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Before you ask, this post isn't a 'How Consoles Have Changed: A History' it's more a 'Console Hardware Has Changed: Here's Why'...
Many people say consoles are turning into PCs... and with Hard Drives, PC Parts, Mouse and Keyboard Games, and Microsoft, it isn't hard to see why? But I still don't think they're right...
The evolutionary path that consoles have taken all the way from the NES would always have happened... computer technology in itself would say fast processors, better graphics, 3D models and lots of memory (amongst other things) are mere necessities for consoles gaming to advance... things don't evolve backwards, look at life... we don't start old... sure we degenerate and even disintegrate; but we come back on a different path to the one we took when we were born to the one taken when we die... trust me, life doesn't begin at 40!
We could say that computers were never meant to run Windows... that they were just fancy computers capable of thousands of calculations a second... in effect, videogames are just as much a part of computers as Operating Systems.... sure Windows has changed the meaning of computers, but to quote the Oxford dictionary a 'computer' is:
'An apparatus for making calculations'...
... and even 'personal computer' doesn't mention programs once:
'personal computer': 'Designed by use for an individual in the office, at work or in the home'
Correct me if i'm wrong, but nowhere there does it say that computers are now for running programs...
But still, it's no secret that consoles have picked up a lot of characteristics from the PC... internet access, 200mhz+ processors and crisp 3D graphics were hardly used in the same sentence as the word console... to be fair the PlayStation 2, X-Box, GameCube and Dreamcast do have some characteristics of a PC........ so what?!
You could say, like me, that consoles were bound to take this turn but that PCs just got their first... Consoles aren't and werenít made to be used in the same way as a PCs and heaven knows loads of people stay away from PCs because of the problems.
I'm sure that if there were a non-'PC-like' way of achieving the goals of 'On-line Play', 'Great FPS Action' and 'VERY Fast 3D Gaming', Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft wouldn't hesitate to investigate the more appropriate and efficient of the two. But as it stands, there isn't... and why use anything but the best for a console, there is such a word as 'competition'!
So there you have my views... Consoles maybe more and more like PC's... but if there is only one road to go down and one goal to reach, can you really say these games companies are like sheep (following each other and others)? I don't think so...
... Do you?
Game
Many people say consoles are turning into PCs... and with Hard Drives, PC Parts, Mouse and Keyboard Games, and Microsoft, it isn't hard to see why? But I still don't think they're right...
The evolutionary path that consoles have taken all the way from the NES would always have happened... computer technology in itself would say fast processors, better graphics, 3D models and lots of memory (amongst other things) are mere necessities for consoles gaming to advance... things don't evolve backwards, look at life... we don't start old... sure we degenerate and even disintegrate; but we come back on a different path to the one we took when we were born to the one taken when we die... trust me, life doesn't begin at 40!
We could say that computers were never meant to run Windows... that they were just fancy computers capable of thousands of calculations a second... in effect, videogames are just as much a part of computers as Operating Systems.... sure Windows has changed the meaning of computers, but to quote the Oxford dictionary a 'computer' is:
'An apparatus for making calculations'...
... and even 'personal computer' doesn't mention programs once:
'personal computer': 'Designed by use for an individual in the office, at work or in the home'
Correct me if i'm wrong, but nowhere there does it say that computers are now for running programs...
But still, it's no secret that consoles have picked up a lot of characteristics from the PC... internet access, 200mhz+ processors and crisp 3D graphics were hardly used in the same sentence as the word console... to be fair the PlayStation 2, X-Box, GameCube and Dreamcast do have some characteristics of a PC........ so what?!
You could say, like me, that consoles were bound to take this turn but that PCs just got their first... Consoles aren't and werenít made to be used in the same way as a PCs and heaven knows loads of people stay away from PCs because of the problems.
I'm sure that if there were a non-'PC-like' way of achieving the goals of 'On-line Play', 'Great FPS Action' and 'VERY Fast 3D Gaming', Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft wouldn't hesitate to investigate the more appropriate and efficient of the two. But as it stands, there isn't... and why use anything but the best for a console, there is such a word as 'competition'!
So there you have my views... Consoles maybe more and more like PC's... but if there is only one road to go down and one goal to reach, can you really say these games companies are like sheep (following each other and others)? I don't think so...
... Do you?
Game
Have you looked up the definition of program? THe relevant bit would be:
"A set of coded instructions that enables a machine, especially a computer, to perform a desired sequence of operations."
Computer's can't do anything without programs, other thatn maybe weight down things, or be used to drop on heads for self-defence (though how the situation would arise where you were above your attacker with a computer at a handy lobbing distance is questionable).
A game is a program, just like an O/S, Word Processing etc.
And yes, this is a pedantic post.
Just in case...
pe…dan…tic (p-dntk)
adj.
Characterized by a narrow, often ostentatious concern for book learning and formal rules: a pedantic attention to details.
