. An example are the icons you see and click on the computer screen. The
human computer interface allows its users to have a visual idea on the device's screen of whats
happening while its users are using it a perfect example is the way that we interact with touch screen devices.
Since it began human computer interface hasn't really change too except for the fact that now there is much
higher resolution and better quality. Human computer interface have definitely changed the way us human
have interacted with our devices because with HCI we've come to a better understanding of how things
work and how we play our games.

Links:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6392/the-windows-rt-review/2

Central Processing Unit (CPU)
"A central processing unit (CPU) is the electronic circuitry within a computer that carries out the instructions of a computer program by performing the basic arithmetic, logical, control and input/output (I/O) operations specified by the instructions."

The Central Processing Unit or CPU is basically the brain of the computer. Although the implementations of CPU's have changed, their rudimentary operation has remained almost exactly the same. Intel is one of the biggest CPU producers in the world.

 Links: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_processing_unit#/media/File:Intel_80486DX2_top.jpg

Graphic Processors
"A graphics processing unit (GPU), also occasionally called visual processing unit (VPU), is a specialized electronic circuit designed to rapidly manipulate and alter memory to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display. GPUs are used in embedded systems, mobile phones, personal computers, workstations, and game consoles."

This means that the GPU is what helps render and display images into our screens no matter what platform is. The prices of GPUs depending on their speed to process 3D objects. The main company that produces GPUs is NVIDIA.

Links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphics_processing_unit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphics_processing_unit#/media/File:6600GT_GPU.jpg

Random Access Memory (RAM)
The random access memory is a type of storage used by the computer to keep current data and other information in in which the processor can just rapidly access. The RAM is always running, storing every kind of  data and information that are currently using. The only time that the RAM stops running is when you turn off you computer but as soon as you turn it back it will start running again and carry on with its job. There are different types of RAM produced, there is the SRAM, DRAM, FPM DRAM, EDO DRAM, SDRAM, DDR SDRAM and many more. The SRAM stands for Static Random Access Memory and it uses multiple transistors which typically uses four or six for each of the memory cell but it doesn't have a capacitor for each of the cell. this type of ram is mainly used for cache. The DRAM which stands for Dynamic Random Access Memory has memory cells that are paired with transistors and capacitors that are in constant need of refreshing. Each of the RAMs have their own uses that are either completely different or just a more upgraded version of another.

Links:
http://notebooks.com/2013/10/29/how-to-choose-the-right-memory-for-your-notebook/

Display
The display for example for a computer set up would be the monitor. The monitor allows us see what we
are doing by displaying information visually through the screen. There are three different forms of display
There is External, Built-in and Liquid Crystal. The first one being the external means that its a form of display
in which allows for it either plugged or unplugged, this includes the first thing I talked about this topic about
the TV and the computer, so with a computer monitor its what allows you to see what it is that's going on
with whatever it is your doing like if you were playing a game the monitor is what displays the images that
tell whats happening in the game.
With built-in display it's the opposite of external display which speaks for itself. This form of display is referring
to devices like the laptop which is complete with a screen a keyboard and a touch type mouse interface,
but companies are starting to make devices which you can manually attach and detach the keyboard.
Another example are mobile phones and smartphones because the with phones they already come with the
screen and the keyboard. The liquid crystal form of display often referred to as LC. Its name the way it is because
within the display its properties include both liquid and solid substances which is also dependent on the
temperature that it is in.

Links:
http://bgr.com/2015/10/08/computer-monitor-deals-amazon-sale/
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2854456/laptop-computers/the-best-pc-laptops-of-the-year.html
http://www.circuitstoday.com/liquid-crystal-displays-lcd-working
http://www.windowscentral.com/windows-81-101-inch-tablet-detachable-keyboard-be-sold-179-walmart

Sound
"So to begin with, what is a sound card? Well also known as an audio card, or sound board, a sound card is an integrated circuit or expansion card which provides a computer with the ability to create sound, which can be heard by the user. This can be heard through various devices such as headphones or speakers. There are multiple different types of sound cards, either in expansion slot form or on the motherboard itself, but either or a computer always includes one, even though a computer doesn't need one to function."

This part of the system is a very important part of playing a game or just watching something because it makes the experience a lot more entertaining and immersive, like being able to see the type of emotions the characters in games are conveying with sounds we are also able to tell whatever kind of emotion it is that the character is trying to convey just by listening to how they speak and the tone of their voice. With sounds, we are able to imagine events and environments just by listening to what the game is telling us.


