Understanding hardware technologies for game platforms

Unit 20-Human Computer Interface

Human computer interface is everything that is used to interact with a video game. Human computer interface uses ergonomics to make sure that the controller is comfortable as possible another thing that they have to take into account when make the controller is making sure that it isn't to heavy for the gamer to use as this can cause problems for the gamer.

There is a huge range of different ways for a user to interact with video games one of them being controllers for consoles like the Xbox One/360 and the PS4/3 when design these controllers the companies will have to make sure about many different thing like the size of the controller and the placement of the buttons on the controller an example of this is the advance of the Xbox 360 controller to the Xbox One the controllers look very similar but the Xbox One controller has many improvements including impulse triggers and making it easier to grip. Joystick are not really used in mainstreaming gaming anymore but s things like flight simulator uses the joysticks, joysticks were mostly used in older games consoles like the Atari this was probably due to game being less complex back then.When designing the joystick companies would have to look at things like how long and wide the joystick should be to fit the the players hand and making sure that the placement of the buttons we're easy to reach for the player.

The keyboard and mouse when designed had to follow ergonomics with the size and shape of the keys and the mouse even the placement of the keys on some gaming keyboards. Some people who play PC games might prefer a keyboard to a controller due to the player being able to map their own keys. Wheel and pedals are mostly used in racing games players would use the steering wheel and pedals to feel more immersed in the game and to have better control over the game when designing the wheels and pedals the designers would have to find the perfect size for the player the designer would also have to make sure that the buttons on the wheel are in reach of the player.

Motion sensing devices like the Kinect would use ergonomics for different sizes of people meaning it needed to have something on it which would allow it to adjust if the person was to big or to small. Some people would use the Kinect over a controller as they might want to get more involved in the game or because they want to try and lose weight while playing the game. Motion controllers are normally used in games where you have to be more active or now the PlayStation Move controller is being used with the new PS-VR meaning people fell more involved in the game then they would when they use a controller. Both the Wii Mote and the PlayStation Move controller are both narrow with not many buttons this is because the controllers were designed for more active game like Wii Sports where buttons weren't used to often and the player would mostly just be moving the controller.

 Voice controllers are used in games and on consoles like the Xbox One which uses voice commands quite a lot, on the Xbox One you can use voice command to get to apps you can also use it with apps like Skype. In games voice commands might be used for a range of different reasons for example on Fifa 16 voice commands were used to changes tactics and on the game Endwar which was a game which used real-time tactics and voice commands.

The evolution of controllers (NES controller VS Xbox One controller)

Their is a lot of differences between both controllers one of the big ones is the size of the controllers, the NES controller doesn't really have an ergonomic features its a rectangle shape and unlike the Xbox One the controller wouldn't just fit in the gamer's hands. Another thing is the button the Xbox controller has 6 buttons all easily accessible
due to the shape of the Xbox one controller the NES only has 4 buttons and the are placed next to each other, this is probably due to the the fact that games are more complexed and advanced on the Xbox one then they are on the NES. The Xbox controller is also wireless unlike the NES controller this benefits the game as it means less wires and makes it easier to sit wherever with the Xbox one controller. If I was able to add another feature to the Xbox One controller then I would add an easier way to connect to the Xbox maybe something like a QR code which the Kinect could scan.



RAM

	GHZ	Core	Threads	Cache
Xbox one	1.75 GHz  AMD 8-core APU (2 quad-core Jaguar modules	8 Cores	8 Thread’s	8mb
PS4	1.6 GHz AMD x86-64 Jaguar	8 Cores	8 Threads	8mb cache
Intel Boxed Core i7-6900K Processor	3.70 GHz	8 cores	16 threads	20mb cache
AMD CPU FX-9370	4.70 GHz	8 cores	8 threads	8mb Cache
AMD FX-9590	4.7 GHz	8 cores	8 threads	8 mb cache
Intel core 17-6850K	3.40 GHz	6 cores	12 threads	15 mb

Out of all these processor the best one out of them is the Intel i7 6900k processor this processor has the largest Cache out of all the PC processor. This processor also has the most threads out of all the PC processor with 16 threads while the AMD processors only have 8 threads much like consoles. Out of the console they mostly have the same stats they both have an 8GB cache and 8 threads and cores the only difference is that the Xbox One has a slightly faster GHz with 1.75 GHz while the PS4 only gets 1.6 GHz

