Philips_ICT_GCSE: Entertainment

Atari circa 1977

Entertainment

In the GCSE Entertainment covers things such as Gaming; Online Gaming; TV and on-demand TV; plus augmented reality.

Gaming

Over the years there have been many different consoles for gaming.

Some people chose to game using a specifically designed games console other might prefer to use their PC. There are obvious advantages and disadvantages to both methods:

There are features that are common to many game consoles:

High resolution output - required for the high definition games
CD, DVD and VBlue-ray optical drives
Connectivity - USB, Bluetooth, WiFi and Ethernet network cables
Capable of multi-player online gaming

There are numerous peripherals that you might use with your games console:

Wireless controllers
Wireless headsets
Motion sensors
Webcam/Speakers/Microphone
Hard drive transfer cable - to transfer games and movies to external hard disk drives
High definition (HD) equipment - such as the HD TV and HDMI cable

Console Gaming vs Laptop Gaming

Console - Advantages

Cheaper
Simple – start to play straight out of the box
Multi-player games through the Internet
Play on the couch, don’t have to sit at a desk

Console - Disadvantages

If one component breaks, the whole unit has to be replaced
Can only be used for one purpose
Can’t play against people with a different type of console

Laptop - Advantages

More multi-player games available through the Internet
Monitors have better resolution than HDTVs
Easy to upgrade

Laptop - Disadvantages

More expensive
Need some technical knowledge to set up
Difficult to play on the couch especially if using a mouse and keyboard
Can play online against people who have different brand of computer

Online Gaming

Many people chose to game online using online gaming packages (on the cloud). This saves you having to install the game onto your computer/device; you don't even have to buy a separate games console. But there can be issues, such as lag and you are reliant on the Internet connection!

Is the Wii more than a Game?

The Wii was designed as a games console that encourages people to be a little more active. Now it is being used in lots of places with all age ranges to help people become more active in a fun environment.

Are there health risks or concerns of excessive gaming?

There are concerns connected to gaming such as:

Addiction (which may impact on a persons mood)
RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury) caused by the repeated use of the same movements to play the game
Muscle and joint problems caused through bad posture whilst playing games
Lack of activity (which may result in a person becoming unfit/over-weight)
Depression
Lack of social interaction (where someone might spend too much time on their own)
Eye strain from staring at the screen for too long, eyes can become tired, you might get blurred vision or headaches.

Latency & Lag

(the next few paragraphs explaining latency and lag are an extract from: http://guides.freddyshouse.com/newtoonlinegaming/lag-and-latency-explained/)

There are hundreds of ISPs all giving you access to the net, but how good are they for playing games on?
The truth is the bigger named ISPs will often claim to be the fastest, but you will find that their number of users outweighs their capacity to serve them properly. Gaming will test your internet connection like never before. Your modem is happy fetching pages when you click a link on a web page, or accessing your email. On external modems take a look at the send and receive lights. When playing games the lights will be constantly on.
A massive amount of data needs to be relayed to the game server and back to your PC. In action games when you press the fire button the information is passed to the server and your player will fire its weapon. Simple? Well, not really. You have to take into account what else is going on. There are other players there as well all moving about and blowing things up, and you want to see them especially if they are firing at you! Also take into account doors opening, lifts moving, more players entering the server and you have a huge amount of data to shift via your connection. Hence, the faster your connection the more data you can handle and the less “latency” your likely to receive.
When you play a single player game on your own machine against the computer you’ll have hardly any latency at all. You’ll aim at what ever is on screen and hit it no problem, however when you play a game online you’ll have to face a latency, as does every gamer. This is displayed as your “Ping time”. On a modem you can expect ping times of 60 – 120ms (milliseconds). This is the time it takes for data from you to be sent to the games server (i.e. you fired a shot), and back to your machine again (i.e. shot has been fired). The ping time can change during a game, especially when there is a lot of action on a players screen as there will be more data shifted back to and from your machine. Some players will have lower ping times than you. This is due to the different connection types available to the net:

Not only does a lower ping result in less latency, but they are usually digital as well. This means they are often more stable for sending data which is also digital. This in turn means usually less lag along these connections. It also gives players an advantage over higher pinged players when it comes to reacting. A player with a ping of 50 is going to be able to react slightly faster than a player with a ping of 150 so in a one on one situation the lower ping player will have an edge.Lag occurs when data from your machine to the games server is interrupted. To you this will appear as though you are stuck to the spot and can’t move/shoot. Lag usually is temporary and only occurs for a few seconds.

TV and On-Demand TV

We have all been using TV for years, but in the last few years more and more people are using on-demand TV services. Digital TV meant that we all now have access to more channels, but some people subscribe to TV pages with companies such as SKY which provide them access to even more channels/movies. We now all you the electronic programme guide (EPG) which displays programme information on screen. Digital TV has higher quality pictures and sound, we are able to access subtitles and sign language descriptions on some channels. