Technical Trend - Handheld Consoles

Handheld consoles are portable game consoles with built-in screen, controllers and speakers, allowing the user to play anywhere at any time.

The earliest handheld consoles were seen in the 1970s and users were only capable of playing one game on them. The first all-digital handheld game is known to be Auto Race, manufactured by Mattel Electronics and released in 1977. The game had LED light and simple sound, and it used about 512 bytes on memory.

Figure 1 - Mattel's Auto Race game consoe

Handheld consoles became popular after the release of the Game Boy by Nintendo in 1989, which included some of the most popular games, like Tetris and Pokémon. The Game Boy used four AA batteries that needed to be replaced after 20 hours of gameplay. Nintendo is still the most popular company for handheld game consoles, with the Nintendo 2DS and 3DS.

Figure 2 - Nintendo's Game Boy handheld console

Even though handheld consoles are being replaced by mobile phones for gaming, they are still very popular nowadays. In fact, new versions of classic consoles are being produced and released to this day. The PlayStation Vita is the handheld game console released by Sony in 2011. It features a 5-inch touchscreen with two analog sticks, two cameras, speakers, microphone and also Wi-Fi, 3G and Bluetooth connectivity.

Figure 3 - Sony's PlayStation Vita handheld game console

One of the latest handheld consoles released is the New Nintendo 3DS, developed by Nintendo and put on the market on October 2014. This console features additional processor cores, an increase to 256 MB of RAM, Micro-SD cards for data storage, that can be transferred wirelessly using a PC.

Handheld game consoles made such a huge impact on the industry, that now certain games are specifically developed for mobile phones. In fact, John Geleynse, a director at Apple has even called the iPhone a “gaming console” and that “it’s not a phone, it’s a console experience.”  

Bibliography:

Wikipedia.org, (2015). PlayStation Vita. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_Vita [Accessed 24 May 2015]

Wikipedia.org, (2015). Mattel Auto Race. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mattel_Auto_Race [Accessed 24 May 2015]

Wikipedia.org, (2015). New Nintendo 3DS. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Nintendo_3DS [Accessed 24 May 2015]

Wikipedia.org, (2015). Handheld game console. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handheld_game_console [Accessed 24 May 2015]

Engadget.com, (2008). Apple: "the iPhone is a gaming console". [online] Available at: http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/12/apple-the-iphone-is-a-gaming-console/ [Accessed 24 May 2015]

8th Generation - Mario Kart 8

Mario Kart 8 is the best-selling game of the Wii U game console, with over 5 million copies sold to date. The game is a kart racing game published by Nintendo and released in 2014.

The game has characters from the Mario franchise, where the player controls them to win kart races. Unlike the previous Mario Kart games, Mario Kart 8 introduces the feature of anti-gravity, where the player is allowed to drive on walls, ceilings and also up waterfalls. This was possible because of the powerful Wii U console, which also gave way to a 3D environment instead of the usual 2D plane featured in the other Mario Kart games. The game has the feature of multiplayer mode, and also supports online multiplayer gaming supported by Nintendo Network.

Digital Foundry states that the game is “near perfection” and that it has “phenomenal attention to detail” and also a “magnificent visual package”. The game has smooth animations, amazing HD graphics and a high performance of up to 60 frames per second that makes it the best game in the Mario Kart series yet.

Figure 1 - Mario Kart 8

Some updates of the game have been released to improve the online experience and also add more features to the game, like compatibility with amiibo figures, and the possibility of playing in 200cc engine class mode. 

Bibliography:

Mariowiki.com, (2015). Mario Kart 8. [online] Available at: http://www.mariowiki.com/Mario_Kart_8 [Accessed 23 May 2015]

Nintendo.com, (2015). Mario Kart 8. [online] Available at: http://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/RCjxReZwSFsFfyaXGGxYdozPmEqZOkwq [Accessed 23 May 2015]

Wikipedia.org, (2015). Mario Kart 8. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Kart_8 [Accessed 23 May 2015]

8th Generation - Wii U

The successor of the Wii, the Wii U, is a video game console created by Nintendo and first released in November 2012. The Wii U was the first console to be in the eight generation of the gaming industry, and it competes with the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One.

The idea to create the Wii U began due to some limitations of the Wii console, such as limited network, and because Nintendo wanted to bring back the element of core gaming.

Figure 1 - Wii U game console 

The Wii U has a 1.24 GHz Tri-Core IBM PowerPC CPU, 2 GB DDR3 memory and a custom-designed AMD Radeon HD GPU at the speed of 550 MHz. This console has an output of up to 1080p and 1080i and as for audio it makes use of 5.1 Linear PCM, Analog stereo.

Some of the special features of the Wii U console are the built-in accelerometer, speakers, front-facing camera, and a 6.2 inch touchscreen. It also features a new controller that is compatible with all games, and which includes motion control and also enable video chat and internet browsing.

Since it came out the Wii U has sold about 9 million units, while its competitors, the PS4 and the Xbox One have each sold 20 million and 11 million units respectively.  One of the main reasons that the Wii U did not sell as well as the other consoles is because of the console’s low horsepower when compared to the other consoles that were capable of an output up to 4K.

