Sound and Display

Ever since the first computer game, Pong there has always had to be a screen to allow the player to interact with the game. Sound is also key because it helps the player feel more involved with the game. Obviously like the game pong itself, the sound and display were quite basic but at the time it was considerings a technologic marvel. As time progressed so did the power of the display and sound systems. It started quite slowly with just a few simple colours and several odd tones.
A good example of its limitations would be to look at the original pokemon games and the original gameboy. The gameboy itself only had around 12 colours to be chosen from and its sound is very pixelated. As time progressed so did the level that these systems began to improve so by the time of the 7th generation of consoles. The machines were capable of producing a huge amount of different colours and sounds.
This can be shown by sheer amount explosions are used in mordern games. In older consoles it would of been very difficult to create a realistic looking explosion. While modern times can create one very easily.

There are two different ways that sound can be betrayed in games. The first world be using the basic sound system that would be built into the television and would give you a basic sound to the games but it would be very basic. While the better oppotion would be using surround sound because it gives a much more imersive type of gameplay specially if using 5.1 system.

 

 

 

When it comes to the case of display. It is a lot simpler to find a good display system than to create a good sound system.  This is due to the fact that for sound all you need is a good tv capable of providing HD quality.  Display has improved a lot and most recently the latest thing tecehnology is a machine OCULUS RIFT. The OCULUS RIFT is the latest in virtual reality and is a pair of large glasses that give the player complete vision as if they are looking through the eyes of the player. This system also comes 2 speakers on either side of your head so you would be completely imersed in the world.

Game Storage Medium

Storage media is used in a number of ways the most popular way is in the case of gaming, being used to store different games ranging from football to shooters. Since the start of gaming platforms the consoles has often had a different type of storage device like in the case of magnavox odyssey which had pong installed onto it, the Atari 2700 having cartridges that were inserted into the game console itself, while in the case of the Playstation 3 which used blue ray disks.
They use different storage media because they use the best possible storage media from when they were built meaning that as time progresses that the storage media will always change. This is made very clear when you look at the Sega Genesis using CD-Roms while its main rival the SNES used cartridges.
 This was mainly due to the SNES coming out before the Genesis so cartridge was the best possible but by the time that the Genesis came out CD-Roms had began to be seen as the most better media storage.

ROM cartridges themselves have been used for game consoles since the start of home gaming in 1972 with the Magnavox Odyssey, which had a removable circuit board that could be used to change the game elements (this wasn't paid much attention to because not many people have the software to recode the console to do anything other than simple pong).
Cartridges as a game storage device made its stride with the birth of the Atari 2600, this console had an huge library of games all stored on cartridges. This was because the technology used to create these advances cartridges was a lot cheaper so anyone that had the equipment was able to create a game (this did lead to a large number of bad games and because Atari hadn't kept any sort of track of the games that were used on these consoles many had huge glitches).
As the generations of consoles went on, one company continued to use cartridges right up till the fifth generation. Nintendo were the last company to use cartridges with these console Nintendo 64.

The piece of technology that replaces the ROM cartridge is the CD-ROM. CD-ROM stands for Compact Disc - Random-Only Memory. This worked by a small laser being reflected of the disc. The disc itself would have a large number of tiny different indents. These indents were meant to work as the same way as binary works with a simple yes or no result. The only difference is instead off 1s or 0s it was either risen or indented but the computer reads it the same way. These CDs took over from ROM-cartridges due to them being much cheaper and have the ability to store between 650mb - 700mb. This new way of storing games first began replacing game cartridges with the SEGA Genesis. This console was the first of its kind because to try and increase its like span SEGA created a large number of different attachments for it, in an attempt to keep it up to date with the model and rapidly increasing technology. This storage media failed to last as many generations as its predecessors the cartridges.

As time went on technology once again improved. The next big jump for game storage devices was with the Digital Versatile Disc or DVD for short. This storage device became well known during the 6th generation of consoles with the PlayStation and the original Xbox. This device worked the same as a normal CD-ROMs. The reason that they were much better than there predecessors is because while CD-ROMs storage around 650mb to 700mb but the much more advanced DVD stored 4.7GBs on both sides of the disc meaning that companies were able to store much more detailed games on there consoles. This storage device is still used today but only in one major console  the Xbox 360.

