Consoles have become part of our leisure. There are many who routinely use, not just children, teenagers and adults use consoles to have fun and entertainment too. A game console is an electronic entertainment system that runs video games that are contained in cartridges, optical disk, magnetic disks or memory cards. The first systems of consoles were designed only to play video games but from the sixth generation of games consoles, they have been incorporated important features of multimedia, internet, virtual stores and online service like Xbox Live, PlayStation Network and Wii Channels. As we know, consoles have been an important gadget in many people live. Mostly of the children who have no friends are bored or want to have a fun time, they tend to entertain more with their consoles and prefer to spend hours playing video games with a slight obsession. Nowadays, there are many types of consoles, such as; Microsoft Xbox 360, 3DS, PS vita, PS3, iPad , Sony PlayStation 4 etc. They are extremely powerful computers in the own right. They just happen to be dedicated to run games, but they can often run other software as well.
In addition, we have some advantages and disadvantages of consoles.The advantages of consoles are that children can have moments of distraction when they are bored and also they can play with their friends thought internet. Some disadvantages are the following: consoles could be an obsession for children. They can take an awful lot of hours, that time could be spent doing something more productive or sociable.
In short, consoles are platforms that could be useful to communicate, connect and play with other people or play by their selves to have fun but sometimes the consoles make people to become obsessive and spent hours doing anything. Games consoles have a lot of variety and usually promote interaction and sharing between users. The following console Constraints are: Some genres are completely absent from console games and they only can certain number of games that can be played on a console. And the following Console Opportunity is that is very easily to play and connect with our TV and the controllers usually fit nicely into your hand. Some games consoles are technological convergence, this means the combining of two or more mediums in TV, films, computers, websites and consoles, as example we have the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 4. They are games consoles, DVD player and you can connect with the internet.
PC is a programmable machine. The two main features of a computer are:
-It responds to a specific set of instructions in a well-defined manner. Also it can execute a pre -recorded list of instructions (a program).
Modern computers are electronic and digital. The actual machinery wires, transistors, and circuits is called hardware; instructions and data are called software. People use the computers in many ways, as they use to search information, to watch videos, images or to do works in programs such as in power point or word 2013. PCs are used throughout the world, as this can be used by students, teachers, people, children etc. Computers are also used to play games online as this is very similar to consoles. In short, we can have a personal computer as example a laptop. The PCs opportunities are, there may be more games available for the PC, thanks to PCs we can have the best features in our works, the best graphics and it gives us many opportunities to be connected with internet and find more things to learn. The constraints of PC's are that sometimes we can't share time with our friends and we can become to be an interactive person as we are practically stuck with dealing with Microsoft Operating systems for gaming and this could be a bad thing.
Handheld devices are portables machines that can be carried it anywhere in your pocket or in bag without consuming much space. A handheld can be any computing or electronic device that is compact and portable enough to be held and used in one or both hands. A handheld device may contain cellular communication, but this category can also include other computing devices, such as; handheld gaming devices, laptops, tablets, smartphones etc. Handheld gaming devices are for example PS vita, Nintendo 3DS, game boy including phones and tablets which you can play on it. The constrains are that sometimes we can be very distracting because of the handheld devices and the opportunities we can have with handheld devices are that they are very easily to use and carried to everywhere and we can have entertainment in our times of boredom or in case of emergency. Also they can be easily held in the hand for long duration and can be used while standing as well.
Mobile phone is a device used by everyone in these days. Everywhere you go, you’ll see people sporting the latest mobile phone models. Mobile phones have completely changed the way people interact. You can call, send text messages, read emails, play games, watch videos, chat with friends by social media as well as read and edit documents on the go. Also a mobile phone is a telephone with access to a cellular radio system so it can be used over a wide area, without a physical connection to a network. Mobile Phone Constraints are: Constant Interruption, possibility of Privacy Leak, distraction and affect Real Interaction. And the mobile phone opportunities are: easy communication, always Connected, multiple Uses and emergency Situations.
Tablets are very similar to laptops. They are bigger than a smartphones and smaller than a net books. Tablets are characterized by having touch screen, so this means that for the use of tablets you don't need a mouse or a keyboard and you can use your fingers. There are several formats tablets. The most popular are between 8 and 12 inches and have a virtual keyboard, but you can add a physical keyboard connected through a USB or Bluetooth .The popularity of the tablet multiplied in 2010, when Apple launched the iPad. Today a lot of manufacturers like Samsung, Google, Microsoft, HP and Sony, have produced their own tablets. Often it considered the tablet as a device to surf the internet , access and play multimedia content. With a tablet, you can listen to music, watch movies, take photographs, make video calls, reading e-books, play games etc.The tablets, like any other computing device operate with;
- Windows 7 or Microsoft Windows CE,
- - Google Android based on Linux.
- - Variations of Linux created by each manufacturer.
- - Apple's iOS, which runs on all iPad. The constrains of tablets :
- On the productivity front, typing over the touch keypad is difficult, especially while typing long documents and emails.
- The screens of tablets are delicate and exposed if you don't have a protective case. The opportunities are:
- Tablets get access to a wide variety of applications that enhances their entertainment and productivity experience.
- The touch interface offers great gaming experience too. Tablets are even good at taking notes, showing demos, adding annotations to the images, etc.
Platforms specification
iPad 3: is the third tablet of the company of Apple. The third generation of the iPad retains the general appearance of the former outside, although hardware improves markedly with a Retina display with a resolution of 2048x1536 pixels, bringing the screen to 264ppi. It also has the A5X dual-core and GPU quad-core for higher performance graphics processor, improved 5 megapixel camera and support in different versions for 4G LTE, HSPA + and Wi-Fi only in 16GB / 32GB / 64GB of internal memory. This device is used for entertainment as children can spend hours playing games, watching videos, and navigate in internet.
iPhone 4S: The iPhone 4S is a high-end smartphone developed by Apple. It is the fifth generation of the iPhone, a device that combines a 3.5-inch display, a mobile phone with various benefits as this device cooperate with hardware program.