One of the best-selling Wii U game is Mario Kart 8, with over 4.77 million copies sold, ad as of March 2014 about 32 million Wii U games has been sold worldwide.

Some of the many games that can be played on the Wii U include Mario Kart 8, Splatoon, Disney Infinity, Nintendo Land, Hyrule Warriors and Bayonetta 2. 

Bibliography:

Gaming.wikia.com, (2015). Wii U. [online] Available at: http://gaming.wikia.com/wiki/Wii_U [Accessed 23 May 2015]

Wikipedia.org, (2015). Wii U. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii_U [Accessed 23 May 2015]

7th Generation - Assassin’s Creed

Assassin’s Creed is a fiction action-adventure video game series, developed by Ubisoft Montreal originally for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 and released in 2007, but it was also released for PC later on.

As any other game, Assassin’s Creed received some positive and also negative reviews. ESPN’s Aaron Boulding called the game “fairly original” but also that “Visually, the developers nailed it.” GamePro video game magazine stated that Assassin’s Creed is one of the “finest gaming experiences ever created” but that it lacks in fast-paced action. Darren Wells from Hyper magazine says that the game has “great story, great graphics and intuitive controls”.

Overall this first game in the Assassin’s Creed series had decent animation for its time, and better lightning and design style than most of its successors.

Figure 1 - Assassin's Creed

Several sequels and versions of the game were released, including Assassin's Creed: Altair's Chronicles launched in 2008 for the Nintendo DS, and later on was also ported for iPhone and iPod Touch. Assassin’s creed III was released in 2012, and it is one of the best games in the series due to its great animations and realistic movements. 

Bibliography:

Forums.ubi.com, (2013). Assassin's Creed series graphics comparison. [online] Available at: http://forums.ubi.com/showthread.php/773583-Assassin-s-Creed-series-graphics-comparison-Forums [Accessed 23 May 2015]

Wikipedia.org, (2015). Assassin's Creed (video game). [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassin%27s_Creed_(video_game) [Accessed 23 May 2015]

7th Generation - Xbox 360

The Xbox 360 is a video game console developed by Microsoft. The development of this console began in February 2003, the same month the former president of Sega, Peter Moore, joined Microsoft. It was first released for sale on November 2005, in the United States and Canada, and then later on in Europe and Japan, and in just one year it was already launched in 36 countries.

The console has a 3.2 GHz PowerPC Tri-Core Xenon CPU, 512 MB of GDDR3 RAM at the speed of 700 MHz, and a 500 MHz ATI Xenos graphics chip. The console made use of a maximum of 512MB hard disk, and also included detachable hard drives of 20 up to 250 GB. It had a USB storage device of 1GB up to 32GB and a cloud storage of 512MB, which required a Gold Membership. As for sound it supports 48khz 16-bit audio, 256 audio channels, and makes use of Analog stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 and Stereo LPCM.

One of the most known problem with the hardware of the Xbox 360 was overheating which was usually represented by the Red Ring of Death, which is the name given to the power button of the console that flashes red when there is some sort of hardware failure.

Figure 1 - Xbox 360's Red Ring of Death

There are several accessories which ae available for the console, such as wireless controllers, headsets and webcam for chatting, dance mats and various sizes of memory units and hard drives.

Microsoft has released several updates since the Xbox’s release. These updates add new features to the console, such as cloud storage to save games, new accessories, and voice search.

Although the Xbox 360 was not the best-selling console of the seventh generation of gaming, it sold around 84 million units as of June 2014, which is much better than its predecessor, the Xbox. This console was especially important since it strengthened Microsoft’s force in the console market.

Figure 2 - Xbox 360 game console

Games that can be played on this console include Grand Theft Auto V, Assassin’s Creed, Minecraft and Destiny. 

Bibliography:

Wikipedia.org, (2015). Xbox 360. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360 [Accessed 23 May 2015]

Gaming.wikia.com, (2015). Xbox 360. [online] Available at: http://gaming.wikia.com/wiki/Xbox_360 [Accessed 23 May 2015]

6th Generation - Phantasy Star Online

Phantasy Star Online is an online role-playing game developed by Sonic Team and released by Sega for the video game console, the Dreamcast, in 2000. The game was created to show the Dreamcast’s power for online gaming. In fact, the game features real-time combat.

Figure 1 - Phantasy Star Online 

This 3D graphics game was a great success, and therefore they developed new versions to allow the game to be played on other gaming devices apart from the Sega’s Dreamcast, such as Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst, released in 2004 for Microsoft Windows. The Blue Burst featured new items and enemies and also had improved graphics and controls. A sequel of the game was also released, called Phantasy Star Online 2, which was also released for PlayStation Vita in 2012.

One was also able to play the game in offline mode, which features four levels in different areas; forest, caves, mines and ruins. The game also had a communication system where players could communicate with each other since the game used an online system. Another option for playing is the battle mode, where the players can attack each other.

The visual quality of the game was so good for that time that even IGN (Imagine Games Network) stated that “This is among the best games, visually, across all platforms. There’s really nothing that compares to the visual quality of PSO.”

Bibliography:

Wikipedia.org, (2015). Phantasy Star Online. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantasy_Star_Online [Accessed 6 May 2015]

6th Generation - Dreamcast

The Dreamcast video game system was released in 1998 by Sega and it was the first to make part of the sixth generation of game consoles. The console was also the last home console developed by Sega and it was discontinued in 2001, although in Japan service to repair the console was still available until 2007.

