Game Consoles

A game console is a piece of equipment used to play video game roms and cassettes The types of games consoles are Playstation Playstation 2 Microsoft XBox Sega Dreamcast Nintendo 64 Nintendo Gamecube Nintendo Gameboy Nintendo Gameboy Advanced and Nintendo Gameboy Advanced SP

Video game roms are the discs that contain the various games needed to play on the games consoles With some of the older game consoles like Nintendo 64 the video game is on a cassette instead of a cdrom

The Video game roms and cassettes for these game console manufacturers are Playstation Playstation 2 Microsoft XBox Sega Dreamcast Nintendo 64 Nintendo Gamecube Nintendo Gameboy Nintendo Gameboy Advanced and Nintendo Gameboy Advanced SP. arcade games,buy computer games,cheap computer games,cheap pc games,discount video games,free computer games,free video games,online computer games,ps2 video games,used video games,video game consoles,video game systems,xbox 360,xbox games A simple yet very practical kit for the Intellivision is a product called Injoy A Stick from Laskey Video Distributing Following very simple instructions on the package you swap the Intellivision direction disk for a replacement disk that also has a joystick in the center Injoy A Stick will cost under $10 per pair
The unit has two action buttons one at the upper left corner of the base and one at the top of the joystickselect one with a slide switch on the base Other models to come include a deluxe version with a larger base a redball type joystick and a trackball controller Adapters will also be available for Odyssey2 and several home computers Selecting software for your existing system is more difficult because individual tastes come into play as in records or movies But whether you are an arcade freak a fantasy role player a sports nut a family cartridge devotee or a handeye coordinator expert there are plenty of cartridges to go around Try to play the games before you buy them Read the instructions if they are available to make sure the game has the challenging elements you want or is fun for the whole family as the case may be Games Consoles and Video Games Roms comes in a range of different prices You can find many discounts in Games Consoles and Video Games Roms from as little as Rs 800 to over Rs 2400 Of course price ranges for game consoles and video game roms generally depend on the manufacturers Some of the more popular or best selling Video Game Roms out right now There are many video games out but some of the best selling and highest rated games are Grand Theft Auto Vice City NFL 2K3 Tony Hawks Pro Skater 4 Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2003 Rise of Nations The Lord of the Rings The Return of the King Enter the Matrix Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater Tom Clancys Ghost Recon Island Thunder MVP Baseball 2003 Grand Turismo 4 Final Fantasy X2 and many more.

Computer Games

Over the last decade the line between computer games and video games has blurred extensively Today the terms are nearly synonymous for most people but some insist on maintaining a separation between the distinct styles of gaming The major gaming platforms are arcade machines computers and game consoles What are the differences

Arcade machines Arcade machines are standalone gaming machines that include the computer chips dedicated to running the games large displays and all of the controls for operating the game Also known as coinops these game machines are found in arcades and other public places where gamers can pay to play each round of a game

Video game consoles are gaming platforms designed for home use Often they are designed to be hooked to a television for display but some portable game consoles have their own builtin displays Like arcade machines video game consoles are controlled by computer chips that operate the games However unlike most arcade machines which are each dedicated to a single game consoles can play a variety of different games The games may be purchased separately and are stored on different media like CDs DVDs and cartridges also known as ROMs

Of course modern game consoles are becoming more multipurpose Many of the newest generation of gaming consoles allows users to access the Internet at least for online gaming listen to MP3s and watch DVD movies

