It’s2008 and the gaming world has never looked better. Technological advancements are rapidly changing the way video games are played and experienced. With bold innovation, game developers are channeling the best in hi-tech electronics to deliver mind-blowing video game titles. In addition to the games, video game consoles are now a platform for entertainment in its many forms. Social networking and home theater technology has changed gaming consoles. As a result, video game consoles also come with a host of video game accessories that are not only important for chatting, watching movies or viewing photographs but also enhance game play.
Home theater entertainment is about hi-def and nothing less. HDMI is the new video game cable standard, set by Sony’s Play Station 3 and the Microsoft Xbox 360. Characterized by astounding picture quality, high definition games truly introduce virtual reality. Systems using older technology, like the Wii cables, aren’t really able to match the quality of a high definition signal. Nevertheless S-video cables, component cables and composite cables, which have all been used in the past, are integral to many video game consoles.
We attempt to remember our collective American childhood, the way it was, but what we often remember is a combination of real past, pieces reshaped by bitterness and love, and, of course, the video past—the portrayals of family life on such television programs as “Leave it to Beaver” and “Father Knows Best” and all the rest.
—Richard Louv (20th century)
With the advent of multiplayer gaming through Xbox Live and, more recently, the Play Station Network, the need for gamer communication was heightened. A good gaming headset is essential for a hardcore gamer when battling through a multiplayer environment. Keeping in touch with team-mates scattered across the globe is made much easier with a Bluetooth headset. The wireless advantage is obvious - clutter-free convenience. Handheld systems have long relied on headsets to provide the audio output to gamers. The Nintendo DS headsets and PSP headsets are sleek earphones with a microphone for social networking.
As games become longer and infinitely more complex, the need for a storage medium, that is, video game memory, has been felt. The early 8 MB memory cards for the Sony Play Station One have been replaced by 80 GB hard drives that use high speed SATA 2 technology. Multiple flash card readers that support a variety of formats are now the standard for video game consoles. The advantage of a built-in card reader is that the gamer can choose the best memory card, rather than be forced to use a proprietary one. Another advantage of removable storage is the expanded ability of the console to handle videos, photos and music. A memory card can be quickly and easily loaded from a computer, and the multimedia accessed anytime, anywhere. A variety of memory cards for various consoles e.g. GameCube memory card, PSP memory etc. are readily available in the market now-a-days.
Pinball games were constrained by physical limitations, ultimately by the physical laws that govern the motion of a small metal ball. The video world knows no such bounds. Objects fly, spin, accelerate, change shape and color, disappear and reappear. Their behavior, like the behavior of anything created by a computer program, is limited only by the programmer’s imagination. The objects in a video game are representations of objects. And a representation of a ball, unlike a real one, never need obey the laws of gravity unless its programmer wants it to.
—Sherry Turkle, U. S. psychologist, sociologist. Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit, ch. 2, Simon & Schuster (1984)
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