Dreamcast had a Hitachi SH-4 32-bit CPU running at 200MHz, 128 Kb VMU storage, main memory RAM of 16MB, video RAM of 8 MB and sound memory of 2 MB. The system could display about 16.77 million colors simultaneously on a screen of 640x480 pixels. The Dreamcast was the first console to be sold with a built-in 56k modem, and broadband adapters were available later on, which allowed the console to connect to the internet.

The Dreamcast was built with already made components, including the CPU and the GPU, in order to reduce the cost of the system. When it was first released in Japan, the system was a great success, given it was the very first 128-bit console. In fact, in the first two weeks after its release it sold about 500,000 units, which led to some hardware shortages. Business Week Magazine also said that the Dreamcast was one of the “Best products of 1999” for its advanced technology and original games. But as Sony released the PlayStation 2 sales started to decrease for Sega. Until the Dreamcast was discontinued, 10.6 million units were sold.

Figure 1 - Sega Dreamcast console

Some of the video games that could be played on the Dreamcast home console where specifically made to show the console’s online capabilities, like Phantasy Star Online. Other games that could be played on this console include Rez, Resident Evil 2, Virtua Tennis and Chicken Run. 

Bibliography:  

Shinforce.com, (2015). Business Week Award. [online] Available at: http://www.shinforce.com/dreamcast/Awards-Business_Week_12_11_1999.htm [Accessed 6 May 2015]

Venturebeat.com, (2013). Consoles that won’t die: The Sega Dreamcast. [online] Available at: http://venturebeat.com/2013/05/17/consoles-that-wont-die-the-sega-dreamcast/ [Accessed 6 May 2015]

Wikipedia.org, (2015). Dreamcast. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamcast [Accessed 6 May 2015]

Segaretro.org, (2015). Sega Dreamcast. [online] Available at: http://www.segaretro.org/Sega_Dreamcast [Accessed 6 May 2015]

5th Generation - Nights into Dreams

The action game Nights into Dreams was created by Sonic Team and released in 1996 by Sega on the Sega Saturn console. The main story of the game is based on two children who enter a dream world, where they are able to fly. The sensation of flight is achieved by the 3D graphics and a mix of 2D and 3D gameplay. 

The game has great animation and music, and the character is always in the center of the screen to keep the viewer more focused and included in the action. The environments in the game are unique since given that the story is set in a dream world it increased the possibilities for the designers to create a creative and surreal place. It used a 524MB ROM, a high color count and a 3D Control Pad as a controller.

Figure 1 - Nights into Dreams gameplay

Sega released a remake of the game for the Sony PlayStation 2 in 2008 which includes an option for playing with the original graphics of the Sega Saturn or with enhanced graphics which were made specifically for the PS2. The game also has a sequel called Nights: Journey of Dreams, which was released for the Wii console in 2007.

Bibliography:

Wikipedia.org, (2015). Nights into Dreams... [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nights_into_Dreams... [Accessed 5 May 2015]

Racketboy.com, (2006). Review: NiGHTS Into Dreams – Saturn [online] Available at: http://www.racketboy.com/retro/review-nights-into-dreams-saturn [Accessed 5 May 2015]

5th Generation - Sega Saturn

The Sega Saturn video game console was developed by Sega and released in 1994 at the price of $399, although the development of the game started in 1992 under the name Giga Drive. This 32-bit console came out after the Sega Genesis 16-bit console of 1988.

The Sega Saturn was a great success in Japan, but in the United States it was not so popular with the consumers and therefore it did not sell as many units as it was expected, especially after the Nintendo 64 was launched in 1996. The Sega Saturn sold 9.5 million units worldwide and is considered to have been a commercial failure.

Figure 1 - Sega Saturn game console

Sega added a 3D processor to the console to compete with the PlayStation, but having two processors made the Saturn a lot more challenging for game developers, so the games ended up going on the PlayStation.  But even if 3D was not one of the Saturn’s strengths, it had one of the best 2D processors in gaming ever released and it also included a 4MB ram cartridges to give the console more graphical capabilities over the PlayStation.

The console used two Hitachi SH-2 32-bit RISC processors of 28.6 MHz each, a Yamaha Saturn Custom Sound Processor YMF292 and a total internal memory of 5156 KB. It was able to display 16.77 million colors simultaneously on a screen which had a resolution up to 704x224 pixels.

The Sega Saturn was discontinued in 1998 and replaced by the Sega Dreamcast which was released in November 1998 in Japan and in 1999 in North America. Games that were being developed for the Sega Saturn, such as Sonic Adventure and Virtua Fighter, were cancelled and moved to the Sega Dreamcast, due to the Saturn’s commercial failure and hardware limitations.

Some games that could be played on the Sega Saturn where; Nights into Dreams, Virtua Fighter, Sonic R and Mortal Kombat II. 

