Basic Computer and Technical terms

RGB color model - This is an additive color model that most monitors use in order to combine those 3 primary  color to make a broad array of colors.

Raster - A raster image is an image made primarily of pixels. The advantage of having a raster image is that allot of precise detail can be viewed by the user. A disadvantage is that it looses quality the more you zoom in or re size it.

Vector - A vector image is an image made primarily of lines and curves and so can never loose its quality the more you zoom in on it. Vector images are primarily used for logos for that reason. A disadvantage of a vector image is that every location of its lines and curves need to be positioned separately.

GUI (Graphical user interface) - A GUI is the main face of any application or software which lets the user interact with it. A mouse pointer can be used to interact with the software's user interface when using a PC. This is done when you click on its main icon on the Windows so you can open an application.

Pixels - A raster image will use pixels, pixels are very small boxes filled with color. It is the smallest controllable element of a picture represented on the screen.

CPU -  Central Processing Unit, commonly referred to the processor of the computer is the brain of the computer where most of the calculation take place as quick as possible.

GPU - The Graphical Processing Unit is mainly the Central Processing Unit of the Graphic card. This means that it will output all the graphical calculations.

Graphic Card - The Graphic Card also referred to as video card connects to the motherboard of a computer system and is the one responsible for outputting images on the display. Graphics card will include a processing unit, memory, cooling mechanism like a fan and a connection to the display device.

RAM - Random-access memory is a common form of computer data storage used today that allows data to be read and written in the most efficient way and approximately the same amount of time regardless of the order. The better the RAM the better you can read and write information. When the computer is turned off however the memory is lost, this is because RAM is a volatile component.

ROM -  Read Only Memory contains data that can only be read, and will contain the data that will help boot up your computer and restart itself. The Memory is not volatile so it will not be lost when the computer is turned off.

MHZ - Mega Hertz simply means one million cycles per second that you can manipulate a certain number of bits. This measurement is mainly used to measure the speed of electronic devices, channels and the computer's internal clock. 

Bytes - A byte is a unit of data measurement, that consists of eight binary digits long.

KB -  A Kilobyte is a unit of memory measurement, that mainly consists of 1024 bytes. It is commonly used to measure small files.

Resolution -  This term describes how many pixels a monitor can display. The more pixels displayed on the monitor the finer the detail displayed. A typical monitor will generally have 1920 by 1080 which means 1920 pixel horizontally and 1080 pixels vertically.

HDMI - A High-Definition Multimedia Interface is a digital interface used for transmitting audio and video data via a cable. Most HDTV's and videos game system will have an HDMI slot in the back which you can use connect it to them together.

Handheld Console - A console which is portable and could be carried and used in your hands. It will generally consists of a small screen with a reasonable battery life.

Pre-Rendering - Something that is pre-rendered is generally used in game which a video footage is not being rendered in real-time by the hardware but it is instead a video recording of footage that was previously pre-rendered on a much more powerful piece of hardware. This is done to limit processing power.

AI - Artificial intelligence is the ability of a computer to act , via programming, like a human being would. It can be used in many different ways, using several applications, software simulations and robotics. The most common use of AI is found in games where the computer is acting like another player, more commonly known in game as an NPC (Non-playable character).

Optical Media - Media in the computer world will refer to different type of data storage such as hard drives and USB drives. Optical Media refers to the discs that are being read by a laser, like a CD.

User Friendly - Something that is user friendly is generally something that is simple to use, clean and easy to locate different tools and option, intuitive and able to make sense to an average person with minimum knowledge on the system and reliable, which will not easily crash or mail-function.

Bibliography:

Techterms.com, (2015). User-Friendly Definition. [online] Available at: http://techterms.com/definition/user-friendly [Accessed 10 May 2015].

Techterms.com, (2015). Optical Media Definition. [online] Available at: http://techterms.com/definition/opticalmedia [Accessed 10 May 2015].

Techterms.com, (2015). Artificial Intelligence Definition. [online] Available at: http://techterms.com/definition/artificial_intelligence [Accessed 10 May 2015].

Wikipedia, (2015). Pre-rendering. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-rendering [Accessed 10 May 2015].

Wikipedia, (2015). Handheld game console. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handheld_game_console [Accessed 10 May 2015].

Techterms.com, (2015). Resolution Definition. [online] Available at: http://techterms.com/definition/resolution [Accessed 10 May 2015].

