Unit 20 Work

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN Unit 20: Computer Game Platforms and Technologies Brief 1_Task 2

Name: Researched Definition (include URL

link) Explanation in your own words Imagery Why is this

important to hardware technologies for game platforms?

Human Computer

Interface

"Our research includes innovation in user-interface software tools, studies of

computer-supported cooperative work

and tools to support it, gesture

recognition, data visualization, intelligent agents, human-robot interaction, visual

interface design, intelligent tutoring

systems, cognitive models, and understanding and building platforms that

maximize the positive organizational and

social impact of technology." - Carnegie Mellon, HCII. -

Source: https://www.hcii.cmu.edu/researc

h

HCI is the study of how humans interact with computers and if

computers are or are not made for

successful interaction with humans.

Most major corporation and academic institutions now study

HCI. Most people nowadays will

argue that PC developers are not making PCs user friendly but

developers might argue that

computers are incredibly complex and not so easy to attune to and the

services that computers give are now

in more demand than the user friendliness.

An important aspect of HCI is how

different people from different backgrounds interact with computers

and how these users learn differently

when interacting with computers than other people. In addition to all

Without HCI we could not communicate without technology and the average consumer would be stuck.

https://www.hcii.cmu.edu/research

https://www.hcii.cmu.edu/research



of this cultures and religion may

even play a part in all of this and how these cultures learn.

HCI could also be related to the

interface of an operating system such as windows and the ease of use

with said OS. In our modern age

people need ease of access when it comes to interfaces, so with each

new release of an OS we expect the

interface to be intuitive and easy to use. There are some harder to use

interfaces such as Linux which are

recommended to advanced users

instead of the common user. There OS's usually have a lot more

flexibility with what you can do but

aren't usually supported by 3rd party programs so finding programs which

work with said OS can be tricky.

Overall each new addition of windows or OSX (mac) needs to be

user friendly otherwise people will

most likely complain because of the

difficulty.



Central

Processing Unit (CPU)

"Sometimes referred to simply as the

central processor, but more commonly called processor, the CPU is the brains

of the computer where most calculations

take place. In terms of computing power,

the CPU is the most important element of a computer system." -

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/CP

U.html

A CPU in simple terms is the brain of any computer system, they are found in phones, PCs, games consoles, televisions etc and are needed for complex calculations and bring these mediums alive. CPUs are usually connected to other parts including the GPU, RAM, Power Supply and HDD. The CPU brings all these components together to make them work and without it all these other parts would be useless, thats why it is simply the brain of the system. The CPU is usually connected to a motherboard, this motherboard may be big or small but is always also connected to other components. As CPUs become more powerful the faster calculations can be made and the more powerful systems can become, in the last 20 years CPUs have become more powerful to a point where they are revolutionizing human interactions

To put it bluntly, without a CPU our consoles and PC could not compute the tasks it is given, the CPU is the brain.

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/CPU.html

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/CPU.html



and what they are used in.

Graphic Processors

A Graphics Processing Unit is a co-processor that takes on graphical calculations and transformations so that the main CPU does not have to be burdened by them. The use of a GPU can greatly increase the performance of a device, especially when used for tasks such as 3D gaming. www.mobileburn.com/definition.jsp?term=GPU

GPUs otherwise known as Graphics Processing Units are used for

processing graphics within games

and other programs such as 3D

modelling, simulations and animation. They are used in all areas

of research including science, games

design, medical research etc. GPUs always need other components to be

used such as the CPU, RAM, PSU

etc, all of which is used to build a computer.

In the medical world GPUs are used

to render and simulate humans and vital organs, these can then be used

to see how certain diseases or

wounds react in the human body, all of this is done using a simulation

which is rendered with the GPU and

these simulations only get better with the use of better GPUs.

GPUs in the gaming world are a vital component when 3D modelling

and rendering the game. The more

Without a GPU our consoles and computers could not generate an image for the game.



powerful the GPU the better the

visuals of the render of the final product. GPUs are used in consoles

and PCs alike with PCs having

access to better GPUs due to having

no limitations with what hardware they use, whereas consoles have set

hardware in place.

To the right you can see one of the

best gaming GPUs available at this

time, this can be used for gaming and rendering/modelling alike

because of it's powerful rendering

capabilities, but you can also get

GPUs which were meant solely for rendering/modelling and give a

much better experience doing so, but

they weren't really meant to be used for gaming in general.

Memory (RAM)

"In common usage, the term RAM is synonymous with main memory, the memory available to programs. For example, a computer with 8MB RAM has approximately 8 million bytes of memory that programs can use. In

RAM (Random Access Memory) is used as temporary storage for programs being used on your system, the more RAM you have, the more programs you can have open at one time without straining

To put it simply, RAM is needed for our programs to access the memory is needs for the specific task.



contrast, ROM (read-only memory) refers to special memory used to store programs that boot the computer and perform diagnostics. Most personal computers have a small amount of ROM (a few thousand bytes). In fact, both types of memory (ROM and RAM) allow random access. To be precise, therefore, RAM should be referred to as read/write RAM and ROM as read-only RAM." - http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/R/RAM.html

your computer too much. There are also different types of RAM, DDR2, DDR3, DDR5 are the more common types, each numerical increase is more powerful and usually has more reliable speeds.