Links:
http://harrydawsonunit20task2and3.weebly.com/sound.html
http://teach.land/tag/sound-card/

Game Storage Medium
There are many different parts to this topic but I will only talking about a couple of them and
add a few quotes from another blog. But I will be staring with proprietary.
Proprietary is when a product or technology is only and exclusively owned by one company.
But more specifically companies that protect the knowledge about their product and how it works internally.
A good example for a proprietary product would be Microsoft because they have range of products and softwares
that they do not release any information how these products are made and how they work.
Second thing I'll talk about is the standard part of a game storage medium. Within computers, it is something
in which many kinds of technologies uses to place, store and retrieve data from.

"Flash Memory:
There are many forms of Game Storage Medium, and i will begin by talking about flash memory. This is an external device which can be plugged and unplugged into devices such as consoles or computers to transfer data. This is a used for a fast and easy alternative to storing data, and because of how it is used, it acts more like a mini hard drive, rather than as RAM."

"Smart Media

Originally developed by Toshiba, smart media card are available in capacities varying from 2 MB to 64 MB. The way these cards are made allows everything to be integrated into a single package, and power and data is carried by an electrode to the flash memory chip when the card is inserted into the device. These are capable of a reliable and fast performance."


Links:
http://harrydawsonunit20task2and3.weebly.com/game-storage-medium.html

Interface Devices
Simply put, Interface device are just basically the devices that we used to interact with the
Devices that we use. Like for example the keyboard that I used to type this up is one of the types of human
computer interfaces out there. Another example is the touch screen that is now in basically everyone's
phone. Back in the day mobile or what we call smartphones today didn't touch screen and other kind of
access given to us by today's technologies. In past keyboards were used more on work but as the times
go by and games started getting more and more popular, companies started making keyboards that specifically
made for gaming and I think that all of these technologies grow even more and more advanced in the future.

"Human–computer interaction (commonly referred to as HCI) researches the design
and use of computer technology, focused on the interfaces between people (users) and computers.
Researchers in the field of HCI both observe the ways in which humans interact with computers
and design technologies that let humans interact with computers in novel ways."

Links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human-computer_interaction
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_keyboard#/media/File:QWERTY_keyboard.jpg
http://www.urbentech.com/evolution-touch-screen/

Connectivity
There are also many things to talk about this topic in which I will list them down below but will only
talk about a couple of them.

• Standalone
• Controller ports
• Local Area Network (LAN)
• Wide Area Network (WAN)
• Internet
• Broadband
• Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)
• WiFi
• Bluetooth

First thing I'm going to talk about it the WiFi. Most of today's devices can access the WiFi, the WiFi is a type
of wireless network technology which allows computer, mobile phones, consoles etc. to communicate with each
other. It is the standard way that computers connect to wireless network in which nearly all of the modern computers
have in them is a built in WiFi chip which will them give them the freedom to connect to an internet router. Games
consoles like the Xbox One are heavily dependent on the WiFi connection for of today's games.

Second thing I will be talking about is how controller ports have changed into something more convenient and effective
than the previous products. In the past controllers had wires in which you had to plug into the console for it to function
but as the years went by controllers became more independent, not needing a wire to be plugged into the console
for it to properly function although companies still give you the option of having to plug the controller in just in case
the wireless system fails. Now you are also able to play with friends online meaning that connectivity is a important
aspect in the gaming world because it's how most games are played now, with other people that are connected
to the internet.

Links:
http://harrydawsonunit20task2and3.weebly.com/connectivity.html
http://www.howtogeek.com/234751/what-is-802.11ac-and-do-i-need-it/

Power Supply
When it comes to technology there many different types of power supply or battery, the power supply within a device is what gives it power to run the things it needs to. There are ones that have to be plugged in, ones that can be recharged and ones that once its energy completely depletes have to be replaced with a brand new one. There are many popular devices that have internal batteries like a mobile phone, laptops and other handheld devices. As the things started to develop more, rechargeable batteries have become more common in technology. It wasn't until the Nintendo DS was released that rechargeable batteries were used for portable gaming consoles in which the PlayStation Portable or PSP was released. Power supplies like batteries now have become even more advanced with storing more energy or volts within them while some come with their own specifically made chargers.

Links:
http://nintendo.wikia.com/wiki/Nintendo_DS 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_Portable#/media/File:Psp-1000.jpg
http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/02/18/energizer-recharge-value-aaaaa-nimh-battery-charger-review/

Task 1: Game Platform Development Timeline

In addition to my visual timeline I have created a more in depth evaluation of the history of video games.

