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Right now I have done a lot of research into Broadband technology and why it is so important and have come to realize the problem the so-called “future of gaming” has. Now before I go on I would like to warn you this is quite complicated stuff and will be using lots of new terminology but I will try to make it all as simple as possible, if you don’t know much about Broadband it may be worth a read.
It is surprising how many people don’t actually know what Broadband is in fact I didn’t up until a few weeks ago so for those of you who don’t know Broadband is the Telephone, the TV and the Internet all through one cable under the ground. Only 2 companies offer broadband services, NTL and Telewest, now Broadband is an extremely effective piece of kit, it makes billing easier, includes super fast internet connection and offers Digital TV without all these set top boxes and satellites. Now some of you know that Broadband isn’t widely used, in fact and incredibly small amount of Europe actually use it and not without good reason. Why would people with analogue TV, there normal internet connection and Telephone line want to pay extra just to get them combined? This is a major problem faced by the Government; the lack of awareness of Broadband technology is causing companies such as NTL to go into debt, £12 billion in debt (even more than ITV digital). And even if the public was aware of Broadband technology not many can access it anyway. The fact is NTL and Telewest have to dig up your roads and stick in cables to give you broadband services, which means rural areas (villages etc…) can’t access it and only urban areas (e.g. London) can use it. You need to be approximately in a 5 mile radius from your nearest Telephone exchange (BT have just started building more of these) to have broadband technology and makes it worth while for NTL and Telewest to put cables in. Now the Government is looking at way to sort this problem out by placing £30 million into the rural development fund.
Now hang on? What does the government have to do with all this? Well the first important point is that if Britain uses Broadband technology broadly (no pun intended) then Britain will be an extremely advanced country. But the other reason for government involvement is through Digital TV, many of us know that the government’s plan is to switch off all analogue signals between 2006-2010 (after the collapse of ITV digital that is looking increasingly unlikely). Well the alternative to analogue is digital, now the amount of digital that can be used is allocated to companies, some companies can only use certain amounts of what is known as the Digital Spectrum. Early on the Government gave parts of the Digital spectrum to BBC, Channel 4 etc… so they can use simulcast, it means there channels can broadcast simultaneously on both Analogue and Digital signals. Now the rest was handed to the ITC to deal with who gives part of the Digital spectrum to companies such as ON Digital (a.k.a the late ITV Digital) and B-Sky-B. Now so far just a little more than 40% of Britain uses Digital, the government plans for 99% of Britain to be using it by 2006-2010 (as I said looking unlikely) when this happens the Digital Spectrum will be basically full up with no more left to sell. There is an alternative to Digital TV meanwhile, Broadband and if the public starts using Broadband then the Digital spectrum starts to free up and the Government can sell more of it making millions, (literally) and in turn sort out problems with the NHS etc…
Basically if everyone uses Digital TV then the government doesn’t have much of the Digital spectrum to sell, if more people use Broadband then they do. Now we established why Broadband is important, now what has it got to do with gaming? Well as we should know all 3 major next generation consoles, X-box, Gamecube and Playstation 2 does or will offer broadband capabilities. Gaming on broadband is extremely important if Internet gaming through your console is to take off, so how does this affect the future? Well it doesn’t it just emphasizes the point Nintendo and many other critics have been making for years now. Not that Internet gaming isn’t the future; just that no one is ready… yet. Quite frankly so far we have Phantasy Star Online and Final Fantasy XI and a few shoot ‘em ups, Nintendo and Sony and to some extent Microsoft haven’t begun development of there own Internet games and so Internet accessible games are few and far between. It took SEGA years to finally use Internet gaming properly with Phantasy Star online and Quake 3 and that’s just 2 games. Also the Internet still isn’t as popular as it will be, Internet is big but hasn’t reached its peak, soon enough every household worldwide will be using it but right now we don’t have that and coupled with the lack of Broadband users, Internet gaming isn’t ready!
This time next generation, Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft will all have Internet a standard, launch there console with a collection of Internet based games and have Halo Online, Mario Net and Wipeout web as their front running titles, right now all we have is 3 companies (or should I say 2) leaping onto a bandwagon that isn’t going anywhere yet.
Here’s to the future.
Dringo.