Display Definition of:monitor (1) A display screen used to provide visual output from a computer, cable box, video camera, VCR or other video generating device. Computer monitors use CRT and LCD technology, while TV monitors use CRT, LCD and plasma technologies. www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/47212/monitor

These days we have a magnitude of

powerful displays and resolutions

with 4K monitors becoming cheaper and cheaper they will eventually be

an industry standard just as 720p and

1080p were expensive when they

first came out. A standard for displays these days is 1080p which

replaced the standard 720p and

before this we had 480p etc. Todays standard resolution is 1920x1080

and can be much larger with the use

of multiple screens hooked up to a

Without the display you cannot display any images and therefor you cannot play any games.

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/R/RAM.html

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/R/RAM.html



GPU which would be 5760x1080.

The use of multiple monitors is

become more popular with PC users

and gamers alike, with users being

able to multitask, such as watching a movie and doing an assignment at

the same time. Some games have

support for multiple monitors such as displaying a map on one screen

and playing the game on another,

although this isn't very popular yet it will most likely become a standard

feature in games made for PCs

specifically.

Home consoles only have the ability

of one display but counteract this

using foreground and background screens for multitasking, this is done

to rival the PCs multitasking ability.

Sound "Vibrations that travel through the air

or another medium and can be heard

when they reach a person’s or animal’s ear:

light travels faster than sound" -

Sound is used in all mediums and is

usually produced through programs

such as audacity or REAPER. These sounds are then conveyed through

speakers. Popular uses for sounds in

Without sound our games would be lifeless, sounds are used for ambience and suspense so



http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/defin

ition/english/sound

games are soundtracks and ambient

tones, as well as dialogue and sound effects such as gun shots or punch

sound effects. There is no end to the

uses of sounds produced in

videogames. But to put it all simply, sounds are just vibrations that travel

through the air and can then be

heard when they reach a persons ear. We associate these vibrations with

music and sound effects.

PC's also use and utilize sound cards to enhance audio sounds, sounds

cards are fit into a PCI-e slot,

usually a x16 slot, and utilizes different slots on the back, you can

use speakers, headphones and can

even connect your microphone to it.

You can also use your sound card to play certain sounds through your

computer as if you were using it as a

microphone.

it is really important for sound to be used in games.

Game Storage

Medium

"A medium is an element used in communicating a message; on a storage medium, the "messages" - in the form of

Game storage medium is any medium used in which to store, keep and retrieve data. A storage

Without a storage medium we would have nowhere to save

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/sound

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/sound



data - are suspended for use when needed." - http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/definition/storage-medium

device on a console or PC are standard and are needed for the storage of data such as videogames, movies, songs or simple word documents. A popular game storage medium for the PC is steam, it creates a library for your account and you can install and uninstall anytime you like, steam also comes with a store and a multitude of features.

our games and it’s data to, so having a program like steam advisable.

Interface

Devices "An interface device generally must include some form or forms of output interface, such as a display screen or audio signals, and some form or forms of input interface, such as buttons to push, a keyboard, a voice receiver, or a handwriting tablet." - http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/interface-device-IDF

An Interface Device is a hardware

component or a multitude of

components which allows humans to

interact with a computer, telephone or other electronic information

systems. It is often used in the

mobile industry as a term for portability, capability and ease of

use. It is often used and referred to

as a user interface, and is used in most electronic systems used today,

when it comes to consumers,

companies want an easy to use and

understand interface that many people can use and get used to, one

You need a controller or keyboard etc for your consoles and computers, without them you could not use your system.

http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/definition/storage-medium

http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/definition/storage-medium

http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/interface-device-IDF

http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/interface-device-IDF



of the purveyors of this is apple and

their iOS interface, it is easy to use and navigate, with a series of simple

touch screen mechanics and buttons.

Windows also tries to have an easy

to use interface with mostly success although their intuitive design has

been lost a little with the release of

Windows 8.

Most game consoles come with

simple interface devices known as controllers and PCs come with a

mouse and keyboard, these things let

us interact with the technology.

Connectivit

y

Computers. the ability to link to and communicate with other computer systems, electronic devices, software, or the Internet: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/connectivity

Connectivity can be connected to

lots of mediums, but in terms of

gaming and the online world being connected is a vital aspect of gaming

and being online. Online gaming is a

powerful medium where a player from one part of the world will meet

and most likely fight a person from

another part of the world depending on server selection. Being connected

to all these other people is a vital

Without connectivity we cannot play with other gamers online.



part of many games and their

lifespans, one of the biggest games in these terms is the MMORPG

World of Warcraft which has

millions of players around the the

globe, all of which fighter together or against each other in a massive

world which is online alive due to

the playerbase themselves.

Other games need online

connectivity to stay alive too, such

as FPS games which are very popular for their online

competitiveness and MOBA games

such as League of Legends and Dota 2, which are online only games with

millions of unique players each

month. Another big name which is

an FPS is Counter Strike, an ongoing series created by valve. All

of these games are different but have

something in common, their online playerbase and their contributions to

the game, to keep these games alive

it is vital that all these people are connected and playing together.



Power Supply

A power supply is a component in a piece of technology, usually a computer; it is used to supply power to the computer. http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/R/PowerSupply.html

A power supply is an essential component for any electronic device, without it the device will not run. PCs use quite large power supplies depending on the hardware inside, mainly due to the fact that high end gaming rigs usually come with GPUs that need a lot of power to run, a standard power supply for a gaming build should be 750 watts, but you can go much higher up to around 1500watts, which is overkill for most normal builds.

Without a power supply your system could not run.

Unit 20 Work

Education