As of late 2013 the largest time of storage media is the Blue-Ray disc much more advanced than any DVD it was capable of storing 25GBs on each side. The first time this was used in a console was during the 7th generation in the PS3, with the arrival of the 8th generation of consoles both sony and Microsoft both instead for the Xbox one and the PS4 to use Blue-Ray.

Connectivity

Connectivity is a new concept that came around with the start of the sixth generation of consoles but really took off with the launch of the seventh generation.  There are several ways that a console can be connected with another.

LAN

The most simple is using LAN/Ethernet, this is usually done with two or more consoles/computers in one building. One computer is set as the File Server and the rest of desigiated to the clients. This allow everyone linked into this system to then be able to play games together.

Peer to Peer Networking

Peer to Peer networking is a lot like using LAN but instead of one computer being set in charge of controlling everything that is goingon instead all computers are considered File Servers meaning that all computers in the system have console of what is going on. This is the best way taht two players would be able to connect using different consoles.

Ethernet

Ethernet was designed to help follow a system of rules for when consoles link together like when using LAN. This is used for gaming because playing a game with your friends takes up a lot of data (around 100GB a second) so the Ethernet cable should be able to handle the vast amount of information being passed through it at anyone point.

WIFI

Wifi is in all mobile phones and several different other machines in order to give the player the option of playing without the use of wires. The average range of wifi is 32metres in orders and 92 metres outside.  The average speed of WIFI is 2.4GHz to 5.8GHz. A great example of WIFI is that it is used for every single wireless controller because it is a very effective signal.

Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a lot like WIFI but not as advanced the range is around 100metres but works at a much lower speed so the fastest it can possiblely reach is 2.4GHz. This is standardly used for 2D games because it would be unable to handle 3D games.

As you can see under the disk tray slot you are able to see a small button and
the logo button on each controller.

Connecting a Wireless Controller to a Xbox 360
Connecting a controls to microsofts xbox 360 is one of the most basic functions that the xbox is capable of. To do this you very simplely need to press the small circle button on the console (just under the right side of the disk tray slot) and hold it. While doing this you also need to hold the Xbox logo button on the controller itself. The lights on both logos should begin to spin around it until one single light remains light up and that indecates what player you are once the game has begun.


Connecting a screen to an Xbox 360Connecting an xbox to a screen is a very simple process. The first that that you would have to do is find the A/V cable that comes with all premium Xboxs. (if you didnt buy a premium then there are three other cables that you could have: A HDMI Cable, a VGA HD AV Cable or a Composite AV cable) Once you have found this you then need to look at the back of your xbox and look for the right slot for it to fit in. Once you have taken this step and the back has been fitted into the back of the xbox 360. You then need to attach the front end of the cable to your television set. There are 6 Adaptors at the front of this cable. A Red,Green & Blue that look for the display and should be inserted into the slot in your televison set that matches. On the other part of the cable there is another 3 Adaptors, if you are working with a low end tv then you will have to plug in these 3 to get both video and sound. In the case of Smart/HD ready televisions then you need to only use the White and the Red and this is how you get sound and display.

Connecting a Wired Controller to a Xbox 360

This is the easiest process to do. To do this you first need to find a wired controller. Once found look at your Xbox at the very botton (if stood up) or on the far right(if on side) there will be a flap. Under this flap there is 2 USB slots. This is what you have to connect the controller you. You simplely plug it into one of these slots and the console will configure itself to the controller. The main advantage of this is that you are able to charge your wireless remotes using the USB slot.

Connecting a Game Console to a WAN line

To connect a game console to its respective online services, depends on the console. For the purpose of this project am i going to use my example from how to connect the Xbox 360 into an Xbox live account.  To begin with you must have a wireless adaptor in order to begin the process. I intend to use the Black Wireless adaptor.

Installing a game on a console
To install a game on a console, its rather simple because all you have to do is insert the game into the console and the program will automaticly install the game and integrate the software needed to run the game. Usuaully the console informs you of the installation.

Installing a game on a PC
Installing a game on a computer is pretty much the same as how you would go about installing a game on a console. You start the installation by inserting the game into the PC and it will begin with the installation usually as a way of preventing privacy the program will have ask for a code usually found inside the box.
The computer will inform you that it is updating itself to install the game.