Techterms.com, (2015). Kilobyte Definition. [online] Available at: http://techterms.com/definition/kilobyte [Accessed 10 May 2015].

Pcmag.com, (2015). MHz Definition from PC Magazine Encyclopedia. [online] Available at: http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/46893/mhz [Accessed 10 May 2015].

Bemer, R. (1959). A proposal for a generalized card code for 256 characters. Commun. ACM, 2(9), pp.19-23.

WhatIs.com, (2015). What is read-only memory (ROM)? - Definition from WhatIs.com. [online] Available at: http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/read-only-memory-ROM [Accessed 10 May 2015].

Wikipedia, (2015). Random-access memory. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Random-access_memory [Accessed 10 May 2015].

Nvidia.com, (2015). What is GPU Computing? | High-Performance Computing | NVIDIA | NVIDIA. [online] Available at: http://www.nvidia.com/object/what-is-gpu-computing.html [Accessed 10 May 2015].

Wikipedia, (2015). Central processing unit. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_processing_unit [Accessed 10 May 2015].

Study.com, (2015). What Is a Video Card? - Function, Definition & Types - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com. [online] Available at: http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-a-video-card-function-definition-types.html [Accessed 10 May 2015].

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

Martinez, W. (2011). Graphical user interfaces. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Computational Statistics, 3(2), pp.119-133.

Wikipedia, (2015). Vector graphics. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vector_graphics [Accessed 8 May 2015].

Wikipedia, (2015). Raster graphics. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raster_graphics [Accessed 8 May 2015].

Wikipedia, (2015). RGB color model. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RGB_color_model [Accessed 8 May 2015].

Social Trend - The Arcade Gamer

The Arcade Started in the early1970's with coin operated arcade machines.Sega, a Japanese gaming company, created one of the earliest arcade games was named Periscope. Periscope was a submarine simulator and light gun shooter, which used lights and plastic waves to simulate sinking ships from a submarine hit. This arcade game was the first ever to use a quarter coin to play and was a huge success in North-America, Europe and Japan. The quarter later became used as a standard cost to arcade machines. 

After a huge success another game called duck hunt was created. The thing that attracted the users the most about this game was the light gun attachment that you could use to simulate hunting ducks on a machine. The game was very straight forward, you had a number of ducks you had to hit in order to win the level, using a limited amount of shots. 

Seeing Sega's huge success, other companies tried to do allot of arcade machine games which included racing games, shooting game but mostly semi-realistic simulators. All these games that were coming out caused a shortage of quarters that later the supply of quarters had to be increased because they where all in these machines. In 1972 Pong was created and this caused a great increase in arcade machine popularity due to competitive edge that 2 players can have with each other. People would queue up in front of the machine and play for countless hours in order to filter out the best player among them all. Later in 1978 another game came out called Space Invaders. Space invaders had allot of game variations to offer and was very cost efficient and fun to play. Player would compete to see who could get the highest score.

This huge phenomenon of arcade gaming was eventually being replaced by home consoles. The thing was that having an arcade game at the comfort of your own home was much comfortable than having to go down the pizza parlor and spend countless hours standing on your feet playing or even waiting in line to play. The advantage that arcade machines had was that they only costed a quarter to play and people that could not afford home consoles could still enjoy some good gaming. The other part was that arcade gaming encouraged socializing with other people and so the trend although it was declining it held on through the year 2000 where it's profits went down from 1.2b to 800mill. 

Nowadays arcade gaming has lost allot of its flow mainly because high power consoles and pcs are easier accessible and you can play online with multiple friends sitting on your own sofa , plus the graphics are always getting more realistic, instead of that raster 16 bit color graphics on the arcade machine. So it very unlikely that this trend will re-emerge, but its nice to go to an arcade store and play an arcade game with your friends once in a while, just to feel a bit more haptic. Without arcade gaming, competitive play would be allot different because this was the foundation that gave players the feeling of winning over an opponent using skill, so it a very important part in the gaming history we know today.

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

Machine, S. and Machine, S. (2015). Space Invaders Arcade Machine at Firebox.com. [online] Firebox. Available at: http://www.firebox.com/product/847/Space-Invaders-Arcade-Machine [Accessed 6 May 2015].