At some point in time in the past there were no video games, electronic games were born from the way us humans combine innovation, necessity and curiosity. early tinkerers and inventors made amusements out of electronic devices, cheap and crude entertainments that would then transform to something that is dynamic and alive as the time passes. These would not just happen by the power of machinery, but also by the efforts of artists designers and entrepreneurs which had the initial goal to entertain but also came to challenge, fascinate and enlighten the millions of people that live around the world. 

In 1962 the first computer to utilize a visual display was called the PDP-1 in which Steve Russell created a game for called Spacewar! . The games purpose was initially to demonstrate the capabilities of this new machine called PDP-1 and the game that Steve Russell  made helped the MIT Students to showcase the machine's capabilities. What they found so interesting about the machine was its display screen was probably because most of the computers produced at that time had paper tape outputs while the PDP-1 had an actual screen on it. 

Some people may argue that electronic games go further in the past and that it was a byproduct of cold war technology. While there were many industries and innovators that combined to try and pave the way to games with the slightest possibility but no one can argue about the visionaries and company that finally brought video games to the public in a huge way. That company was ATARI in which the well-known game of PONG was made for.

Games in the past were very blocky and simple and the reason for this is how the RGB (Red, Green and Blue Raster) or VDD (Video Display Device) works.



"A bitmap corresponds "bit-for-bit" with an image displayed on a screen. A bitmap is technically characterized by the width and height of the image in pixels and by the number of bits per pixel, or a "colour depth", which determines the number of colors the pixel and ultimately the image can represent. The more bits, the better the games looked. More bits, however, meant more memory was needed,  which was in short supply in the early days of gaming." - Video Games: The Movie

As technology became more and more advanced overtime 8 bit games became 16 bit games then to 32, 64, 128 and from there it just got even more higher. As games were slowly evolving, the ones on the inside were growing up an cultivating their very own kind of art form.

In 1972 there was a console released called the Magnavox. The Magnavox had no real graphics or character animation instead it was like you were exactly playing pong but instead of just having two moving rectangles and a square "ball" what the Magnavox displayed on screen were just squares of light along with mylar overlays that you put over the TV screen.

In 1977 the ATARI was released and it was much different from the Magnavox because of the fact that it actually displayed real graphics and that's what made it so popular because people had never seen game characters move before and they were very intrigued with the new game mechanics like for example in Pitfall there were several levels and each level would have something completely new added into it so it's different every time and like in Donkey Kong you could climb ladders and jump over barrels to save a princess and these new ways to play a game and also the fact that you could manipulate the images being displayed on your screen and this is what caught most of the peoples attention in which made it a very popular gaming console in it's time.

Not many people may know but the now mega industry's future was once in serious danger when they got carried away thinking that they were invincible after the explosive financial and cultural success they had with the first generation of video games. This all happened in the ATARI era in 1982, when people were getting tired of playing and being sold the same game over and over again so the industry thought it was a good idea to just throw games upon games at people without really thinking about how they would react to it.
While a few of the games were successful most of the other games were unsuccessful with some being so bad they had to put throw them into landfills. Because of the fact the games were being made in such an accelerating way, the quality and the gameplay of the games went down significantly in hopes of making the next Christmas better than the one before it.

"With scores of new game developers springing up overnight and venture capitalists pouring money into what seemed to be a "sure thing" product, the writing was on the wall. the market was becoming saturated and in 1983, the final nail was driven home." - Video Game: The Movie


ATARI decided to make a deal with Universal Studios to create a video game adaptation of the popular movie E.T. The Extra Terrestrial. ATARI only had 5 weeks to create the game so that it would come out just in time for Christmas. As ATARI was high on their previous success, they scrambled to put out a sub-par product and in the fall of 1982 they shipped out millions of cartridges despite of the game being bad quality. The backlash that came after this mistake was what people called legendary as it didn't just affect them, it created a ripple effect throughout the whole of the games industry. By the summer of 1983 the confidence of consumers in video games had deteriorated and ATARI, along with other rising companies went down hard. A couple of years later, Nintendo came out with their console which basically re birthed the games industry again because they knew exactly what people wanted and that was to play as characters.

Eight years after the ATARI 2600 the Nintendo Entertainment System was released on 1985 in which changed the way people saw games in a graphic sense because the time before it was released people would only see really good graphics in that time's standard on the Arcade machines which are built exactly for games. Nintendo then came out with Super Nintendo on 1991 with much better graphics and games than the previous product that they came out with.   

In 1995 the next big console came which was the PS1 or PlayStation 1. What made the PlayStation 1 so big and well known was because of the fact that it came with a disc and that disc was able to carry a huge amount of data making it possible for the players to play over 150 games that is stored within it. 

"To me, it was a portal to modern gaming today" - Francisco Mao, Video Games: The Movie  

A year later on 1996 they brought out a game called Tomb Raider and with this game it took the players to a whole new world where they'd never took part in before and that was the 3D world and at that time there weren't many other games like it. 

In the same year the Nintendo 64 came out and it was only then that people started seeing 3D for the first time. What this allowed people to was that now instead of only being able to move your character up, down, back and forth they could move all around the environment that they were put in, this then brought a completely new dimension to the way that people played games. And the controller that came with it had a built in analogue stick which is what was used to control the characters movement.

In the year 2000 following the release of PlayStation 1 came the  PlayStation 2 and with this players started to see more and more game characters that were more representative of people, the graphics was enough that it was easier for the game to tell the story through the characters. Around 2001 the Xbox came out but the way that the Xbox came to be is quite interesting. It started when a PC company was getting interested into getting into the console trend and then another company called Direct X decided to lend them a hand and came up with the idea of putting Direct X which is a name for the Windows API for gaming. The original plan for this was that it would act like a console from the outside but on the inside it would be a PC running Windows and Direct X. On some sort of accident, they didn't know that they were actually starting to bridge the two worlds together, and that this console called Xbox would become the bridge between the cultures of PC and Console. 

In 2006 things got even more interesting with the release of Wii and the PlayStation 3.  

With the PlayStation 3's release it gave game developers and designers the opportunity to make things look much better than they were in the past, what gave them this opportunity was the power that the PlayStation 3. With the Wii it gave people a completely new way to use controllers it sort of had a wireless connection that allowed the players to move around more freely because the games required you to move exactly how you would if you were in your characters position.

"Modern game systems represent not only quantum leaps in hardware and graphics but also the utilization of parallel data processing and memory within the cloud. 

what does all that mean? Simply put, it means from here on out, anyone will be able to play any game, anywhere, anytime, with amazing speed and quality" - Video Game: The Movie   

               

With the power of the cloud and it's thousands of servers it allows game developers to create much more life like and realistic games in terms of characters and environments. The power of the Cloud also allows players to store their data in it from their phones, meaning that if ever someone loses their phone then they'll be able to put the exact same data as they did with their old phone to the new phone because of the cloud's storage.

As of today, games and gaming devices have evolved and still evolving tremendously since their first generation ancestors with the releases of VR devices I think that it's as futuristic as it can be but I think that the gaming culture and games industry will just keep growing and evolving more and more as the years go by.
I think VR devices have a very bright future in front of them and that it may die down just a little but once they release a new version of it it will definitely be a much better and improved version of it, I think that VR devices are a very unique experience because of the fact that it mentally and directly puts the player in a new environment in just seconds and I think that's the factor that's going to keep it alive.

Links:
http://www.computerhistory.org/pdp-1/a87ddd9510aeebf6485c47a35f8a26aa/
http://www.lavisqteam.fr/?p=1501 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnavox_Odyssey#/media/File:Magnavox-Odyssey-Console-Set.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari#/media/File:Atari-2600-Wood-4Sw-Set.jpg
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/6247/the_replay_interviews_david_crane.php?print=1
http://www.coralnet.de/classickong/Donkey25m.xml
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Entertainment_System#/media/File:NES-Console-Set.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_(console)#/media/File:PSX-Console-wController.jpg
http://irishhips.deviantart.com/art/Tomb-Raider-Classic-The-Original-Cover-510391240
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nintendo_64_games#/media/File:N64-Console-Set.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_2#/media/File:PS2-Versions.png
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_(console)#/media/File:Xbox-console.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii#/media/File:Wii-Console.png
https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/explore/ps3/
http://blueskytel.com.au/cloud/
http://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/computer-games/16/192/790
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.T._the_Extra-Terrestrial_(video_game)
http://www.samsung.com/in/consumer/mobile-devices/wearables/gear/SM-R322NZWAINU
http://www.museumofplay.org/about/icheg/video-game-history/timeline
Source:
Video Game: The Movie.