CPU,GPU and Memory

CPU

The phrase CPU stands for Central Processing Unit. The main Function of the CPU is to handle everything all the different processors of the PC/game console. The CPUs main purpose changes if it is in a PC or a home console. this is because they both have different functions, while the game console only has to handle playing games so most of the CPU is used to control memory, graphics and store other bits of information. While in the cause of a CPU in a PC then it has to handle a lot more tasks so it has to be changed to meet all these demands. 

A CPU works by in side is a very large number of switches that turn on or off so for it to preform certain actions certain must already on. For example:

The first switch would only active when you were close enough to a door, once it had been switched on you would then be able to access the second layer of switches deciding if the door was open or not.

Computer motherboard

CPU of xbox 360

Even though the CPU preforms nearly the same function in a PC as in a home console. They are in different places on the motherboard. The CPU on the computers motherboard is places below the heat-sink because it is the most effective place for it to be. while in the case of a home console it is usually places next                                                                                           to the heat-sink and near the GPU.

Differences in systems of ps1 and ps3

There is a huge number of differences between the CPUs of the ps1 and the ps3, this is mainly due to the several years difference between them. So it is only natural that the Central Processing Unit would have improved a great amount. 

In the case of the PS1's CPU is it a 32 bit RISC microprocessor,  This sort of processor worked at either 20,25 or 33.33 MHz, this was able to handle up to 4kb cache. The most impressive part of the CPU is that it had a geometry transformation engine allowing 3D animations, the features of this engine are:

operating system at 66 MIPS (million instruction per second),

360,000 polygons a second,

& 180,000 textures mapped and light sourced per a second.

While as expected due to the increase of technology the PS3 works a lot faster because of its CELL micro-processor, it works at a much higher speed than these predecessors CPU working at a incredible 4GHz.

Multiple Core Processor

A Multiple Core Processor is a process with more than one CPU this means that it is able to run a considerable number more instructions at any one time making it overall faster and smoother. The main reason that a Multiple Core Processor is able to work faster and smoother is because they are able to handle a lot more different instructions.

GPU

GPU stands for Graphic Processing Unit and its main function is to handle the immense calculations involved with rending the 2D/3D image. The processor would have special instructions to handle a number of things like Modelling transforms,lighting ,animation, texture and the overall rendering process. The processor can be found on the motherboard of any console while in the case of a PC it can be bought as a graphics card, allowing your to make the overall gaming process on a PC a lot smoother and better.


Every electrical device that has come kind of screen will have a Graphics processor (phones,consoles,computers,laptops and several smart televisions). Out of all these devices computers normally have the most powerful GPUs because you are able to upgrade them to get more out of them, shortly followed by the GPUs in consoles which are top of the range when they are first made but being unable to be upgraded mean that they become out of date rather quickly. Phones most likely have the weakest GPUs because high end graphics are not needed in a phone, just enough to play a few simple games.
Arguably the best graphics card on the market is the AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz edition, which was made to celebrate the Radeon HD 7970's 6th month birthday.  The vital stats for this graphics card are a GPU powered by Tahiti XT and an impressive clock speed of 1,050 MHz with an equally impressive memory capacity of 3GB. This one of the best graphics cards on the market and it is because of upgradeable parts that PC has always and always will have an advantage over consoles and other graphic devices.
Due to the fact that home consoles can't be upgraded then the xbox 360 falls in comparison to the modern PCs so to try and make people forget that the xbox is nowhere near as good as a PC the best possible GPU has to be added to mean that the console at least stands a chance of keeping up with the rate that graphics are improving. So when the Xbox was realised in 2005 it was given the Xenos graphic chip, this isn't as impressive as the Radeon but still has a clock speed of 500 MHz.

Memory

Memory is often referred to as RAM which stands for random access memory, the whole point of this is that you are able to access this at any point your please. This works brilliantly on computers because it allows you to access different saved files when you pleased, while in the case of gaming consoles it works as checkpoints allowing the player to return to any point they please if they had reached it yet. This makes it quite important in the case of gaming because if we didn't have it the player would have to restart the game every time you were too insert it into the game. There is a different memory in the case of the CPU and GPU because it is where all the save states and files are saved too while in the case of the CPU stores the programs and the GPU handles and stores the graphic pipeline.

Interfaces devices

Game interfaces



A old version of a computer mouse
without a scrolling wheel

For as long as there as been computers,Home consoles and even arcade machines. there has always been an away to interact with, this is the computer interface. Normally in the case of the computers it is most likely going to be a keyboard and a mouse, while in the case of controllers and arcade it is normally an analog/digital control stick and several buttons.
No matter how you play your games you are always using some form of an interface.