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

3rd Generation Game - Nintendo Entertaining System - 1942

One of my favorite games on the Nintendo Entertaining system was the warplane shooter '1942'. This game was developed and released by Capcom for the arcade in 1984. It was later followed by a sequel, 1943- the battle of midway. This was the first game in the 19XX series. 

1942 is set in the middle of the pacific theater in WWII.  The goal is to reach Tokyo using your warplane and on the way destroying the whole Japanese air fleet. The players need to destroy the enemy planes while avoiding enemy fire. To avoid this the player can perform a roll or a loop-the-loop. While playing the game many power ups will appear that will help you in a unique way such as having double the fire power and having 2 other Allie planes escort you on the way. After some time on the arcade, the game later ported on the NES by a company called Micronics. The game was not bad for it's time and given that it used raster graphics it looked quite plesing. Due to lower specs on the NES the game had to be run to it's lowest possible performance to run perfectly. Alot of variations have been introduced since it's release and t'ill this day, the classic 1942 still roams around play stores and consoles waiting to be downloaded with it's improved interface, which without doubt makes it a huge success in the gaming world.

Bibliography:
Wikipedia, (2015). 1942 (video game). [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1942_(video_game) [Accessed 6 May 2015].

YouTube, (2015). 1942 - Classic Arcade Games - Review. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aO1SCeYy6GM [Accessed 6 May 2015].

YouTube, (2015). Classic Game Room - 1943: THE BATTLE OF MIDWAY review for NES. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWRmPR-nwyQ [Accessed 6 May 2015].

3rd Generation - Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)

The Nintendo Entertainment system was first released in Japan as the 'Famicon' 1983. It made it's way to America in 1985. At first their attempts of marketing the console in America was a failure due to the fact that America was going through the 'Video game crash' and so Nintendo marketed the console not as a video game console but as a Toy, in order for the consumer to view the product differently. The console was priced at around 300$. The Famicon was the same console but with a different design, using the same hardware. It was invented by Hiroshi Yamauchi. This was Nintendo's first home console with interchangeable cartridges.

The console came with two controllers and 2 separate games. Nintendo introduced a new business model that only third-party developers could make specific video game to that console in order to avoid a huge amount of low budget under performing games. This tactic worked and only good quality games where made for this console. Al tough is was the lowest performing console with a maximum of  2KB RAM ,5.32 CPU and also the cheapest, it had the highest probability of success out of all the other competing consoles. Many popular games such as Super Mario, The legend of Zelda and Pitfall where all first made for this console and led it to its huge success. The console was discontinued in 2003 and had sold more than 62 million consoles which initially was huge success for the Nintendo company.

Bibliography:

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

Wikipedia, (2015). Nintendo Entertainment System technical specifications. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Entertainment_System_technical_specifications [Accessed 6 May 2015].

Nintendo, (2015). Nintendo Entertainment System. [online] Available at: http://nintendo.wikia.com/wiki/Nintendo_Entertainment_System [Accessed 6 May 2015].

Aoaforums.com, (2015). Computer inside an nes.... - AOA. [online] Available at: http://www.aoaforums.com/forum/hardware-hacking/1407-computer-inside-an-nes.html [Accessed 6 May 2015].

2nd Generation Game - The Atari 2600 - Space invaders

In February 1978 Toshihiro Nishikado finalized a primitive spaceship shoot'em up video game called Space invaders. It was first introduced to the Atari 2600 and following it's huge success, Taito a company that sold video game transformed this game into a coin operated arcade machine, that cause a huge shortage of Yen coins in Japan.. Space Invaders for the Atari 2600 was the first ever arcade to home game license, becoming a huge best seller, which included 112 games with multiple playing variables. Some of the variables included faster aliens, faster projectiles, zig-zag projectiles, invisible aliens, 2 player and many more. This was a key ingredient to it becoming a very famous game due to the fact that you got allot for the ratio you were paying for. 

The aim is to defeat waves of aliens with a laser cannon to earn as much points as possible without getting hit. The original design was based on soldiers trying to cross a line and you had to shoot them up before they do, but it was politically unwise to do so, encouraging shooting people, so it was revamped into an alien invasion. Later on Space invaders 2 was released which featured a competitive 2 player mode. Space invaders did not have a long story line or in depth lore, but focused more on the actual game-play that the user was looking for also which created the obsession of getting a higher score than before and also having rival competition. Following its simplistic design Nishikado managed to create a game worth buying.