CPU is a Central processing unit this is basically the brains of a PC or Console, a CPU main function is to execute a sequence of instructions on a program. A CPU speed is measured in GHz the higher the GHz the faster the CPU will be but higher GHz doesn’t always mean that the CPU is the best as many other factors come into play including the cache of the CPU and the clock cycle of the CPU, the clock cycle is the rate that a CPU is measured in. Cores are very important in CPU as the more cores a CPU has the more tasks it can do for example the PS4 has 8 cores and one of those cores is just for the PS home page to make sure it runs smoothly and doesn’t lag. Threads are also important as these essentially make the core faster as they trick the PC or console to think that there are more cores then there are meaning that the PC or Console can run more tasks. The cache in a CPU is a small and fast memory device it is like the RAM but it is much faster and the cache stores copies of data. The data bus works in two ways there is the Address bus which will send an address on where the data needs to go for example if some data needed to be moved to the RAM the address bus will pick out a specific part of the RAM to send the data to and to make sure that no data is overwritten. The data bus is what the data will travel on the data bus can travel both ways while the address bus can only travel one way. 

Memory 

	Type	Amount	Clock speed	Bandwidth	ESD RAM
Xbox One	DDR3	8GB	2133MHz	204 GBs	32mb
PS4	DDR5	8GB	1.6 MHz	176 GBs
Xbox 360	DDR3	512MB	500 MHz	2.56 GBs
PS3	DDR3	256MB	550 MHz	22.4 GBs
Acer Predator	DDR4	64GB	2,133MHz	1.5 GBs

The purpose of memory is for storage and fast information storage. Random access memory is a type of data storage. Random access memory allows for data to be written or read and R.A.M is used for storage of data that has been recently used or data that is being used getting to data in the RAM is much easier than getting to data that has been stored in the hard drive. Ram has different capacity to run a PC without it being slow 4gb is the minimum gb required while 8GB is recommended, If a person wants to game on a PC then 16gb is recommended but 8gb is the lowest GB that the PC can run games on.  A kilobyte is equal to 1024 bytes while 1024 KB is equal to one megabyte and 1024 megabytes are equal to one gigabyte. There are many different types of RAM SRAM means static random access memory is a type of storage that takes the data in bits and it doesn’t have to be refreshed. DRAM means dramatic random access memory this type of memory stores the data in a separate capacitor circuit. The different between these two RAM types is the speed and cost static RAM is quicker and cost more than dramatic RAM. DDR VS GDDR DDR stands for double data rate this is a type of memory that is found in computers while graphics double data rate is found in things like graphics cards the difference between these two is that GDDR is more expensive then DDR but less expensive then SRAM and GDDR can use more bandwidth then DDR. 

   

GPU

Model	Brand	Clock speed	Cores	Ram	Dedicated or Integrated
Nvidia	Titan X	1000 MHz	3072 cores	12 Gb	Dedicated
AMD	AMD RADEON RX 480	1,120MHz	2304 cores	8 GB	Dedicated
Intel	6100	1100 MHz	48 cores		Integrated
360	ATI (AMD) Xenos	500 MHz	240 cores	512 MB RAM	Integrated
Xbox one	AMD durango	853 MHz	768 cores	8 GB	Integrated
PS3	Nvidia Rsx Reality	550 Mhz	N/A	256 MB RAM	Integrated
Ps4	AMD Liverpool	800 MHz	1152	8GB	integrated

A GPU stand for Graphics processing unit and is the part of a computer that is mainly used for the rendering of 3D images. A GPU is a chip that will transform objects and use different lighting effects. A GPU measures it speed in clock speed, the higher the speed in a GPU doesn’t always mean that it always better as some GPU with 3MHz won’t be as good as one with 2MHz this could be because the GPU with 2MHz clock speed might have more cores and ram then a GPU with 2MHz. The difference between a GPU cores and CPU cores are that GPU use much more threads then a CPU a GPU will have thousands of cores while CPU can only have a couples of cores. With GPU RAM is very important, with a computer that is not being used for gaming 4gb is what is recommended for the computer to run smoothly while for a gaming Pc 8gb is what recommended but 16GB is the best that a computer can ran at. GDDR is a part of the GPU and it is a high broadband interface that is used in things like consoles and graphics cards this is a much more expensive version of the DDR, the DDR stands for double data race and is found in most pc’s. Another thing that the GPU uses us address busses these are used to transport data to different areas the address bus will take data to different locations and can only travel one way while the data bus can take data to and from different areas and can travel both ways.