PS3: is a game console used by children, adults, teenagers, students etc. With the PS Vita you can entertain, play with friends, go online and make good use of the PS Vita. It is easy to carry everywhere in a bag or even in your pocket.
Xbox 360: is the second video game console Xbox brand produced by Microsoft. It was developed in collaboration with IBM and ATI and released in South America, North America, Japan, Europe and Australia between 2005 and 2006.
PlayStation 3: is the third console PlayStation of Sony Computer entertainment model.This can be used as DVD player, game console or to watch videos in internet. This platform is very similar to the Xbox as they share many things and programs.
Screen resolution: The screen resolution is the number of pixels that can be displayed on the screen. It is given by the product of width by the height, both measured in pixels, so that a relationship is obtained, called aspect ratio.This specifications affects the graphics quality of a game, higher the resolution, better the graphics. Examples:
Nintendo 3DS (800x240), iPhone 5s (1136x 40), etc.
Polygons and pixel counts; is the number of pixels connected to the amount of information within an image. Polygon is used in computer graphics to form images that are 3D in appearance.
Frames per seconds: is a unit that measures display device performance. It consists of the number of complete scans of the display screen that occur each second. This is the number of times the image on the screen is refreshed each second, or the rate at which an imaging device produces unique sequential images called frames. Some of the first 3D video games used a frame per second of only 6 FPS. In today’s action-oriented games, the frame per second may range from 30 FPS, for example; in "Halo 3" to over 100 FPS as in"Unreal Tournament 3". Computer game enthusiasts may use the FPS ratings of a game to demonstrate computer power and efficiency.
RAM/ CPU/ Size and speeds: RAM is an acronym for random access memory, a type of computer memory that can be accessed randomly; that is, any byte of memory can be accessed without touching the preceding bytes. RAM is the most common type of memory found in computers and other devices, such as printers. The CPU (Central Processing Unit) is the part of a computer system that is commonly referred to as the brains of a computer. The CPU is also known as the processor or microprocessor. The CPU is responsible for executing a sequence of stored instructions called a program. In short, the Size is a binary digit or bit. A bit can only store a single 0 or 1 and does not convey much information by itself. A string of 8 bits is called a byte. The speed of the Central Processing Unit (CPU) is very important. The faster the CPU, the faster the computer actually runs, since it acts like the brain of the computer. When the speed of a computer is mentioned in an advertisement, that speed references the speed of the CPU.
When we talk about size, we use bytes. When we specify processing speed, we use units called hertz. The number of "hertz" describes the number of electric pulses per second, and the same prefixes are used with hertz as is used in bytes to specify larger values. Smaller devices such as phones and iPad's will run at slower processor speeds, because they don't have the power to run that fast or the cooling system to handle the extra heat. That is the same reason a laptop will generally not be as fast as a regular desktop computer.
Defining the Audience
Game play modes: There are two types of games players as we have the single player and the multiplayer. A single-player game is a video game where only can be played by one player throughout the course of the gaming session. The multiplayer is a mode of play for computer games and video games where two or more gamers can play in the same game environment at the same time, cooperatively as a clan or team competitively, often referred to as death match. Multiplayer mode may be a split screen where the gamers play at the same time on one system, or where gamers play on separate systems connected to a LAN or Internet game server.
Cooperative gameplay: is a feature in video games that allows players to work together as teammates against one or more to their opponents.
Online gaming; This can refer to any type of game that someone can play through the Internet or over a computer network. Most of the time, it refers to video games played over the Internet, where multiple players are in different locations across the world. Having an optimal online gaming experience typically requires a high-speed Internet connection. Proper hardware will also be required, whether it's a computer or a gaming console, such as Xbox or PlayStation, that's connected to the Internet. In terms of video games, online gaming is growing in popularity for a variety of reasons. Gamers can easily find opponents of a similar skill level when playing a head-to-head game over the Internet.
LAN: A local-area network is a computer network that spans a relatively small area. Most LANs are confined to a single building or group of buildings, however, one LAN can be connected to other LANs over any distance via telephone lines and radio waves.
Split-screen: a cinema, television, or computer screen on which two or more separate images are displayed.
Campaign and story: It's a set of adventures or a continuing story line, typically involving the same characters. The whole purpose of this is that is to introduce a further aspect into the game.
Turn-based: A turn-based strategy game is a strategy game, where players take turns when playing. This is distinguished from real time strategy where all players play simultaneously for example; the war games that is a turn based strategy game.
Deathmatch and PVP (Players vs Player): Deathmatch is a type of gameplay mode found in first-person-shooter games. The objective of a deathmatch is to frag as many players in the game as possible while keeping yourself from being flagged. When the game ends, the gamer who accumulated the most flags in the deathmatch game is the winner of the deathmatch.
Social: social games are played on a social platforms that run on or integrate with a social network and use that network to enhance gameplay between players. I think this is a good way to know people, play games with them and to communicate through the internet to have entertainment and fun.
In conclusion, from my point of view, I believe that new technology in these days is being updated very fast . The consoles, tablets, laptops or handheld devices are very similar because you can play on it or do the same things in different platforms. Sometimes these platforms are used for entertainment, emergency, homework etc. For example as we can see we actually don't need the games consoles to play games. I strongly agree that the audience are with me because nowadays children use tablets, their phones or some handheld devices to play video games. Games can be also accessed on handheld devices and other platforms not just consoles as I said before and this is good in terms of the audience.