Bibliography:

Wikipedia.org, (2015). Sega Saturn. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_Saturn [Accessed 5 May 2015]

Racketboy.com, (2013). Sega Saturn: The Beginner’s Guide. [online] Available at: http://www.racketboy.com/retro/sega-saturn-101-beginners-guide [Accessed 5 May 2015]

Segaretro.org, (2015). Sega Saturn. [online] Available at: http://segaretro.org/Sega_Saturn [Accessed 5 May 2015]

4th Generation - Splatterhouse

Splatterhouse is a beat ‘em up game developed by Namco and released in 1988 on the TurboGrafx-16 video game home console. The game on the console included a parental advisory warning which read “The horrifying theme of this game may be inappropriate for young children… and cowards” due to the gory graphics it included, like melted flesh and bloated corpses.

In this 2D side-scrolling game, the player controls a character named Rick, a student who has to fight creatures to save his girlfriend. The game was inspired mainly by the western horror movies Friday the 13th and Evil Dead II. In fact, the color of the mask of the main character was changed in the United States version so that it would not look too similar to the mask of Jason Voorhees, the serial killer in Friday the 13^th.

Figure 1 - Splatterhouse gameplay

The screen orientation of the game was horizontal having a 288x224 pixel resolution and a 24-bit RGB palette. When ported on the home console the game lost some of its graphical detail and some sounds were removed due to the less powerful hardware.

The game also had some changes when it was ported on the home console from the arcade game, such as the arcade game starts with an animation of the characters to narrate the background story, where as in the video game it simply shows the exterior of the mansion before the game begins. Then there are some minor changes, such as different weapons used and some death scenes, like in stage 6.

In 2007 the TurboGrafx-16 version of the game was released on the Wii’s Virtual Console and a remake was made in 2010 to be ported on iPhones and iPads. 

Bibliography:

Imdb.com, (2015). Splatterhouse (1988). [online] Available at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0457486/ [Accessed 5 May 2015]

Wikipedia.org, (2015). Splatterhouse. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splatterhouse [Accessed 5 May 2015]

4th Generation - TurboGrafx-16

The TurboGrafx-16 Entertainment System was launched in Japan in 1987 as the PC Engine. This video game console was developed by Hudson Soft and NEC and it was the first console to be released during the 16-bit era even though it still used an 8-bit CPU. The console was originally created to compete against NES, but it ended up competing against other major gaming console, such as the Sega Mega Drive and the Neo Geo AES.

The console made use of a Hudson Soft HuC6280 8-bit CPU running at 7.16mhz and a dual 16-bit GPU (Graphics processing unit). It was able to display 482 colors onscreen, had a screen resolution of up to 565x242 pixels and was capable of producing a 6-channel PSG stereo audio. The system had an upgradable CD Add-on which provided the CD ROM with more data so that levels could be longer, animations were improved and included more sound effects.

Figure 1 - TurboGrafx-16 console

Being the first console to be released in a new generation, later competitors make use of better hardware, but the console still remained in the competition due to its design and its CD ROM, which was the first of its kind as a game medium for home consoles.

Later on, the Turbo Express was released as the PC Engine GT which was hand-held version of the TurboGrafx-16 and ran the same games as the original.

The TurboGrafx-16 was advertised as a 16-bit CPU console even though it used two 8-bit processors instead. This type of advertisement gave the console a sales advantage in the game market, and it was in fact the top-selling console in Japan for a period of time. But even though the console was a success in Japan, it did not sell very well in Europe and North America, were Sega and Nintendo were more popular amongst the consumers.

Some games that could be played on the TurboGrafx-16 were: Splatterhouse, Neutopia, Bonk’s Adventure, and Bomberman. 

Bibliography:

Wikipedia.org, (2015). TurboGrafx-16. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TurboGrafx-16 [Accessed 5 May 2015]

Racketboy.com, (2013). TurboGrafx-16 101: The Beginner’s Guide. [online] Available at: http://www.racketboy.com/retro/turbografx-16/tubrografix-16-tg16-101-beginners-guide [Accessed 5 May 2015)

Illustrated Academic Essay - Pixel Art

Pixel art is mostly known as a form of digital art which is done by using raster graphics software, where the images created lose quality when they are resized. A digital image is made out of millions of pixels, which are normally represented by dots or squares and are not visible in high quality images, but in pixel art all the pixels are purposely shown as if you were zooming in on a raster image. Although pixel art is more associated with digital art, some visual artists have found a way to recreate pixel-like art in real life, such as mosaics and beadwork.

Pixel art was initially used in old computers and consoles due to the small screen resolutions and low-powered hardware at the time. The characters and objects in the games were not so visually complex and they had a restricted color palette. With that said, many developers focused on having vibrant colors for the characters in the game in order to make them stand out from the background, like the Sonic the Hedgehog video game franchise, which was developed by Sega and released in 1991. The game mostly focuses to convey the speed and power of the console, and is not really associated with pixel art gaming since the graphics of the game has developed enormously since its first release. 

                                              Figure 1 - Sonic the Hedgehog

The first video game made was a tennis simulator called Pong which only made use of white square-shaped pixels on a black background (switched off pixels). The pixels on screen were used to represent the two paddles, one for each player, a line to divide the screen in the middle, to give the idea of a tennis net, and the ball. The game was a great success and it inspired a lot of games that have come after, like Space Invaders and Pac-Man, where the games were also made out entirely of pixels graphics.