"A set of coded instructions that enables a machine, especially a computer, to perform a desired sequence of operations."
Computer's can't do anything without programs, other thatn maybe weight down things, or be used to drop on heads for self-defence (though how the situation would arise where you were above your attacker with a computer at a handy lobbing distance is questionable).
A game is a program, just like an O/S, Word Processing etc.
And yes, this is a pedantic post.
Just in case...
pe…dan…tic (p-dntk)
adj.
Characterized by a narrow, often ostentatious concern for book learning and formal rules: a pedantic attention to details.
Before you ask, this post isn't a 'How Consoles Have Changed: A History' it's more a 'Console Hardware Has Changed: Here's Why'...
Many people say consoles are turning into PCs... and with Hard Drives, PC Parts, Mouse and Keyboard Games, and Microsoft, it isn't hard to see why? But I still don't think they're right...
The evolutionary path that consoles have taken all the way from the NES would always have happened... computer technology in itself would say fast processors, better graphics, 3D models and lots of memory (amongst other things) are mere necessities for consoles gaming to advance... things don't evolve backwards, look at life... we don't start old... sure we degenerate and even disintegrate; but we come back on a different path to the one we took when we were born to the one taken when we die... trust me, life doesn't begin at 40!
We could say that computers were never meant to run Windows... that they were just fancy computers capable of thousands of calculations a second... in effect, videogames are just as much a part of computers as Operating Systems.... sure Windows has changed the meaning of computers, but to quote the Oxford dictionary a 'computer' is:
'An apparatus for making calculations'...
... and even 'personal computer' doesn't mention programs once:
'personal computer': 'Designed by use for an individual in the office, at work or in the home'
Correct me if i'm wrong, but nowhere there does it say that computers are now for running programs...
But still, it's no secret that consoles have picked up a lot of characteristics from the PC... internet access, 200mhz+ processors and crisp 3D graphics were hardly used in the same sentence as the word console... to be fair the PlayStation 2, X-Box, GameCube and Dreamcast do have some characteristics of a PC........ so what?!
You could say, like me, that consoles were bound to take this turn but that PCs just got their first... Consoles aren't and werenít made to be used in the same way as a PCs and heaven knows loads of people stay away from PCs because of the problems.
I'm sure that if there were a non-'PC-like' way of achieving the goals of 'On-line Play', 'Great FPS Action' and 'VERY Fast 3D Gaming', Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft wouldn't hesitate to investigate the more appropriate and efficient of the two. But as it stands, there isn't... and why use anything but the best for a console, there is such a word as 'competition'!
So there you have my views... Consoles maybe more and more like PC's... but if there is only one road to go down and one goal to reach, can you really say these games companies are like sheep (following each other and others)? I don't think so...
... Do you?
Game
Many people say consoles are turning into PCs... and with Hard Drives, PC Parts, Mouse and Keyboard Games, and Microsoft, it isn't hard to see why? But I still don't think they're right...
The evolutionary path that consoles have taken all the way from the NES would always have happened... computer technology in itself would say fast processors, better graphics, 3D models and lots of memory (amongst other things) are mere necessities for consoles gaming to advance... things don't evolve backwards, look at life... we don't start old... sure we degenerate and even disintegrate; but we come back on a different path to the one we took when we were born to the one taken when we die... trust me, life doesn't begin at 40!
We could say that computers were never meant to run Windows... that they were just fancy computers capable of thousands of calculations a second... in effect, videogames are just as much a part of computers as Operating Systems.... sure Windows has changed the meaning of computers, but to quote the Oxford dictionary a 'computer' is:
'An apparatus for making calculations'...
... and even 'personal computer' doesn't mention programs once:
'personal computer': 'Designed by use for an individual in the office, at work or in the home'
Correct me if i'm wrong, but nowhere there does it say that computers are now for running programs...
But still, it's no secret that consoles have picked up a lot of characteristics from the PC... internet access, 200mhz+ processors and crisp 3D graphics were hardly used in the same sentence as the word console... to be fair the PlayStation 2, X-Box, GameCube and Dreamcast do have some characteristics of a PC........ so what?!
You could say, like me, that consoles were bound to take this turn but that PCs just got their first... Consoles aren't and werenít made to be used in the same way as a PCs and heaven knows loads of people stay away from PCs because of the problems.
I'm sure that if there were a non-'PC-like' way of achieving the goals of 'On-line Play', 'Great FPS Action' and 'VERY Fast 3D Gaming', Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft wouldn't hesitate to investigate the more appropriate and efficient of the two. But as it stands, there isn't... and why use anything but the best for a console, there is such a word as 'competition'!
So there you have my views... Consoles maybe more and more like PC's... but if there is only one road to go down and one goal to reach, can you really say these games companies are like sheep (following each other and others)? I don't think so...
... Do you?
Game