GHZ

	GHZ	Core	Threads	Cache
Xbox one	1.75 GHz  AMD 8-core APU (2 quad-core Jaguar modules	8 Cores	8 Thread’s	8mb
PS4	1.6 GHz AMD x86-64 Jaguar	8 Cores	8 Threads	8mb cache
Intel Boxed Core i7-6900K Processor	3.70 GHz	8 cores	16 threads	20mb cache
AMD CPU FX-9370	4.70 GHz	8 cores	8 threads	8mb Cache
AMD FX-9590	4.7 GHz	8 cores	8 threads	8 mb cache
Intel core 17-6850K	3.40 GHz	6 cores	12 threads	15 mb

Out of all these processor the best one out of them is the Intel i7 6900k processor this processor has the largest Cache out of all the PC processor. This processor also has the most threads out of all the PC processor with 16 threads while the AMD processors only have 8 threads much like consoles. Out of the console they mostly have the same stats they both have an 8GB cache and 8 threads and cores the only difference is that the Xbox One has a slightly faster GHz with 1.75 GHz while the PS4 only gets 1.6 GHz

CPU

CPU is a Central processing unit this is basically the brains of a PC or Console, a CPU main function is to execute a sequence of instructions on a program. A CPU speed is measured in GHz the higher the GHz the faster the CPU will be but higher GHz doesn’t always mean that the cpu is the best as many other factors come into play including the cache of the CPU and the clock cycle of the CPU, the clock cycle is the rate that a CPU is measured in. Cores are very important in CPU as the more cores a CPU has the more tasks it can do for example the PS4 has 8 cores and one of those cores is just for the PS home page to make sure it runs smoothly and doesn’t lag. Threads are also important as these essentially make the core faster as they trick the PC or console to think that there are more cores then there are meaning that the PC or Console can run more tasks. The cache in a CPU is a small and fast memory device it is like the RAM but it is much faster and the cache stores copies of data. The data bus works in two ways there is the Address bus which will send an address on where the data needs to go for example if some data needed to be moved to the RAM the address bus will pick out a specific part of the RAM to send the data to and to make sure that no data is overwritten. The data bus is what the data will travel on the data bus can travel both ways while the address bus can only travel one way. 

Sound

Sound chips are used to produce sound, they are used in TV’s, Mobiles and PC’s. The difference between discrete and integrated sound cards are that integrated sound cards are built into a device while discrete sound cards are external. Sound chips have a range of different channel set ups including Mono which means a single speakers while stereo could have a range of different speakers and sub woofers which are measured like this 2,1 this means that there are two speakers and one sub-woofer

The Xbox one has 7.1 stereo surround sound and can run at 1080p with 4K graphics. The Xbox one will also need an external speaker as the console itself doesn’t have an internal speaker. The Xbox 360 uses analog stereo sound and a LPCM stereo with built in Dolby Digital 5, 1 speakers system. The Xbox 360 also needs an external speakers as it doesn’t have one built in. The PS3 uses analog sound with Dolby Digital 5.1 speakers. The PS3 needs an external speakers as it does not have one built in The PS4 has 7.1 stereo surround sound. The PS4 also needs an external speaker as the console doesn’t have its own integrated speakers. The 3DS has two built in speakers on the top screen these speakers use a stereo sound the 3DS also has a built in music player and a sound recorder which can record MP3 and MP4 files. The 3DS has its own integrated speakers meaning that external speakers are not needed. The Sony Xperia Z5 uses a Qualcomm MSM8994 Snapdragon 810 soundcard and has two stereo speakers. The Xperia Z5 has a built in internal speaker meaning that it won’t need an external speaker. The Stormforce Inferno VR gaming pc uses a high definition 7.1 stereo speaker system and has a built in internal speaker meaning it won’t need an external speakers.