                                                Figure 2 - Pong Video Game

Another iconic pixel character is Mario, originally from the Super Mario Bros. video game released in 1985 by Nintendo. The character of Mario was created with a big nose and mustache in order to hide the lack of facial detail and to avoid creating the animations for the mouth and take unnecessary memory space and also because the NES system had a screen resolution of only 256x240 pixels.

                                               Figure 3 - Super Mario Bros

The first graphics software program that enabled users to create pixel art was known as SuperPaint, released by Richard Shoup in 1972. After that, in 1977, the video game console Atari 2600 was released, and it contained 2D sprites in games such as Space Invaders and Pac-Man.

Even though pixel art began due to the restrictions of the hardware used, it is still popular nowadays and has been used to create modern games such as Citypixel and Habbo, and also games on hand-held devices such as Nintendo DS, PS Vita and cellphones, such as snake. Some designers still use pixel art today due to the sharp art one can produce and also due to the fact that since the sprites do not take up too much memory space, the animations will run smoother given the advancements in the hardware nowadays. 

These are some of the pixel art works I created using Photoshop CS6:

                                                           
                                                  Figure 4 - Pixel art sprites

In order to create these assets I opened a new document, zoomed at around 1000%, and then used the pencil tool with 1px in size. Then to save it in a large size, I copied the image created in a new project, go to image size (Alt + Ctrl + I), change the width and height to 1600 and select ‘Nearest Neighbor (preserve hard edges)’ from the drop down menu at the bottom of the window.

Some artists are so fascinated with the unique style of pixel art that they have decided that they wanted to create it also in real life, as painting or sculptures. This clearly shows that pixel art is not used because of hardware restrictions anymore, but simply because it looks good and it is an interesting art technique to use.

The main difference between pixel art in real life and digital pixel art is pretty evident; digital pixel art is displayed on screen while real life pixel art can be done by any object that basically has a circular or square shape, in order to create an image. 

After the great impact that popular games such as Pac-Man and Pong made, the idea of having pixel art in gaming has inspired pixel art all over the world, and nowadays it is not used only in gaming, but also to create pixel-like sculptures.

Even though pixel art is slowly fading away, it is still being used by some game developers, even to create 3D games, such as Minecraft. Many developers nowadays prefer to use vector shapes to create elements for their games though, since they look more realistic and smooth. But even if in gaming pixel art is not used so much often as it was once, recently there has been a trend of artists that prefer to show pixels on display instead of normal paintings. 

One of the many mediums by which artists create real life pixel art is the Rubik’s Cube. The Rubik’s Cube was invented in 1974, around the time that pixel art was becoming popular. Josh Chalom is an artist who uses the Rubik’s Cube as his canvas to create real life pixel-like art. This type of art is interesting because from a far the art just looks like a pixelated canvas, and only by seeing it up close can one realise that it is actually made out of hundreds of Rubik’s cubes. Chalom explains how detailed this process of creating pixelated art from Rubik’s cubes is, “ You have over 100,000 pixels that you have to adjust and make sure that one’s correctly next to the other.”

                                        Figure 5 - 'Falling Apart' by Josh Chalom 

John O’Hearn is another visual artist that creates pixel-like mosaics using thousands of 6mm BBs. To produce his pixel art he makes use of a computer program that he wrote which is connected to a machine that he invented to help him turn any image into a mosaic. One of Hearn’s most notable work is his Lebron James mosaic which uses 62,016 colored BBs. 

                                 Figure 6 - Lebron James mosaic by John O'Hearn

Bibliography:

Wikipedia.org, (2015). Pixel art. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel_art [Accessed 18 April 2015]

Knowyourmeme.com, (2015). Pixel Art. [online] Available at: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/subcultures/pixel-art [Accessed 18 April 2015]

2dwillneverdie.com, (2015). Pixel Art. [online] Available at: http://2dwillneverdie.com/intro/ [Accessed 18 April 2015]

Mashable.com, (2012). The Pixel Renaissance: Pixel Art's Place in 21st Century Expression. [online] Available at: http://mashable.com/2012/01/20/pixel-art/ [Accessed 19 April 2015]

Chipchick.com, (2010). Josh Chalom’s Falling Apart is Pixel Art on Rubik’s Cubes. [online] Available at: http://www.chipchick.com/2010/09/josh-chalom-rubik-cubes-falling-apart.html [Accessed 19 April 2015]

Nintendolife.com, (2015). Topic: The future of pixel art. [online] Available at: http://www.nintendolife.com/forums/retro/the_future_of_pixel_art [Accessed 19 April 2015]

Computing Terms

RAM: The acronym stands for Random Access Memory. It is a type of computer data storage that can be accessed randomly, which means that the data can be accessed without having to go through the preceding bytes. The data is lost when the machine is turned off since RAM is a volatile type of memory.

Raster graphics: Digital images created by using pixels, and which lose quality when resized.

MHz: Abbreviation of megahertz. It measures the speed of microprocessors, called the clock speed. It determines how many instructions the microprocessor can execute per second.

Pixel: Short for Picture Element. A pixel is a single point in a graphic image. Monitors divide the display screen into millions of pixels to create an image.

Resolution: It is the sharpness and quality of an image.  The screen resolution signifies the number of pixels on screen.