It is surprising how many people don’t actually know what Broadband is in fact I didn’t up until a few weeks ago so for those of you who don’t know Broadband is the Telephone, the TV and the Internet all through one cable under the ground. Only 2 companies offer broadband services, NTL and Telewest, now Broadband is an extremely effective piece of kit, it makes billing easier, includes super fast internet connection and offers Digital TV without all these set top boxes and satellites. Now some of you know that Broadband isn’t widely used, in fact and incredibly small amount of Europe actually use it and not without good reason. Why would people with analogue TV, there normal internet connection and Telephone line want to pay extra just to get them combined? This is a major problem faced by the Government; the lack of awareness of Broadband technology is causing companies such as NTL to go into debt, £12 billion in debt (even more than ITV digital). And even if the public was aware of Broadband technology not many can access it anyway. The fact is NTL and Telewest have to dig up your roads and stick in cables to give you broadband services, which means rural areas (villages etc…) can’t access it and only urban areas (e.g. London) can use it. You need to be approximately in a 5 mile radius from your nearest Telephone exchange (BT have just started building more of these) to have broadband technology and makes it worth while for NTL and Telewest to put cables in. Now the Government is looking at way to sort this problem out by placing £30 million into the rural development fund.
Now hang on? What does the government have to do with all this? Well the first important point is that if Britain uses Broadband technology broadly (no pun intended) then Britain will be an extremely advanced country. But the other reason for government involvement is through Digital TV, many of us know that the government’s plan is to switch off all analogue signals between 2006-2010 (after the collapse of ITV digital that is looking increasingly unlikely). Well the alternative to analogue is digital, now the amount of digital that can be used is allocated to companies, some companies can only use certain amounts of what is known as the Digital Spectrum. Early on the Government gave parts of the Digital spectrum to BBC, Channel 4 etc… so they can use simulcast, it means there channels can broadcast simultaneously on both Analogue and Digital signals. Now the rest was handed to the ITC to deal with who gives part of the Digital spectrum to companies such as ON Digital (a.k.a the late ITV Digital) and B-Sky-B. Now so far just a little more than 40% of Britain uses Digital, the government plans for 99% of Britain to be using it by 2006-2010 (as I said looking unlikely) when this happens the Digital Spectrum will be basically full up with no more left to sell. There is an alternative to Digital TV meanwhile, Broadband and if the public starts using Broadband then the Digital spectrum starts to free up and the Government can sell more of it making millions, (literally) and in turn sort out problems with the NHS etc…
Basically if everyone uses Digital TV then the government doesn’t have much of the Digital spectrum to sell, if more people use Broadband then they do. Now we established why Broadband is important, now what has it got to do with gaming? Well as we should know all 3 major next generation consoles, X-box, Gamecube and Playstation 2 does or will offer broadband capabilities. Gaming on broadband is extremely important if Internet gaming through your console is to take off, so how does this affect the future? Well it doesn’t it just emphasizes the point Nintendo and many other critics have been making for years now. Not that Internet gaming isn’t the future; just that no one is ready… yet. Quite frankly so far we have Phantasy Star Online and Final Fantasy XI and a few shoot ‘em ups, Nintendo and Sony and to some extent Microsoft haven’t begun development of there own Internet games and so Internet accessible games are few and far between. It took SEGA years to finally use Internet gaming properly with Phantasy Star online and Quake 3 and that’s just 2 games. Also the Internet still isn’t as popular as it will be, Internet is big but hasn’t reached its peak, soon enough every household worldwide will be using it but right now we don’t have that and coupled with the lack of Broadband users, Internet gaming isn’t ready!
This time next generation, Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft will all have Internet a standard, launch there console with a collection of Internet based games and have Halo Online, Mario Net and Wipeout web as their front running titles, right now all we have is 3 companies (or should I say 2) leaping onto a bandwagon that isn’t going anywhere yet.
Here’s to the future.