Magnavox Odyssey controller

The first home console the Magnavox Odyssey had a simple controller that was a analog potentiometer, this meant that the player controlled the line by turning the dial and this would change the resistance causing the line to move up. This controller had two potentiometers allowing the player to move left right up and down giving a wider range of games that just pong.

As controllers had become more and more popular then analog became a lot more advanced allowing the player to move in more than just four simple ways at the speed. The player now has a lot more control being able to control how fast the character actually moves around the map. This changed games because they were now able in the third dimension due to the character being able to move in a multiple of different directions. This system is better more most genre of games because it gives the player a more immerse game play with the freedom of movement and speed control.



A digital controller is different to analog controller because an while an analog gives you the freedom of speed and direction, a digital controller makes the player go the same speed and normally one of four directions (up,down,left and right). This system if now mostly used for buttons on controllers because they simply have to be on or off there is no middle point. This kind of control is best more platform games because you don't need the freedom in direction.

While in there industry today there is a mixture of these input devices because the PS3's controller is both due to its digital buttons and its analog sticks. While in the case of the Xbox 360's controllers they are all digital because of a lawsuit made when the control was originally made due to Sony copyrighting   the way that their analog sticks work, this meant that Microsoft had to change the way that they made their analog sticks so under it is another more sensitive D-pad which means there is a tiny bit less control.


As the technology in consoles began to increase as did the interface devices this is meant that the player would have new and interesting ways to interact with the games, a popular way is when a steering wheels and pedals when playing a driving game, i like this way of player because it makes the game feel a lot more realistic.
Another very popular interface device is the light gun, used for gun games such as duck hunt. The gun works on the simple way of when you pull the trigger the screen flashes black and the targets become white squares for a faction of a second far too fast for the player to even notice and the gun detects these white squares and if is aimed at the white square then sends a second signal to the console saying that they made a hit.

Nintendo has an incredible amount of different interface devices several were amazing feats of technology for there time while others failed horribly, The first interface I came across was the Nintendo Power Glove this worked much like the Wii does today but instead of two controls the player wears a glove that the motion sensors would focus on. This wasn't receive with great reviews because it had a habit of not working like it should.

As technology in the actual consoles increased so did the actual interface devices too the point where the 7th gen consoles have wireless controllers and in some cases motion control cameras allowing the players body to control the character. In the case of the Xbox 360 the motion sensor is the Kinect, this is a device that has 3 cameras and voice recognition in order to give as high gameplay as possible and make the games more immersive.

Timeline of game consoles

Arcade games had been around since the 1950's but the first actual game console was until 1972.

1972: 1st generation 

The Magnavox odyssey

Magnavox Odyssey

The original game console was named the magnavox Odyssey, all thought the game console was the first of its kind it didn't really sell many copes because it wasn't highlighted as a home entertainment system but as a way for magnavox to sell there new television. The odyssey certainly had a few good ideas for example: 

The odyssey didn't have a power button but was meant to simply turn on when the game was in.  Another nice feature is that at the time there wasn't the technology to make any graphics so magnavox sold the console with a number of sheets that would be placed over the television as a replacement for graphics and colour.
This was the first attempt at home console, although it was used to sell televisions the Odyssey started something incredible it caused a trend that has spread right up to the modern home consoles.  

1976:

Telstar (original)

 Telstar

Due to idea of the Odyssey a large number of companies began to try and copy the idea to true and succeed where the Odyssey had been let down due to poor marketing. One of these remodels was in 1976 and was called Telstar, the console didn't have as many versions of pong simply: tennis,hockey and handball. The Telstar was the first console to use an AY-3-8500 microchip, This meant that it could play a number of different versions of pong without having to insert a different cartridge. This chip was used in a number of different pong consoles. 

Comparison of 1st and 2nd generation consoles

With the end of the first generation of game consoles the second began to show itself the main difference between the two is that while first ten only played simple versions of pong, 2nd generation  played different games with the use of cartridges making the simple pong consoles obsolete and because of the new use of cartridges the system now used an impressive processing power (at the time) 4bits. 