GPU: Graphics Processor Unit. Used in mobile phones, personal computers and game consoles to accelerate the creation of images to be displayed on screen.

GUI: Graphical User Interface. It is an interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons as opposed to text-based interfaces.

RISC: Reduced Instruction Set Computing is a CPU designed with a simple instruction set to provide higher performance.

CPU: Central Processing Unit is the most important part of all computing machines, since it is the place where all the calculations and instructions are executed.

ROM: Read-Only Memory. It is a type of storage on computing machines where data is stored and once it is recorded it can be accessed but it cannot be removed or edited.

Sprite: It is a 2D image, that can also be animated, that is designed to be part of a larger scene. An example of sprites are the objects in 2D video games.

GIF: Graphics Interchange Format. It is a bitmap image that supports up to 8 bits per pixel for each image and also supports animations and up to 256 colors per frame.

Vector graphics: images that are not made up of a grid of pixels and therefore can be resized to a larger scale without losing any image quality.

Byte: A unit of digital information that is made up of 8 bits (a single bit being represented by a ‘1’ or ‘0’ using the binary system). Bytes represent characters such as letters, numbers or symbols.

Bitmap: An image made up of rows and columns of pixels in the computer memory.

Hard disk: A magnetic disk that stores data on a computer.

Animation: Images slightly different from each other that are put in sequence to create motion. 

HDMI: High-Definition Multimedia Interface is a cable that transfers video and audio data from devices such as a display controller to a compatible computer monitor or digital television.

FPS: Frames per second. It is the rate at which consecutive images (frames) are generated per second.

 

Cartridge: It is a removable container such as tapes or memory chips, and it can also hold ink for printing. Cartridges can also contain whole games to be run by consoles. 

                                  

Bibliography:

Webopedia.com, (2015). RAM - random access memory. [online] Available at: http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/R/RAM.html [Accessed 8 March 2015]
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Social Movement - Arcade gaming

The era of arcade video games lasted from the late 1970s until the 1990s. Arcade games lost popularity when game consoles started releasing games with 3D graphics, but they still remain     popular nowadays, especially in Asia. Several conventions dedicated to these classic arcade games still take place today, such as California Extreme.

In 1971 students at Stanford University created a coin-operated version of the Spacewar video game, the Galaxy Game. This is known to be the earliest example of a coin-operated video game. The first mass-manufactured game was released that same year and it was called Computer Space, created by Nolan Bushnell for the arcade game manufacturer, Nutting Associates. Atari, which was formed in 1972, essentially created the coin-operated video game industry with its game Pong, but even if the game proved to be popular, imitators kept Atari from dominating the coin-operated video game market.

The golden age of arcade video games is the time when arcade video games were the most popular and a time of technical innovation. This era started in the late 1970s and lasting to the mid-1980s. It spawned numerous cultural icons that are still recognized in today’s culture, such as Space Invaders, Pac-Man and Donkey Kong.

Figure 1 - Pac-Man arcade games

Figure 2 - Donkey Kong arcade game

Some of the most popular games of this era had a great influence on the industry and also on the development of games. For instance, Space Invaders was considered to be the game that "revolutionized the video game industry" (Shigeru Miyamoto). This game has influenced shooter games ever since its release. Lunar Lander was the first Atari game to use vector graphics, and Centipede was one of the first games to use trackball control. Pac-Man was one of the most influential games; it had the first gaming mascot, it established maze chase genre, introduced power-ups and also opened gaming to female audiences. 

Bibliography:

Wikipedia.org, (2015). Arcade game. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcade_game [Accessed 8 March 2015]

Wikipedia.org, (2015). Golden age of arcade video games. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_age_of_arcade_video_games [Accessed 8 March 2015]

3rd Generation - Congo Bongo

Congo Bongo is seen as Sega’s version of the highly successful arcade game Donkey Kong. But unlike Donkey Kong, the graphics are more detailed and there are more enemies and traps. It had raster graphics, a resolution of 256x224, and a 256-color palette. The game contained simple 2D sprites and a basic sound that played whenever the character jumps.

Figure 1 - Congo Bongo gameplay 

The game shows a safari hunter trying to catch “Bongo”, the ape that set fire to his tent, in order to have his revenge. The game was made up of four levels: Primate Peak, which is the closest to Donkey Kong in style, Snake Lake, Rhino Ridge, and Lazy Lagoon.

Initially, when Cong Bongo was released it was a commercial failure, but despite this, it has been ported to nearly every major gaming platform, including SG-1000, MSX, Intellivision, Commodore 64, Atari 2600 and Atari 5200. Recently, a remake was released for the PlayStation 2.

Some of the weaker computers and consoles at the time were unable to render isometric graphics. For instance, the Atari and Commodore version use an oblique perspective, whereas the SG-1000 has a top-down view. Many version also left out some levels of the game due to space restrictions.

Bibliography:

Wikipedia.org, (2015). Congo Bongo. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congo_Bongo [Accessed 7 March 2015]

Segaretro.org, (2015). Congo Bongo. [online] Available at: http://segaretro.org/Congo_Bongo [Accessed 7 March 2015]

3rd Generation - Sega SG-1000

Sega was founded in 1940 by Martin Bromley, Irving Bromberg and James Humpert, in Honolulu, Hawaii. In 1965 Rosen Enterprises merges with Service Games to create Sega Enterprises. In 1968, Sega had its first smash hit; the submarine simulator Periscope. Sega aims to develop the first proper home console in Japan.