Bibliography:

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

Space invaders wiki, (2015). Space Invaders (Atari 2600). [online] Available at: http://spaceinvaders.wikia.com/wiki/Space_Invaders_%28Atari_2600%29 [Accessed 6 May 2015].

Old-computers.com, (2015). OLD-COMPUTERS.COM : HISTORY / detailed info. [online] Available at: http://www.old-computers.com/history/detail.asp?n=1&t=4 [Accessed 6 May 2015].

Wikipedia, (2015). List of Space Invaders video games. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Space_Invaders_video_games [Accessed 6 May 2015].

2nd Generation - Atari 2600

The Atari 2600 home video console was released in September of 1977. It was the first console that popularized microprocessor based hardware and ROM-cartridges. The cartridges where used to store games released at that era. The Atari, originally names the Atari VCS was later renamed for the Atari's part number CX2600. The Atari 2600 was sold at an affordable price of $200. It was the first console that could read code from a cartridge and using a cartridge to sell games made it very popular. The initial marketing idea was to make the console cheap and make money out of the games sold. At that time Atari made it one of the weakest-powered consoles introduced to the market, but gained success due to the great games.

The Design was made to look retro futuristic featuring a wood-plastic rimmed hood. The console came with  2 joysticks, which each consisted of a paddle and a single red button with was used as a trigger. It also came with a Combat cartridge as a starting game. 

Atari used a 1.19 Mhz CPU , had 16 different colors and to lower the cost price used a 13 pin address instead of a 16 pin with a lowered memory of 4KB. The 4KB memory could be upgraded to 8KB but was not efficient. After some time of success in order for the Atari to compete with other consoles they released a game called Space invaders which was the ultimate hit that made the Atari 2600 a must-buy. This console started a frenzy of game making companies to go wild and the result was allot of poor made games which ended up creating the 'Atari crash' of 1983. This console was later discontinued after 15 years of production.

Bibliography:
Content.time.com, (2015). A History of Video Game Consoles - TIME. [online] Available at: http://content.time.com/time/interactive/0,31813,2029221,00.html [Accessed 6 May 2015].

Atariage.com, (2015). AtariAge - Atari 2600 History. [online] Available at: https://atariage.com/2600/ [Accessed 6 May 2015].

Wikipedia, (2015). Atari 2600. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_2600 [Accessed 6 May 2015].

YouTube, (2015). The Video Game Crash of 1983: Continue?. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvHcYe2sQ-I [Accessed 6 May 2015].

Technical Trend - The beginning of home computers

30 years ago, the idea of having a computer in the comfort of your own home was only a dream. The very first computer systems were mainframes. huge room-filling computer systems that need to be kept in a temperature-controlled environment with trained professionals operating them.

In the early 1970's microprocessors changed everything. Computer circuits where taking to much time to produce because every transistor had to be individually soldered. A single chip, made way for smaller and faster machines.

The fist models were not very user friendly. The client would have to me proficient with a soldering iron to make everything go his way. The Altair 8800 was one of the earliest. It wasn't a very good machine. It did not have a keyboard, mainly consisted of a row of toggle switches which the user had to use to input programs. The display was just a row of flashing LEDs. The thing that made it important was the inspiration that other great minds took from this product which eventfully lead to evolution we know to day.

In 1976 the Apple 1 home computer was designed. This was the result effort of Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs and Ron Wayne. It was developed in Steve Wozniak's bedroom. He built the printed circuit board while Ron Wayne wrote the operation manual. Jobs did what he knew best and that was advertising. With Job's determination he managed to get an order of 50 apple computers, which Wozniak had to hand-build. Al tough it seemed impossible at the time, Wozniak managed to build all of them second to the last day of the contract. They were not the full assembled computers but they got paid the cash and paid off the loans they had on the parts. This was all built in Job's garage which looking at it from today, was Apple's first company headquarters. 

The computer's where being sold for $666.66. The machine was not intended to be pre-built with fully-assembled displays and attachments, but Job's persistence made it a reality. Wozniak built the Apple 1 to be run on BASIC, so games could be programmed and played on it. It was a game machine for the most part. The fact that games could be programmed on such a machine made it very popular and created a huge fuss on video game creation which eventually lead to computer's being the prime source of video game creation we use nowadays. The machine had a memory of 4KB running up to 48KB, and used 40 x 24 characters. At the time it was the fastest running system because it was the only one. The monitor did not display things as we know them today but displayed lines of code which the user had to input himself due to the fact that no mouse was invented at the time. The Apple 1 discontinued being built the next year and was replaced by the more user friendly Apple 2. 

