Games have always played an integral part of man’s childhood. It started with sticks and stones and over time evolved into powerful mind-stimulating games that could be played indoors. Not all children are physically capable of playing all kinds of outdoor games that they fantasize about. With imagination comes invention and with that the birth of video games, where one can sit at home and experience everything outside of it.
In 1949, Ralph Beer had the idea to build a kind of game on a television. Eighteen years later, many worked on the idea to make it a reality. Willy Higinbotham designed a kind of tennis game that could be played with an oscilloscope. From then on, many people began to develop similar video games. But what mattered more than the people who invented it were the companies that made these video games. The original companies that started large-scale production of these video games are Atari (an American company and one of the first), Sega (which was very successful in the field), Magnavox (a Phillips company), and Nintendo (one of the first). major video game companies). game maker). A new era in video game technology soon began with the invention of video game consoles. A video game console is a dedicated electronic device designed to play video games where the output is basically through a monitor of some sort like a television or computer screen. The main input device is a controller (such as joysticks, paddles, light guns, steering wheels, etc.). Video game consoles started around 1972 onwards like Magnavox Odyssey, Coleco Telstar etc. soon to be upgraded to cartridge based 8 bit console systems like Atari 2600, Intellivision, Vectrex etc. which later became 16-bit systems like Sega Nomad, Supervision, Phillips CD-I, etc.
Then came the 32/64 bit consoles like Wonderswan Color, Nintendo 64DD, Apple Pippin, etc., leading to the modern era of handheld video game consoles based on PDA technology developed by companies like Microsoft (Microsoft Xbox -2001) , Sega (Sega Dreamcast) and Sony (The Play Station). Then there is the current technology of modern handheld video game consoles with built-in hard drives, the most popular of which are Microsoft Xbox-360 and Sony Play Stations.
Sony’s Play Station 2 (a predecessor to the Play Station 3 to be released in spring 2006) was first released on March 4, 2000 in Japan. It soon became one of the most popular products becoming the best-selling video game console of the current generation selling more than 900,000 units in the first week. It successfully competed against then-Dreamcast technology through its ability to play DVDs. Although Sony Play Station 2 had inferior graphics compared to Microsoft Xbox-360, but it has a wide collection of different types of games belonging to various genres. In 2002, Sony released the PS2 online adapter to compete with the upcoming online consoles developed by Microsoft. In September 2004, with the release of the best-selling game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Sony released a new, smaller PS2 and later made better versions that were slimmer. The basic features of the Sony PS2 include its ability to read both CDs and DVDs, its support for PS1 memory cards, USB and IEEE 1394 expansion which also replaces its older version Dual Shock Controller with Dual Shock 2 Controller with improved shoulders and D-buttons. pad. also update the software that enables faster playback and finer textures and better graphics for Play Station games. Sony Play Station 2 also has the function of online gaming through the network adapter built into the SP2. Sony PS2 has also released a version of the Linux operating system along with an Ethernet adapter and also a free YaBasic interpreter on the included demo disk that allows the end user to create simple programs for the PS2. A port of the NetBSD project on the PS2 is also available. You can also watch Divx and mp3 movies and home programs that run on consoles with a modchip installed in Sony’s Play Station 2. Additional drivers, modem, DVD remote control, memory cards, antenna cables, component video accessories, headphones, etc. they are available as additional hardware in SP2.
Microsoft Xbox 360 is the latest video game console from Microsoft released in November 2005. This piece of modern technology game console is ready to compete with other consoles like Dreamcast and Sony Play Stations including Sony Play Station 3 which will be released in the Spring 2006. The Xbox 360 has features that include a hard drive, online gaming support, a headset, a wireless controller, and an Ethernet cable. Its hardware is based on an IBM power PC based CPU and also a graphics processing unit equipped with 512 MB of RAM and also uses DVD-ROM support for game software. It is modestly priced at $399.99. It has the ability to support up to four wireless controllers with USB support just like Sony’s Play Station 2, although it has wireless technology and green LEDs. This console comes with a removable external hard drive that allows for storage of games, movies, videos, and just about anything. Additional hardware includes audio and video cables for additional support, a rechargeable battery pack, memory drives, and universal multimedia remote control via IR, etc. DVD-ROM also supports other formats like CD-ROM, MP3, etc. The Xbox 360 has 7.95 GB of available DVD storage, although future consoles, like the Sony Play Station 3, will use between 25 and 50 GB of Blu-Ray discs. The Xbox 360 is fully portable just like the PS2 and weighs just 3.5kg. The X-Box 360 also comes with Media Center Extender capability and also opens personalized music facilities connected to mp3 players; iPods etc via USB and has the added feature of backwards compatibility. While each console struggles to stay competitive with the others in the market, Sony Play Station and Microsoft Xbox 360 have become the top sellers in the video game console market. Comparing both products is almost impossible as their unique features compete with each other in their own way. With Sony set to release the Play Station 3 in 2006, the question is who will rule the gaming market of the future.
While the Xbox 360 clearly has better graphics than the PS2, the PS3 completely outclasses the Xbox when it launches with support for true 1080p displays, although the Xbox HD media center extender clearly makes the Xbox 360 the master of digital media, allowing connectivity to an external mp3 player for personalized music. while the PS3 doesn’t have any features as such. The Xbox is powered by a 3.2 GHz PowerPC with 3 dual-threaded processor cores, while the PS3 has a 3.2 GHz Cell processor with 7 synergistic processor cores (not in direct comparison to the Xbox). While the Xbox clock speed is 500 MHz, the PS3 clock speed is 550 MHz. But the Xbox has a video RAM of 512 MB of RAM, while the PS3 comes with only 256 MB, while the width of video memory band is almost the same. Then the Xbox comes with a 100 Mbps Ethernet port while the PS3 comes loaded with a 1 Gigabit Ethernet port. On the cost side, the PS3 is aiming to hit the markets with a low price compared to the Xbox 360, although Microsoft is expected to lower its prices once the PS3 launches to stay competitive. So when it comes to graphics, the Xbox comes loaded with the ATI graphics core, while the PS3 puts up some pretty decent competition with its NVIDIA graphics processor. When it comes to memory, the Xbox beats the PS3 with its whopping 512MB of dedicated memory compared to the PS3’s 256MB of XDR memory. When it comes to the networking part, the Sony PS3 is determined to hold the top position with its built-in Ethernet adapter that includes an 802.11 b/g wireless adapter, while the Xbox 360 includes just the adapter, while wireless has an additional additional cost. price tag.
Overall, it’s almost impossible to choose between these two fully loaded next generation tech gadgets. Which of these will make it to the top position will only be decided once Sony launches its Play Station 3 in 2006.