Displays

Displays are used in to project images when playing games there are a range of different displays that a person can use when gaming including TV’s and monitors. There are two different types of displays LCD and LED. LCD stands for liquid crystal display and this is the type that is used by a lot of TV’s, monitors and mobiles, LCD screens use red green and blue pixels giving the a detailed picture to the user. LED stands for light emitting diode these screens have different arrangements of tubes so when the screen is light it shows colours lighter than others LED screens also don’t produce as much energy as LCD screen. There is a range of different resolutions that a display can have one of the most common resolutions is 1080p this is the resolutions that is used in most TV’s and monitors at the moment, 1080p uses 1,920x 1,200 pixels. Although 1080p might be the most common resolution at the moment many people are now are upgrading to 4K resolution this is a huge step up from 1080p this resolution uses 4,096x 2,160 pixels which is a lot more then 1080.HDR stands for high dynamic range this improves the picture quality immensely as it has a higher colour pallet and a better contrast ratio although not every device supports HDR.

The Xbox one has a max display resolution of 4K and has some games that can support HDR some of these games are Gears of War 4 and Battlefield 1

The Xbox 360 has a max display resolution of 1080p and also has some games that support HDR including Halo 3

The PS4 has a max display resolution of 4K and has some games that support HDR like Detroit Becoming human and Spiderman.

The 3DS has a max display resolution of 800x240 and does not support HDR

The GeForce 1080 graphics card has a max display resolution of 4K and has some games that supports HDR like rise of tomb raider

The Sony Xperia Z5 has a max resolution of 1080x 1920 pixel and does support HDR 

Game Storage

Proprietary game storage is a file format that stores data in a particular data scheme Proprietary game storage also designed to be secretive and takes decoding programs made by the company to use. Standard game storage is a type of storage that is open source and doesn’t require any knowledge or decoding to use

There are different types of game storage most consoles now use Blu-Ray and hard drive storage this is probably the best way that consoles can use to store games as Blu-Ray disc can hold a lot of data unlike things like cartridges. Blu-Ray disc now on consoles have to be installed to the hard drive this is because the hard drive can run faster than the disc making the game look and load better. An SSD hard drive can be used by consoles and PC a SSD hard drive is much faster than a normal hard drive but they cost a lot more, SSD hard drives make a console or a pc much faster SSD hard drives also make a lot less noise which is why a lot of recording artist use them. A hard drive will be used by PC’s and consoles hard drives are a lot faster than discs but when download games they can take a long time.  

Proprietary game storage is good for anti-piracy as Proprietary game require decoding software which is made by the company so if they don’t have this software then they won’t be able to play the game    

Connectivity

There are many different types or connectivity that are used in consoles and PC’s one being stand alone, stand-alone connectivity is where a pc or laptop will be able to connect to a local area network or a wide area network meaning that a network connection isn’t needed for general use.

There are many ways to connect a controller to a console PS4 uses built in Bluetooth to connect their controller to the console, Xbox one uses a Microsoft’s own Bluetooth system as well as Bluetooth this might be due to the fact that Xbox One controllers can also connect to PC’s as well older consoles like the Nintendo GameCube and the PS2 the controllers had to be plugged into a port    

PSU

A PSU stands for power supply system and this is what will supply a console or a PC the power to run

A PC will have a built in Power supply system that will be built into the motherboard. An Xbox one has an external power brick that has to be plug into the console. The PS4 has a built in PSU which is built into the console. And a Nintendo DS has a built in PSU   

Story Telling- Unit 74

Big Trouble in Little China

This is a film by John Carpenter which was later turned into the comic book series

There are 3 main character is the story the main character is Jack Burton who is a no nosecone trucker who has a John Wayne accent. Jack believes that he is the hero even though he goes through the movie only to get his truck back. Wang is Jack’s friend and sidekick he is a more of a calm composed character who believes in body energy and inner peace Wang who is always the one who is saving Jack during fights. The main evil character is Loa Pan, Loa Pan is an old sorcerer who had a curse put on him many years ago, he goes through the stories trying to lift his curse and become human again

