P1 - Categorizing gaming platforms

In this current day and age, there is a wide variety of gaming platforms. The most commonly used platforms are currently: Stand alone systems (consoles), PC/MAC/Linux, Handheld consoles and mobile. Older platforms that are

Handheld Game Platforms:

Nintendo Gameboy

The Nintendo Gameboy was the first handheld console released by Nintendo. The original Gameboy and its variants (Play it loud, colour, pocket and light) have sold over 118 million units in total. The most popular games on the console included Tetris, Pokémon Red and Blue, and Pokémon Gold and silver. It is widely considered the first successful handheld console as it was much more affordable and had more sales than the Atari Lynx. specifications for the Nintendo Gameboy include an 8bit processor at 4.19MHz and a total of 16Kb of RAM.


Sony PlayStation Portable

The PlayStation Portable is a more recent handheld console. It was Sony's attempt to over through Nintendo and become the king of the handheld consoles. The PlayStation Portable used the same OS as the PS3 and a similar control layout, with one less analogue stick and no L2 and R2 buttons. The system used disks rather than cartages, although the disk was enclosed in a plastic case that was inserted into the console. The system also had online capabilities and worked with PSN (PlayStation Network) which allowed players to play with people over the internet, and featured a web browser. The first version of the PSP had 32MB of RAM and 32MB of storage space. The newer version of the system (the PSP GO)has 64MB of RAM and 16GB of storage. Compared to its main competitors (The Nintendo DS Family) the PSP has much better hardware than its competitors, only being out done by the Nintendo 3DS which has 128MB of ram.

Standalone Game Platforms:

Sony PlayStation One

The PlayStation One was one of the first 32Bit console. It was released in the late 90's and was also one of the first consoles to use a CD ROM to play games. Having sold 102.5 million units world wide, the system was very successful. There were 3 variants of the console, one using the coaxial cable to connect to a TV via the aerial port, and the others using composite cables. The system consists of a motherboard, processor, RAM and GPU. It has 3mb of ram total and plays at a resolution of 640x480.

PC

PC is by far the most technologically advanced gaming platform. It has the longest history, and is backwards compatible with most games. Current PC's are very expensive compared to most other gaming platforms, but they have more functionality than most things like standalone consoles. New variants of PC's are on the horizon though, with the likes of the steam box coming up, which opens up a whole new opportunity for cheap gaming PC's. Many current-gen PC's come with 8GB of ram, which is a lot considering that less than 10 years ago it was amazing to have more than 512 MB of RAM. PC's also allow for a lot of customizability as you can pick and choose from a large range of hardware. They also allow the user to be able to overclock their components. The future of PC is very vibrant, with technologies such as the oculus rift and the Omni coming up in the near future.

Arcade

Arcade games were the first platform that saw a big impact on the economy and society. some of the first arcade games, such as space invaders, caused issues like a shortage of coins in japan. There are still arcades today and many people still enjoy using them as they are very nostalgic, although they can cost a lot if you enjoy playing them a lot. Arcades are a dying breed in this current age as you can replicate all of the games on a PC with very few issues for almost no cost (although it may be illegal). Arcade machines were very popular throughout the 1980's and this is when most of them were built. Arcades are made up of a bezel, a monitor, 1/2 arcade sticks and a computer that runs the game.

Mobile

The first mobile game was Tetris in 1994. It was inbuilt on the Hagenuk MT-2000. Since then the mobile gaming industry has become one of the major gaming platforms, due to the sales of smartphones. They are made available on the iOS and Android operating systems. Many mobile games use a 'Free 2 Play' business model, meaning that the game is free to download, but you can put more money into the game to progress further. Due to the increase in mobile gaming, many indie-game developers now create games for mobile rather than PC as it is more profitable and much easier to do.

My Platforms

How much of a gamer are you?

I would say that I am a pretty hard-core gamer. Currently I put most of my time into a game called APB Reloaded. I currently have close to 600 hours played on APB reloaded an have invested a stupid amount of money into the game as it is a free to play game. I have about 50 games across steam and origin. I play games because I have nothing better to do, and they do not require much physical effort. I have owned many gaming platforms throughout my lifetime. My first gaming platform was the original Nintendo GameBoy. Since then, I have owned a PS1, PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, GameBoy advance and all of the Nintendo DS variants. My earliest gaming memory is choosing my first Pokémon on Pokémon red version and making the terrible mistake of only levelling up one Pokémon. My favourite gaming platform is currently PC. I like to game on PC because of the modding community that can be found on most games, which makes many games such as Skyrim and LFD2. The community as a whole is also much better than it is on any other platform (its nice not being screamed at by 13 year olds on Call Of Duty). My favourite genre of game is MMORPG's. This is because I do not have to be my self all of the time, and many of these games have a lot of customizability, much like APB Reloaded. I am making a 2d platformer game currently because I thought it would be easy, but it is not.





APB Reloaded fun police