 How the screen looked like back then.

The actual product sold.

The evolution of new products quickly emerged to what we know today, more than 30 years after with super advanced dedicated graphics card and amazing displays.A key component in our lives that some cannot simply live without.

A high-end gaming computer

Bibliography:
Anthony, S. (2015). Original Apple I computer, sold by Steve Jobs in 1976, could reach $1 million at auction | ExtremeTech. [online] ExtremeTech. Available at: http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/193512-apple-i-computer-sold-personally-by-steve-jobs-in-1976-could-reach-1-million-at-auction [Accessed 6 May 2015].

Apple II History, (2008). 2-The Apple-1. [online] Available at: http://apple2history.org/history/ah02/ [Accessed 6 May 2015].

Applemuseum.bott.org, (2015). Apple I. [online] Available at: http://applemuseum.bott.org/sections/computers/a1.html [Accessed 6 May 2015].

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

1st Generation Game - The Magnavox Odyssey - Table Tennis

This was one of the very first arcade games to ever exist. The game consisted of 2 vertical paddle that move vertically across each other, using the Odyssey's controller.

This game was first released on the Magnavox Odyssey in 1972, and you can play it using game card 1 without using any overlay. There were no graphics no sounds, just game-play , using 2 controllers, one of each moving a separate paddle vertically.Table tennis was initially designed so to help the proud owners of this console to manipulate the controllers of the Odyssey. The aim of the game is was the pass the ball in the middle behind your opponent's paddle and out of the screen. To start the game the player must first serve the ball by pressing the reset button on the Odyssey which will initialize the first horizontal movement of the ball across the screen. There was no score system so player had to use a separate sheet and write down the scores themselves. 

When you got used to the fast pace of the game, you could have increased the speed of the game even further by twisting the speed-control clockwise. The game was very simplistic using only black and white color, but it became a hit mainly because it was the new unique thing to do at the comfort of your own home.

Bibliography:

Wikipedia, (2015). Video game console. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_console#First_generation [Accessed 6 May 2015].

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

Scratch.mit.edu, (2015). Scratch - Magnavox Odyssey Revisited: Game 1 (Table Tennis). [online] Available at: http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/10035538/ [Accessed 6 May 2015].

1st Generation of Gaming - The Magnavox Odyssey

This was the era that started it all.The era of  home video consoles. Released in August of 1972 the Magnavox Odyssey was the  first ever video game console made by Magnavox. It was and like all other video game consoles, the Magnavox Odyssey is a digital console. The Magnavox uses analog circuitry for the video output because televisions of that time were also analog and using an analog controller. The system could be powered by six C batteries, which were included with an optional power supply that was sold separately. The Odyssey did not have any sound capability. Although it was added later on with the special Pong Systems,  Ralph Baer the creator and designer of this console designed and suggested a sound extension in 1973, but the idea was quickly rejected.

The odyssey uses a printable circuit called a game card. This was inserted into a slot similar to ROM cartridge, used in order to play different games. The different games did not have any different components but on the other hand they used different electrical connections that were located between the pins of the card connector. So each different game was used in order to apply the specific game logic.

This system, being very old, was sold with a translucence plastic overlay in which the consumer would have to literally put on top of their TV screen for them to have some form of color graphics, the downside was that only 2 TV sizes were supported, so if your TV didn't match, tough luck. The overlays could be used multiple times with many games but all have their specific ruling of play.

This console created the first competitive gaming, because it was only to be played between 2 players using 2 controllers. One person controlled one line, and the other person controlled the other. The Odyssey was the beginning of something new that made people interact in a more exciting which eventually made a huge impact on how we view a console today, more than 40 years ago.

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

Magnavox-odyssey.com, (2015). Magnavox Odyssey. [online] Available at: http://www.magnavox-odyssey.com/ [Accessed 6 May 2015].

YouTube, (2015). Magnavox Odyssey Table Tennis 1972. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfmL6l128JU [Accessed 6 May 2015].