Dringo.
like the £30 million put into the rural development fund.
hmmmp...Broadband is an interesting subject
At the moment, the technology is still very immature in this country, as it is in the rest of europe. But some European countries do have better awareness of it-France for example. Now, broadband, as Dringo explained, does refer to the 3 elements combined. One of those is superfast internet--But there are problems in this country with this. ADSL (Asymetrical digital subscribers line) is the technology concerned with this supposed "super fast internet" availible through broadband, and in theory, it is very fast. But as the technology level is very low here, it isn't..if you are using it you are probably sharing the line with approx 50 other people; i.e. slow connection (little bit better than 56k i would expect). But places like france, and america especially, guarantee that every one has a single line to connect to-making it very much faster.
If it is faster internet connections you are looking for, there there are alternatives...namely IDSN & T3::Cable internet. I don't know TOO much about these, but what I do know is that even in this country they can achieve very fast if not faster connection than ADSL (even in the states). IDSN, using a singular line, will promote a 64kb connection. But you can have up to 4 simultanious connections, creating a 256kb connection..VERY fast! T3 I don't know much about, but the computer I'm writing this message on uses a T3 connection, and it can download 3mb video files in seconds, so again, very fast. But there are problems associated with this too..the technology is rare, business orientated and expensive (for a single ISDN line, not very expensive, but with 4 connections you will be paying for 4 connections).
So for the future on online gaming, ADSL (broadband) looks to be the way...but the technology needs to be developed alot..and that means vast sums of money which the government haven't got. It will be a gradual but steady progress, and within 10 years it should be perfected.
At the moment, the technology is still very immature in this country, as it is in the rest of europe. But some European countries do have better awareness of it-France for example. Now, broadband, as Dringo explained, does refer to the 3 elements combined. One of those is superfast internet--But there are problems in this country with this. ADSL (Asymetrical digital subscribers line) is the technology concerned with this supposed "super fast internet" availible through broadband, and in theory, it is very fast. But as the technology level is very low here, it isn't..if you are using it you are probably sharing the line with approx 50 other people; i.e. slow connection (little bit better than 56k i would expect). But places like france, and america especially, guarantee that every one has a single line to connect to-making it very much faster.
If it is faster internet connections you are looking for, there there are alternatives...namely IDSN & T3::Cable internet. I don't know TOO much about these, but what I do know is that even in this country they can achieve very fast if not faster connection than ADSL (even in the states). IDSN, using a singular line, will promote a 64kb connection. But you can have up to 4 simultanious connections, creating a 256kb connection..VERY fast! T3 I don't know much about, but the computer I'm writing this message on uses a T3 connection, and it can download 3mb video files in seconds, so again, very fast. But there are problems associated with this too..the technology is rare, business orientated and expensive (for a single ISDN line, not very expensive, but with 4 connections you will be paying for 4 connections).
So for the future on online gaming, ADSL (broadband) looks to be the way...but the technology needs to be developed alot..and that means vast sums of money which the government haven't got. It will be a gradual but steady progress, and within 10 years it should be perfected.
Broadband sounds amazing and everything, and i've heard loads about it over the last few months from people I hang-around with at school.
But I probably wouldn't really seriously consider getting unless I became hugely obsessed with on-line gaming, and it virtually took-over my whole life! And that's all because of the money really.
I'm happy with a 56k Modem for the modem, and that's probably cuz I haven't experienced a real 'on-line game' like Half-Life: Counterstrike as of yet, which could really show me a thing or two about 'High and Low Ping'. I'll try and get this game soon, to get me back into FPS's and so I can play my mates on-line! :D
I'm also sure you've taught a lot of people some usefull information on this subject, including myself. :)
But I probably wouldn't really seriously consider getting unless I became hugely obsessed with on-line gaming, and it virtually took-over my whole life! And that's all because of the money really.
I'm happy with a 56k Modem for the modem, and that's probably cuz I haven't experienced a real 'on-line game' like Half-Life: Counterstrike as of yet, which could really show me a thing or two about 'High and Low Ping'. I'll try and get this game soon, to get me back into FPS's and so I can play my mates on-line! :D
I'm also sure you've taught a lot of people some usefull information on this subject, including myself. :)
Freeserve will soon offer a home kit for broadband but your thinking of cable internet.
Dringo wrote:
Only 2 companies offer broadband
> services, NTL and Telewest,
Well actually you can get broadband through BT and Freeserve (and probably meany other ISP's)
Not all Broadband services provide digital TV, if it's through a normal ISP, you'll just get the faster internet access and the ability to use the phone at the same time.
Only 2 companies offer broadband
> services, NTL and Telewest,
Well actually you can get broadband through BT and Freeserve (and probably meany other ISP's)
Not all Broadband services provide digital TV, if it's through a normal ISP, you'll just get the faster internet access and the ability to use the phone at the same time.
Right now I have done a lot of research into Broadband technology and why it is so important and have come to realize the problem the so-called “future of gaming” has. Now before I go on I would like to warn you this is quite complicated stuff and will be using lots of new terminology but I will try to make it all as simple as possible, if you don’t know much about Broadband it may be worth a read.
It is surprising how many people don’t actually know what Broadband is in fact I didn’t up until a few weeks ago so for those of you who don’t know Broadband is the Telephone, the TV and the Internet all through one cable under the ground. Only 2 companies offer broadband services, NTL and Telewest, now Broadband is an extremely effective piece of kit, it makes billing easier, includes super fast internet connection and offers Digital TV without all these set top boxes and satellites. Now some of you know that Broadband isn’t widely used, in fact and incredibly small amount of Europe actually use it and not without good reason. Why would people with analogue TV, there normal internet connection and Telephone line want to pay extra just to get them combined? This is a major problem faced by the Government; the lack of awareness of Broadband technology is causing companies such as NTL to go into debt, £12 billion in debt (even more than ITV digital). And even if the public was aware of Broadband technology not many can access it anyway. The fact is NTL and Telewest have to dig up your roads and stick in cables to give you broadband services, which means rural areas (villages etc…) can’t access it and only urban areas (e.g. London) can use it. You need to be approximately in a 5 mile radius from your nearest Telephone exchange (BT have just started building more of these) to have broadband technology and makes it worth while for NTL and Telewest to put cables in. Now the Government is looking at way to sort this problem out by placing £30 million into the rural development fund.
Now hang on? What does the government have to do with all this? Well the first important point is that if Britain uses Broadband technology broadly (no pun intended) then Britain will be an extremely advanced country. But the other reason for government involvement is through Digital TV, many of us know that the government’s plan is to switch off all analogue signals between 2006-2010 (after the collapse of ITV digital that is looking increasingly unlikely). Well the alternative to analogue is digital, now the amount of digital that can be used is allocated to companies, some companies can only use certain amounts of what is known as the Digital Spectrum. Early on the Government gave parts of the Digital spectrum to BBC, Channel 4 etc… so they can use simulcast, it means there channels can broadcast simultaneously on both Analogue and Digital signals. Now the rest was handed to the ITC to deal with who gives part of the Digital spectrum to companies such as ON Digital (a.k.a the late ITV Digital) and B-Sky-B. Now so far just a little more than 40% of Britain uses Digital, the government plans for 99% of Britain to be using it by 2006-2010 (as I said looking unlikely) when this happens the Digital Spectrum will be basically full up with no more left to sell. There is an alternative to Digital TV meanwhile, Broadband and if the public starts using Broadband then the Digital spectrum starts to free up and the Government can sell more of it making millions, (literally) and in turn sort out problems with the NHS etc…
Basically if everyone uses Digital TV then the government doesn’t have much of the Digital spectrum to sell, if more people use Broadband then they do. Now we established why Broadband is important, now what has it got to do with gaming? Well as we should know all 3 major next generation consoles, X-box, Gamecube and Playstation 2 does or will offer broadband capabilities. Gaming on broadband is extremely important if Internet gaming through your console is to take off, so how does this affect the future? Well it doesn’t it just emphasizes the point Nintendo and many other critics have been making for years now. Not that Internet gaming isn’t the future; just that no one is ready… yet. Quite frankly so far we have Phantasy Star Online and Final Fantasy XI and a few shoot ‘em ups, Nintendo and Sony and to some extent Microsoft haven’t begun development of there own Internet games and so Internet accessible games are few and far between. It took SEGA years to finally use Internet gaming properly with Phantasy Star online and Quake 3 and that’s just 2 games. Also the Internet still isn’t as popular as it will be, Internet is big but hasn’t reached its peak, soon enough every household worldwide will be using it but right now we don’t have that and coupled with the lack of Broadband users, Internet gaming isn’t ready!