1976: Second Generation 

Fairchild channel F 

The second generation started when the Fairchild Channel F was realised, this was the first console to offer 8bit gaming instead of the simple just versions of pong, You were able to buy a number of different games ranging from space invaders to video blackjack. The console only had 64 bytes of ram but was still the first console to offer the player an option to play against the computer another first for the gaming world was that the Fairchild had a "hold" button that was a simple pause button that allowed the player to change difficulty during the game. 

1977:

Atari 2600 

All tho the Fairchild was the first game console to use the outside method of game cartridges, the Atari 2600 is the console that receives the credit for bringing the idea to the mass market. The Atari had twice  the Ram of the Fairchild a whole 128 bytes. The Atari 2600 is known as founder of modern gaming.

1979:

Microvision

The Microvision was another interesting console realised in this Era simply because it was the first handheld console, it lasted four years before being discontinued due to a number of different problems that made the console very fragile, the screen leaked and broke itself with no way to stop that, the buttons but aside all these fragile faults it still managed to make a gross profit of 8 million.

1983

Vectrex 

The Vectrex wasn't the first console in the second generation far from it but it is by the most interesting of that generation. The reason it was so interesting is that the screen was built into the console itself and the consoles would slide out so the idea was that the console could be brought with you wherever you were but it would have be to plugged in to a main source. The Vectrex used vector graphics making it one of the first by had to have a plastic sheet above the screen to add colour. The key selling puts of the Vectrex was that it used a light pen and had a 3D imager four years anything else.

Comparison of 2nd and 3rd generation

The second generation of consoles had taken there hold of the market due to them being the only on the market until the third generation hit the screen because of there higher graphics and processor power they were a lot better than the consoles available causing the second generation to be replaced. Like the difference between the first and second, the third generation had double the processing power as the previous and now obsolete.

1983: Third generation

Nintendo Entertainment System

The Nintendo Entertainment System was the start of generation 3 of game consoles due to it being realised in july 1983 several months before Casio PV-1000. The NES is by far the best made console of this Era and has was known not to break because it didnt have many moving parts. The NES had a number of accessories that were years ahead of there time. For example the power glove which was a first attempt at using human movement to control the character. That wasn't the only thing that was made for the NES many items such as the super scope,power pad and many more were realised in order to give the console the widest range of consoles possible.

1986:

Atari 7800 

After the failure of the 5200 Atari tried to enter the market again with the Atari 7800, The console was meant to be the turning point and try to replace the poor reputation left by the Atari 5200. The Atari 7800 failed on the simple fact that nintendo had already had 3 years to get control of the market so the console was only able to sell short of 4 million consoles while its main rival the Nintendo Entertainment System sold around 62 million.

Comparison of 3rd and 4th generations

With consoles like the Nintendo entertainment system, companies were trying to constantly race towards a never ending finish line. This caused new more technically advanced consoles to be created to try and take a hold of the market so the 4th generation was born and quickly replaced 3rd with better sound and  16bit graphics.

1988 Fourth generation

Sega Genesis/Mega-drive

The Sega Genesis often referred to has the Sega Mega Drive came out between the years 1980 and 1990. This was the second console to be made for this era. The main selling point of this console is that it was the first official 16bit Era console because of its Motorola 68000 CISC microprocessor. This meant that the console would have better picture quality than any other console on the market while lacking in sound quality with its rivals. One of the most ridiculous problems is that the console only had three buttons and a D-pad so that the console wasn't really able to play fighting games.

1990

Super Nintendo 

The Super Nintendo Entertain System was released originally in 1990 and was built to take over the long successful line of the NES and compete with the success of the Sega Genesis, It competed with the Genesis using its 65C816 processor giving it the same quality pictures but a lot better sound quality. Even though the genesis had a two year start the SNES sold over 20 million more units. The console controllers itself was the first of its kind because it is the first controller to have a left and right bumpers making it more suitable for fighting games because it gave a wider range of moves. Even with the more suitable fighting games the SNES was more known for its classic RPG games. The most interesting thing about the Super Nintendo Entertainment System is that the original version began to change colour to a sort of yellow because of a chemical that was in the plastic that would oxides.

Comparison of 4th and 5th generation

The gaming industry had reached an unbelievable size due to how popular consoles had become so still trying to make money off this growing still growing market newer consoles were created the 5th generation which were better in every way to their pre-assessors.  

1994 - 5th Generation

Playstation 

The playstation was sony's first attempt in to the home console market and was released in 1994. This console was very popular because of its comfortable controllers. This console gave a new idea for the industry which was the idea of memory cards instead of hard drives, this made it easier for players to share data and take it wherever they went along with the use of analog controllers. The console itself uses a MIPS R3000A microprocessor.

1995

Virtual boy 

The virtual boy was released July 1995 during the long delay of the Nintendo 64 and it was meant to be  a virtual reality console featuring 3D games. The basic ideas of the console was that it was just goggles on a simple stand with a battery pack built into it. There were hundreds of problems with this console that main of which is that playing for long times could cause headaches. Another huge fault is that the "portable" console didn't really have any textures in its games so they looked boring and hard to understand making games frustrating. The console was discontinued only a year later with only 9 games ever made but several tried to give to the gimmick of virtual reality.

1996 

Nintendo 64 

The nintendo 64 was released in june 1996, It was built to continue the successful line of Nintendo console and compete with the playstation. It was known for the large number that have lasted because they are very durable consoles. The console uses a 93.75 MHz NEC VR4300. this particular console sold around 32.9 million. For its time the console was incredibly powerful and played 3D graphics with texture and proper rendering.

1998

Gameboy colour

The gameboy colour is a portable console that game out in 1998 and ran on AA batteries. In my personal and many others opinion this is the best portable console that has been made. For its time the portable console had a decent size but the screen is a bit to small and is impossible to play in daylight. The most impressive thing about this console is that since its release in 1998 it has sold 118.69 million units. This console had a Zilog Z80 so it was quite powerful for its time and used cartridges. the most popular games sold on for this console were Pokemon silver and Pokemon gold selling over 14 million units between them.

Comparison of 5th and 6th generation 

Still trying to control the market no company continued to let up and kept trying to increase there profits by creating new consoles to out shine the older less efficient models due to this the 5th generation was started these consoles were the first to have any kind of online service even if it wasn't advertised properly or had reached the mass market but it helped prove the concept of online play.

1998 Sixth Generation

Sega Dreamcast 

The sega dreamcast was the first console released for the sixth generation consoles and was the first console to feature online capabilities but it was quite buggy because it was the first time it had been done. The main reason this console was discontinued in 2002 was that although the idea was great but due to poor marketing it didn't receive the credit it dissevered. The console much like the NES had a large number of different attachments like guns,fishing rod and dreamcast eye. 

2000

Playstation 2

Playstation 2

The playstation was Sonys second attempt at making a successful console and building on the brand name created by the second console. This console was incrediblely successful and managed to sell 153.19 million units worldwide. The console itself used memory cards instead of the conventional hard drive had two controller ports. It was by far the best selling console of all time due to it being a great processor named the "Emotion Engine". Out of all the consoles of its Era it is the only one that hasn't been discontinued and still has several games made each year.

2001

Xbox

In 2001 Microsoft made there first contribution to the gaming market with the Xbox, Despite having a stronger processor and on paper looking better than the other consoles in the Era it was still unable to compete with the success of the playstation 2 only selling 24 million consoles. The console had a hard drive built into the basic works of the console. It was discontinued in 2006.

Comparison of 6th and 7th generation

Due to the success of the consoles in that era, 3 companies came out on top and continued onto controlling the latest 7th generation: Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft. These consoles would have incredible amounts of processing power compared with the older models along with better sound and higher quality graphics. Everyone of these consoles features an online service that is often updated and works in most cases.

2005 - Seventh generation 

Xbox 360 

In 2005 Microsoft made there second attempt at the gaming market with the release of the Xbox360. The console features a 3.2 GHz Powerpc Tri-core xenon, a detachable hard drive with currently up to 256GB of memory. This was the first console to be able to support four players at once with out the aid of a multi controller port. The graphics are 500MHz delivered by ATI Xenos processor. The console has been going for around 7 years with several different versions being made along with a new slim version. The main problem with Xbox 360's is that 60% of them break within the the first 3/4 years due to a manufacturing error involving the heat sink which causes the motherboard ti disfigure and knock a few microchips loose causing the "red ring of death". 