While all video arcade and computer games depend on chips to operate computers in the gaming arena are generally defined as a complete system that can do operations other than gaming For example someone may use their home PC for Internet surfing word processing banking and listening to music as well as playing World of Warcraft Bejeweled or that old standby Mine Sweeper So what is the real difference between computer games and video games In early days the games that were released for console machines were known as video games and those released for computer systems were known as computer games However many games today are released across platform so they are available for many console systems as well as computers In addition early computer games took advantage of the peripherals that were available to computer users such as the keyboard and mouse then later the Internet Early video games took advantage of their console peripherals optimizing their twitch action play for hand controllers with buttons and dpads However today you can buy nearly any peripheral for any gaming system you can access online multiplayer games from even handheld consoles and the lines continue to blur Of course many computer games can be accessed online and even played for free In the 80s and 90s some genres such as Role Playing Games RPGs were far more popular on computers than on consoles and many players associated twitch shooters and action platform games with the platforms that hooked to TVs However today many RPGs are successfully sold on consoles and multiplayer action shooters have reigned supreme on the Personal Computer. Today the most successful games such as Madden NFL 2006 and Grand Theft Auto San Andreas whether you call them computer games or video games are found on several platforms

Xbox Video Game System

Microsoft first entered the video game console market in the fall of 2001 Early rumors that the software giant was creating a console system first surfaced early in 2000 and in March of 2000 Bill Gates unveiled the first Xbox demo unit In January of 2001 Microsoft showed the first preproduction units Since Playstation 2 was released in 2000 the competition was formidable and game publishers and consumers all wondered which console system would reign in the market So what is inside the Xboxs cool black box As might be expected in a console from Microsoft the Xbox is based on PC technology The Xbox contains an Intel Pentium III processor that runs at a raging 733 megahertz faster than either the Playstation 2 or the Nintendo Gamecube The Xbox also has a very fast custom 3D processor for handling video display an audio system that supports 256 channels and Dolby AC3 encoding and a builtin 8 gig hard drive The Xbox can support up to four players with four separate hand controllers Some other features on the Xbox include a 5x DVD drive that allows movie playback support for broadband connectivity an 8 megabyte removable memory card and HDTV support Between the Xboxs midNovember 2001 launch and January 1 2002 consumers bought one and a half million units of the game system in the United States Microsoft followed the U S release with rollouts in Japan Europe and Australia Initial consumers each purchased an average of three games with their Xbox systems making it one of the most successful video game system launches in history Much of this success may be attributed to the great games that were available at the Xboxs release Microsoft secured exclusives with the following Xbox games for the systems introduction Halo Dead of Alive 3 Fuzion Frenzy Oddworld Munchs Oddysee NFL Fever 2002 and Project Gotham Racing Additional titles that were not exclusive but were available at the systems release included Madden NFL 2002 NASCAR Thunder 2002 Shrek Dark Summit Cel Damage NHL Hitz 2002 NASCAR Heat 2002 TransWorld Surf Test Drive Off Road Wide Open Mad Dash Racing 4x4 Evo 2 and Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2x. By the end of 2004 the Xbox had an installed base of approximately 20 million units While that number is small compared to Playstation 2s installed base of around 80 million units for the same date Xboxs numbers are quite respectable especially considering it was Microsofts first entry into the video game console market Sales of Xbox hardware accessories and games continue strong into 2005

Sony PlayStation 3

Sony now the 400pound gorilla of the video game console world is poised to bring out the third version of its recordbreaking PlayStation The PlayStation 2 has brought the worlds premiere video games to over 100 million homes 100 million and the PlayStation 3 is expected to outsell its parent

Like all the newest consoles of its generation it promises groundbreaking new graphical detail and puts unprecedented processing and memory resources at the feet of eager game developers Everything is bigger brighter and more detailed so detailed in fact that it outstrips the visual output of the Xbox 360 delivering a rare 1080p or flickerfree 1920 x 1080 resolution to the Xbox 360s halfasdetailed 1080i and may induce some gamers to buy new HDTVs to replace the relatively new ones they thought would satisfy them for years

The PS3 is scheduled for a Spring 2006 release which some have postulated means a worldwide March 2006 launch

According to published specifications the PlayStation 3 clocks in at 218 GFLOPs This is a measure of the sheer number of floatingpoint nonwholenumber mathematical operations it can pull off in a set space of time If this is true it will be almost twice as powerful as the Xbox 360 and 35 times mas macho than the PlayStation 2