There are many side character in the story one being Gracie who is the love interest of Jack and she is a sometimes nosey but is always trying to do good she is a news reporter who is trying to get a story of who Loa Pan is. Eddie is the assistant of Wang’s uncle’s restaurant and is Wang friend he is a comic relief character. Margo is another reporter who is friends with Gracie and is also trying to get a story of who Loa Pan is to launch her career. Miao Ying is the girlfriend of Wang she movies to America from China to be reunited with her lover Wang but is kidnapped by Loa Pan.  Loa Pan’s henchmen or known as the Strom are 3 characters Rain, Thunder and Lightning these are 3 loyal henchmen of Loa Pan who want to help their master lift his curse. Finally there is Egg Chan who is another sorcerer but uses his powers for good unlike Loa Pan he works as a tour bus driver who does tours around China Town.

There are many emotional themes in the movie one being action the film has a whole range of different action and fight scene in the movie. Another theme is romance and love this can be seen as almost all of the main characters have love interests Jack and Gracie have a growing relationship throughout the movie there is also Weng and Miao Ying who the whole story is based around as Weng trying to save his Love from the clutches of Loa Pan finally there is also a small romance between Eddie and Margo as during the story it is revealed that Eddie has a small crush on Margo    

There are many characters who have a motivation in the film Jack Burton main motivation in the film is not to help his friend Wang but to get his truck back from Loa Pan’s gang and to get the money that Wang owes him. This shows that Jack is a rather selfish and low character as during the whole film he thinks of himself as the hero but in reality he only wants to get his truck and money. Wang main motivation is probably the most pure in the whole film as all he wants to do is to save his love Miao Ying from the clutches of Loa Pan and defeat Loa Pan. This shows that Wang is the real hero of the film as he wants to save his love from being married to an evil sorcerer and to defeat the evil Loa Pan Gracie and Margo both have relatively similar motivations in the film as they both want to infiltrated Loa Pan’s operation and launch their reporting careers. Loa Pan main motivation in the story is to lift the curse that was put on him all those years ago and to become human to do this he must find a girl with green eyes which he does in Miao Ying. Finally Egg’s main motivation in the story is to defeat Loa Pan and lift the evil from China Town.

The film beginning is Jack making a delivery to China town and there he sees his friend Wang they start gambling and when Wang lose and owes Jack money he goes to the airport to get money from his newly arriving girlfriend Miao Ying. Miao Ying get captured and Jack and Wang try to track her down but they get caught in a gang fight after escaping and losing Jack’s truck they get away and get to Wang’s Uncle’s restaurant. Gracie a news reporter arrives and tells them where they hold the kidnapped girls in the brothel. Jack tries to get inside the place but Miao Ying get captured by one of Loa Pan’s henchmen

In the middle of the film Jack and Wang try to save Miao Ying from Loa Pan’s warehouse but they get captured so do Eddie, Gracie and Margo. Eddie Jack and Margo manage to escape and rescue the others. During the escape Gracie gets captured by Loa Pan’s creature Loa Pan tells Gracie that he plans to make they both his wife

 In the end of the film Jack, Wang, Egg and fighting tong gang get into Loa Pan’s warehouse to stop his wedding there is a massive fight and they manage to kill Loa Pan and save Gracie and Miao Ying and Jack get his truck back he leaves the city and leaves Gracie behind but on his truck is a stowaway the creature that captured Gracie earlier in the film

Many of the characters relationships change in the film at the start of the film when Jack and Wang are gambling Jack it can be seen that Jack doesn’t trust Wang when Wang tells him he needs to go and get the money to pay Jack and throughout the film the viewer can see that their friendships grows and Jack and Wang start to trust and respect each other more. Jack also has another relationship with Gracie at the start of the film Gracie seems to not like Jack as they argue and fight at the start of the film but as the film goes on they start to fall in love with each other after Jack saves her from Loa Pan    

    

The story starts when jack has to make a delivery of pigs to china town he starts gambling with his old friend Wang when Jack beats Wang for everything he has got and more. Wang makes a deal with him to get the money from his girlfriend Miao Ying who is migrating from China. At the airport jack meets Gracie a news reporter who is saving a girl who is arriving from China, during this time Miao Ying is kidnapped by a gang Jack and Wang try to chase after the gang but they end up in the middle of a gang war here they see Lo Pan and his 3 henchmen Rain, Thunder and Lightning they manage to escape the gang war and they get back to Wang’s uncle’s restaurant. At the restaurant they meet Eddie who is an assistant in the restaurant they also meet Gracie and Margo who are both reporters trying to get an insight of Loa Pan’s operation Gracie tells Jack about a brothel where they hold kidnapped girls