Sega released their first home console, the SG-1000, a cartridge-based home video game console, also called the Mark I. The console featured specs superior to most consoles, however it was not successful compared to others. Initially Sega released this console for Japan in 1983, then they exported the console to Europe and Australia in 1985, in attempt to expand the market.

Figure 1 - Sega SG-1000 console

Then Mark II was released, a remodeled version using gamepads instead of joysticks, which also had a keyboard attachment slot available, and 47 unique games were released.

The SG-1000 had an 8-bit, 3.58 MHz NEC 780C processor, 2KB RAM, 16KB video RAM and 256x192 pixel resolution. It was capable of displaying 16 colors and 32 sprites per scene. It used ROM cartridge, cassette tape, or Sega card game storage. A Texas Instruments SN76489 sound processor was used to create a 4 channel mono sound.

Although it sold 2 million units worldwide, the launch of the SG-1000 was not successful. Reasons for this include the more advanced hardware of the Famicom, which was released on the same day by Nintendo, and the North American video game crash of 1983.

The SG-1000 failed to capture the market share that Sega had been aiming for, which lead to the creation of the Sega Mark III, a revision of the console with improved video hardware and an increased amount of RAM.

Games that could be played on the SG-1000 include; Congo Bongo, Girl’s Garden, Flicky, Champion Golf, The Black Onyx, and Space Invaders.

Bibliography:

Wikipedia.org, (2015). SG-1000. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SG-1000 [Accessed 7 March 2015]

Segaretro.org, (2015). SG-1000. [online] Available at: http://segaretro.org/SG-1000 [Accessed 7 March 2015]

2nd Generation - Pac-Man

Pac-Man was released in 1980 by Namco as an arcade game, and it was originally called Puck Man. The character of Pac-Man was an idea of Toru Iwatani, who focused on designing this game to attract more women to the game industry. Pac-Man became the first iconic character of the video game industry.

The power pills shown in the game introduced the first prey-to-predator mechanic in video games. The game was a success and it also kicked off a wide variety of merchandise, like an animated television series, lunch boxes and t-shirts. It also spawned many sequels, such as Super Pac-Man.

In 1982, Atari Inc. designed this game for their home video game console, the Atari 2600. The player would use a joystick to move the character around the screen. the goal of the game was to eat all the food on screen while avoiding four ghosts that would lose you lives if you made contact with them. Some differences from the original arcade game are the maze pattern, and the items in the game, like the wafers and vitamins.

Figure 1 - Pac-Man gameplay

When the arcade game Pac-Man was ported onto the console it lost some of its qualities due to the hardware limitations of the Atari 2600. Programming was handled by Tod Frye. The screen resolution was lower after the game was ported on the Atari console and fewer colors than the arcade game were shown on screen and sometimes the ghosts gave a flickering effect or did not appear on screen at all, since the Atari 2600 could not handle the characters on the screen in real time with its hardware. The game used a 4KB ROM cartridge, while the arcade game stored four times as much ROM, and the Zilog Z80 CPU it used was three times faster than the processor used by the Atari console.         

Many players returned their copy of the game due to the low quality it had. this was one of the main causes of the North American video game crash that took place in 1983, since the production of Pac-Man on the Atari 2600 made the customers lose confidence in the company. 

In1982, Pac-Man was modified in order to be ported to the new version of the Atari console, the Atari 5200. This new version of the game made it look more realistic and it was more similar to the original arcade game than any other version on console released before. It was followed by Pac-Man’s sequels, such as Ms. Pac-Man and Jr. Pac-Man, for the Atari 2600. Both these games made a better impact than Atari’s first Pac-Man title. For instance, Ms. Pac-Man features a larger Rom cartridge.

Several copies of the game were designed in order to improve it. In December 1987, Mindscape’s IBM PC version of Pac-Man sold over 100,000 copies. The game was also released for Atari’s 8-bit computers, Intellivision, the Commodore 64 and VIC-20, and the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was also released on handheld game consoles like Game Boy, Sega Game Gear, and the Neo Geo Pocket Color. The gameplay of Pac-Man was so popular, that remakes of the game are still being made today.

Bibliography:

Wikipedia.org, (2015). Pac-Man. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pac-Man [Accessed 6 March 2015]

Wikipedia.org, (2014). Pac-Man (Atari 2600). [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pac-Man_(Atari_2600) [Accessed 6 March 2015]

Gamefaqs.com, (2015). Pac-Man. [online] Available at: http://www.gamefaqs.com/atari2600/584949-pac-man/trivia [Accessed 6 March 2015]

2nd Generation - Atari 2600

Atari 2600 was the first cartridge-based home console system, released in September 1977 by Atari, Inc., although the project for this console had been going on since Atari acquired a company called Cyan Engineering in 1973. At the time they were developing a console with the name “Stella” which they changed to Atari 2600 later on.

This home console popularized the use of microprocessor-based hardware and ROM cartridges containing game code. Atari 2600 came with two joystick controllers, a conjoined pair of paddle controllers, and a cartridge game.