As with the CPU the GPU comparison is murky terribly murky Microsofts using an ATI chip with a brandnew Unified Shader Architecture that is difficult to compare with traditional video technology The PS3 uses the Nvidia RSX which Sony says is more powerful than two GeForce 6800 strapped together Our conclusion the consoles will be comparable in graphical power Speaking of moving pictures the PS3 is also participating in the next Beta vs VHS battle this time being waged over the successor to DVD The two contenders are HDDVD and Bluray and Sony has come down firmly in the latter camp The PS3 will be able to play movies in the new highcapacity format and games as well

The PS3 controller is a revelation and in this writers eyes an ugly one The triedandtrue PS2 controller has been unceremoniously ousted and the usurper is a nasty looking silver batarang with a narrow curving face The button layout is largely similar to the old controller but the entire setup stinks of form over function Will nextgeneration gaming mean nextgeneration orthopedic surgery

Theres a lot of speculation about what Sony will do to compete with Microsofts fullyfeatured Xbox Live internet multiplayermatching system Sony claims theyll have a unified solution At the same time in early 2005 they announced theyll leave a lot of it up to the market keeping it open platform so that publishers can create opportunities directly with gamers rather than forcing everything to go through one single channel a la Xbox Live

Both the 360 and the PS3 will support USB devices wireless communication home networking and wireless controllers

The PS3 wont come with a hard drive but itll have a slot for a notebooksized 2 5 hard drive It will also support the Memory Stick SD and CompactFlash storage formats At the Game Developers ConferenceEurope the head of Sony Europe announced that the PS3 SDK will boast sophisticated middleware software that makes developing the full games easier such as the popular Havok physics engine Ageias Novodex and Epics wellknown Unreal Engine 3 as well as numerous readytouse code libraries The platform will also be fully downwardcompatible playing both PlayStation 1 and PlayStation 2 games This is good news for gamers who have sunk and for many are still sinking hundreds of dollars into their game libraries

The PS3 is looking like a formidable gaming powerhouse With its strong established lineup of game publishers and proud franchises the Sony console tradition will make gamers very happy in 2006

Nintendo DS

The Nintendo DS commonly abbreviated as NDS or simply DS is a handheld gaming device created and released by Nintendo in late 2004 The system departs from the traditional formula of gaming devices and has two screens the lower of which is touch sensitive The DS stands for Dual Screen or Developers System and is intended to urge developers to create more innovative games with the systems creative features The Nintendo DS system has sold over 6 million units as of September 2005

Nintendo has long dominated the handheld video game market with its line of Game Boy systems most recently the Game Boy Advance and Game Boy Advance SP The announcement of a new system came in early 2004 as a shock to the gaming community More shocking was Nintendos promise that the system was not a replacement or successor to the Game Boy series Rather it would be a thirdtier system independent of other handhelds

To set the system apart from the rest of the market Nintendo included a number of unique features on the DS that game developers utilize in many ways

Two Screens The clamshell design of the Nintendo DS features a lid that pivots upward to reveal a second screen vertically parallel to the lower The screens have separate processors and can display different independent scenes or work together to create the illusion of one large playing field

Touch Screen The lower screen on the DS is touchsensitive much like modern PDA systems Using a stylus the included thumb nub other accessories or even fingers gamers have a whole new way to control the games they play The touch screen breaks the traditional button input of gaming machines and allows direct manipulation of onscreen objects

Button Layout The Game Boy Advance features a 4way Dpad Start and Select buttons two shoulder buttons L and R and two face buttons A and B The Nintendo DS copies this layout but adds X and Y buttons that mirror the cross layout of the Dpad

Microphone On the bottom of the system is a small opening that is a microphone Players can interact with their games with their voice A few examples utilized thusfar are recording small clips of speech sounds etc shouting commands or blowing bubbles by breathing into the microphone

Wireless Features In order to play Multiplayer games with several systems Game Boy users had to connect with physical cords to their system The Nintendo DS features wireless Multiplayer with a range of 100 feet Players sitting within this radius can play the same game often with only one copy of the cart