2006 

Playstation 3 

During the year of 2006 sony decided to make there third successful console with the release of the playstation 3. This console started an argument between gamers that has lasted years after the realise of it and its main rival the Xbox 360. The console over all beats the xbox 360 in every way due to its better process and because of its durabilty. The main thing that attracts people to the PS3 is that the consoles online capability is a lot better than that of the xbox 360 and is free. The only real problem with the playstation 3 is that the systems are constantly being update and can often leave the console useless for several hours.

Timeline of Portable Consoles

1976 

Mattel electronic Auto Race

The first handheld console was the mattel auto race in 1976 and was a very simple racing game with 3 cars repeatedly racing against each other. The basic idea of the console like any driving game. The game features 2 switches 1 was to start the race and another to control the gears so that you could make the car a lot faster. The console also had a simple steer which was another switch that would make the car into either the left or right lanes allowing it to dodge on coming traffic.

1979 

Microvision Block Buster

The Microvision block buster was created by Microvision in 1979 has their attempt at entering the portable market while it had a large number of problems. The worst thing about this handheld console is a thing called screen rot this is where the console basically began to destroyed the screen due to it heating and causing the liquid inside to expand and leak through the screen. Another huge flaw is that the console broke when the console was over used due to the created added a plastic cover over all the bottom. The console itself only played a single game like the others of its time due to the fact there were no suitable ways off adding multiple games to it.

1989 

Nintendo Gameboy 

Nintendo made the Gameboy in 1989 as a way to increase there successful market of game consoles because they already had a large grip over the market with the NES and SNES but nothing to match in the portable console market. So the Gameboy was created and is by far the most successful console of its genre. This is because of its long battery life, decent sound quality and good screen resolution. The high end performance came from its CPU (a Custom 8-bit Sharp LR35902), this adds beautiful 160x144 pixels. The next year the Gameboy advanced was realised and continued to increase the Gameboy because of it having more colour, improved sound and all around better quality.

1991

Sega Game Gear

The Sega Game Gear was Sega's first attempt into entering the handheld console market. the console was based on the 8bit generation making it perfect to play older arcade games such as sonic which was its most popular game. The console would take 6 batteries and usual last between 4 and 5 hours so it wasn't that good with battery life. The console had several accessories made in order to try and increase its popularity such things like a additional battery pack, a TV tuner (which doesn't work on later models) and a Super Wide Gear (which gave the console a larger screen because its original was rather small this did have a considerable affect on battery life. The main processor is a Zilog Z80 8bit system, this gave the game gear 32 different colours and a maximum sprites 64.

1998

Gameboy Colour

Nintendo wanting to continue of there portable handheld consoles they released the Gameboy colour in 1998. This console was twice as fast and twice the memory as its original the standard Gameboy. The most impressive thing about this console was tat it was backwards compatible with the younger models games making the first handheld console to do that. This gave Nintendo a huge lead of its competitors because there handheld device already had a large library of games. The most impressive thing about the Gameboy colour was that it could display a maximum 54 colours on the screen at anyone time. This console had the same screen resolution as both the original gameboy and the Sega Game Gear.

2001

Gameboy Advanced

Still continuing there successful line of portable handheld consoles. Nintendo went to release the Gameboy advance it had a large screen that its predecessors and had a lot more processing power caused by its 16.8 MHz 32-bit ARM7TDMI with embedded memory. Another nice feature is that the console had shoulder buttons on either side giving more selection when using fighting games. Two years after the release of the advance a smaller version called the Gameboy advance SP was released this had the same processing power as the original but was smaller and had a rechargeable battery back. Both these consoles were backwards compatible because I gave them a huge library the second they were released. 

2003

N-Gage

Seeing the enormous money to be made from the rapidly growing industry of handheld consoles, Nokia decided to try too enter the market with the N-Gage. The idea of this console was that it would be a mobile phone, a MP3 player as well as being able to play different games. This wasn't a very popular console selling only 3 million units despite having online capabilities and a nice little 104MHz ARM 920T CPU.

2004

Nintendo DS

Nintendo continued there successful line of handheld consoles after the Gameboy Advance with the Nintendo DS. This console featured two screens, the bottom of which was a touch screen. To power both these screens it has a 67.028 MHz ARM946E-S and 33.512 MHz ARM7TDMI. The Nintendo DS sold even more consoles that the previous consoles.153.87 million consoles (all models). The DS was a huge jump for the market because a console with a touch screen hadn't been seen during its time, while as of 14/05/2013 there are now several different consoles/tablets that play touchs screen games.