This time next generation, Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft will all have Internet a standard, launch there console with a collection of Internet based games and have Halo Online, Mario Net and Wipeout web as their front running titles, right now all we have is 3 companies (or should I say 2) leaping onto a bandwagon that isn’t going anywhere yet.
Here’s to the future.
Dringo.
It is surprising how many people don’t actually know what Broadband is in fact I didn’t up until a few weeks ago so for those of you who don’t know Broadband is the Telephone, the TV and the Internet all through one cable under the ground. Only 2 companies offer broadband services, NTL and Telewest, now Broadband is an extremely effective piece of kit, it makes billing easier, includes super fast internet connection and offers Digital TV without all these set top boxes and satellites. Now some of you know that Broadband isn’t widely used, in fact and incredibly small amount of Europe actually use it and not without good reason. Why would people with analogue TV, there normal internet connection and Telephone line want to pay extra just to get them combined? This is a major problem faced by the Government; the lack of awareness of Broadband technology is causing companies such as NTL to go into debt, £12 billion in debt (even more than ITV digital). And even if the public was aware of Broadband technology not many can access it anyway. The fact is NTL and Telewest have to dig up your roads and stick in cables to give you broadband services, which means rural areas (villages etc…) can’t access it and only urban areas (e.g. London) can use it. You need to be approximately in a 5 mile radius from your nearest Telephone exchange (BT have just started building more of these) to have broadband technology and makes it worth while for NTL and Telewest to put cables in. Now the Government is looking at way to sort this problem out by placing £30 million into the rural development fund.
Now hang on? What does the government have to do with all this? Well the first important point is that if Britain uses Broadband technology broadly (no pun intended) then Britain will be an extremely advanced country. But the other reason for government involvement is through Digital TV, many of us know that the government’s plan is to switch off all analogue signals between 2006-2010 (after the collapse of ITV digital that is looking increasingly unlikely). Well the alternative to analogue is digital, now the amount of digital that can be used is allocated to companies, some companies can only use certain amounts of what is known as the Digital Spectrum. Early on the Government gave parts of the Digital spectrum to BBC, Channel 4 etc… so they can use simulcast, it means there channels can broadcast simultaneously on both Analogue and Digital signals. Now the rest was handed to the ITC to deal with who gives part of the Digital spectrum to companies such as ON Digital (a.k.a the late ITV Digital) and B-Sky-B. Now so far just a little more than 40% of Britain uses Digital, the government plans for 99% of Britain to be using it by 2006-2010 (as I said looking unlikely) when this happens the Digital Spectrum will be basically full up with no more left to sell. There is an alternative to Digital TV meanwhile, Broadband and if the public starts using Broadband then the Digital spectrum starts to free up and the Government can sell more of it making millions, (literally) and in turn sort out problems with the NHS etc…
Basically if everyone uses Digital TV then the government doesn’t have much of the Digital spectrum to sell, if more people use Broadband then they do. Now we established why Broadband is important, now what has it got to do with gaming? Well as we should know all 3 major next generation consoles, X-box, Gamecube and Playstation 2 does or will offer broadband capabilities. Gaming on broadband is extremely important if Internet gaming through your console is to take off, so how does this affect the future? Well it doesn’t it just emphasizes the point Nintendo and many other critics have been making for years now. Not that Internet gaming isn’t the future; just that no one is ready… yet. Quite frankly so far we have Phantasy Star Online and Final Fantasy XI and a few shoot ‘em ups, Nintendo and Sony and to some extent Microsoft haven’t begun development of there own Internet games and so Internet accessible games are few and far between. It took SEGA years to finally use Internet gaming properly with Phantasy Star online and Quake 3 and that’s just 2 games. Also the Internet still isn’t as popular as it will be, Internet is big but hasn’t reached its peak, soon enough every household worldwide will be using it but right now we don’t have that and coupled with the lack of Broadband users, Internet gaming isn’t ready!
This time next generation, Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft will all have Internet a standard, launch there console with a collection of Internet based games and have Halo Online, Mario Net and Wipeout web as their front running titles, right now all we have is 3 companies (or should I say 2) leaping onto a bandwagon that isn’t going anywhere yet.
Here’s to the future.
Dringo.