The Atari 2600 used an MOS 6507 CPU with a speed of 1.19 MHz. The console also contained a RAM of 128 bytes and 4Kb of ROM. It had a maximum resolution of 160x192 pixels and it could produce 16 colors without the need of screen overlays. The game produced a 2-channel, mono audio sound, with the use of a TIA Atari sound chip. Multiple peripheral devices were released, such as: touch pads, keyboard controllers and paddle controllers.

The console was originally priced at $199, and it came with two joysticks and a Combat game cartridge. To compete with the Channel F console, Atari named their machine the Video Computer System (VCS). The VCS became popular because unlike other games at that time, the users could play games other than Pong on it. After Pong, Atari released Space Invaders in 1980, and it was such a great hit that it rapidly increased the console's popularity. The console had sold 10 million units by 1982, while its best-selling game Pac-Man sold 7 million copies.

Figure 1 - Atari 2600 console

In 1980, the VCS was redesigned so that the console was left with four switches on the front, after the difficulty switches were moved to the back. In 1982 the console was released again, this time without wood grain. These consoles were nicknamed “Darth Vader” due to their all-black appearance.

Some of the games that could be played on the Atari 2600 were: Pac-Man, Pitfall!, Asteroids, Galaxian, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, and Defender.

Bibliography:

Wikipedia.org, (2015). Atari 2600. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_2600 [Accessed 5 March 2015]

Gaming.wikia.com, (2015). List of Atari 2600 peripherals. [online] Available at: http://gaming.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Atari_2600_peripherals [Accessed 5 March 2015]

Wikipedia.org, (2015). List of Atari 2600 games. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Atari_2600_games [Accessed 5 March 2015]

1st Generation – Pong

Pong was designed by Ralph Baer and it was the first game for home consoles, released on the Magnavox Odyssey. The game was controlled by using two knobs on each side of the device; one for each player. This tennis sports game features simple two-dimensional graphics; two paddles and a ball represented in white, on a black background. The game had no sound and no on screen scoring, and it is the only game for the Odyssey console that does not require fixing a color overlay to the television screen.

The goal of the game is for the players to use the paddles to hit the ball back and forth and try to keep the ball on screen. If the player fails to return the ball, the opponent gains a point.

Figure 1 - Ralph Baer playing Pong

Pong, also known as Table Tennis, was a great success, mainly because it was the first game that people could play at home on their television set. After its release, several companies began producing games similar to Pong, including Atari, which built the first commercially successful arcade video game machine inspired by Magnavox’s Table Tennis.

In 1973 Ralph Baer wanted to make the games of the Odyssey look more realistic, so he created advanced cartridges that he added to the console, but Magnavox rejected his ideas.

Bibliography:

Mobygames.com, (2006). Table Tennis (Odyssey). [online] Available at: http://www.mobygames.com/game/table-tennis [Accessed 4 March 2015]

Pong-story.com, (2015) Technology of the Odyssey. [online] Available at: http://www.pong-story.com/odyssey.htm#P10 [Accessed 4 March 2015]

1st Generation – Magnavox Odyssey

Rudolph Heinrich Baer was born in March 1922 in a Jewish family living in Germany, and moved to New York in 1983. He graduated from the National Radio Institute as a radio service technician in 1940. He then graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Television Engineering in 1949. In 1956 Baer joined Sanders Associates in Nashua, New Hampshire, where he was promoted to head of instrument design, which enabled him to develop a game-playing device that plugged into a television set. He was joined by Bill Harrison (technician) and Bill Rusch (chief engineer) to work together to create such consoles, but Sanders Associates could not find partners to promote the device, which put it on hold.

In 1971, Baer signed a deal with the company Magnavox, where he created Magnavox Odyssey, the very first home video game system. Magnavox Odyssey was released in May 1972, and since it was heavily advertised, it sold 100,000 units in the same year. The Odyssey was an instant success when it was launched in 1972, but after selling over 330,000 units for around $100 each, it was discontinued in 1975 and replaced by rivals like Atari and Intellivision.

Figure 1 - Magnavox Odyssey console

This console contained no processor or memory, and it required six C cell batteries to work. It used cards that contained pin outs, in order to change the game settings. Plastic overlays could be placed over the television screen to create graphics and color, since the actual display consisted only of white squares on a black background. The Odyssey originally came with 6 game cards, multiple game and score cards, a master control unit, 2 player control units, a game cord, a game switch and 2 sized sets of 11 overlays for medium and large television screens. Some of the games that could be played on this console were Pong, Table Tennis, Football, Hockey, Submarine, and Roulette.

Bibliography:

Wikipedia.org, (2015). Ralph H. Baer. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_H._Baer [Accessed 28 February 2015]

About.com/compute, (2015). Hardware Profile - Magnavox Odyssey - The First Gaming Console. [online] Available at: http://classicgames.about.com/od/classicvideogames101/p/MagnavoxOdyssey.htm [Accessed 28 February 2015]

Videogameconsolelibrary.com, (2014). Magnavox Odyssey. [online] Available at: http://www.videogameconsolelibrary.com/pg70-odyssey.htm#page=reviews [Accessed 28 February 2015]