Jack, Wang, Eddie, Gracie and Margo all go on the infiltration but only jack goes into the brothel while he is in the brothel one of Loa Pan’s henchmen takes Miao Ying to Loa Pan’s hideout. Jack and Wang set a plan to infiltrate Loa Pan’s warehouse during this they get captured and come face to face with Loa Pan and he tells them his plan to marry Miao Ying and lift his curse so he can be human again he then locks Jack and Wang in a cell. At the same time Margo, Gracie and Eddie try to rescue Jack and Wang but they all get captured Gracie and Margo are put with all the other kidnapped girls in cages while Eddie is put in the same cell and Jack and Wang. Jack, Wang and Eddie all mange to escape the cell by tricking one of Loa Pan’s henchmen they then go to save Margo and Gracie they manage to defeat the guards and free all the captured women. The swim down a sewer pipe to get to the top level of the warehouse where outside they have Egg Chen a tour bus driving waiting. They all manage to get out of the sewer and get to the entrance of the warehouse apart from Gracie who is captured by one of Loa Pan’s creatures without anyone noticing. The rest of the gang mange to get out the warehouse and make it to safety. Gracie is confronted by Loa Pan and he tells her he plans to marry both her and Miao Ying. Jack and Wang plan to go back to the warehouse but with more firepower as they have the fighting tong gang and Egg Chen. They use a passage to get to Loa Pan’s warehouse, during this time Gracie and Miao Ying are put under a spell so they have no resistance to Loa Pan and Loa Pan starts to plan his wedding. Jack, Wang, Egg and the gang get into Loa Pan’s hideout and are given a potion they will make them faster and stronger Loa Pan is aware of their present due to his guardian a grossest blob with many eyes so their element of surprise is gone they go in the wedding where Loa Pan is being the process of lifting his curse and a huge fight breaks out between the lords of death who are Loa Pan’s loyal gang and the lords of death while Wang is fighting one of Loa Pan’s henchmen and Egg is going after Loa Pan. During this fight Gracie and Miao Ying mange to break the spell but Loa pan curse is already lifted he manages to escape from the fighting with Miao Ying and one of his henchmen. Jack, Gracie and Wang go after him Wang starts to fighting with the henchman while Jack goes after Loa Pan after a long monologue Jack kills Loa Pan by throwing a knife in his head. The henchmen after seeing his boss dead the henchmen starts to inflate and kills himself the gang mange to escape the warehouse and make it back to Wang’s Uncle’s restaurant. Jack gets his money and his truck back and leaves the gang and his love interest Gracie going back on the road with his truck little does he know one of Loa Pan’s creatures in lurking on-board  

Jack Burton

Jack Burton is American trucker his main motivations in the movie are to get his truck back after Loa Pan steals it and to get the money that Wang owes him. His main friends in the movie are Wang who is his side kick who always does all the fighting in the movie. He also has a love interested in Gracie they have a strained relationship at first but towards the middle of the film their affection for each other grows

Wang

Wang can be seen as the true hero in the film as he is the one who does all the fighting and saves Jack his main motivation is to save his girlfriend from being wed to Loa Pan and to defeat Loa Pan. His main Relationships in the movie are his girlfriend Miao Ying who he does everything to save her and Jack who is his friend and helps Wang in his quest even if it is only for himself.

Loa Pan

Loa Pan is the films main antagonist his main motivation in the film is to lift his curse that was put on him so many years ago and to become human again. Loa Pan’s main motivation in the film is to wed Miao Ying and lift his curse and gain his power once again. Loa Pan’s main relationship in the movie is with his 3 henchmen Thunder, Rain and Lightning who respect him and do all that he commands.

Gracie

Gracie is the love interest to Jack but has a lot to do with the stories as she is a news reporter who has been tracking Loa Pan for a long time so she knows the location of Loa Pan’s hideouts. Her main motivation in the movie is to infiltrate Loa Pan’s hideout and get a story out of it hoping it will launch her career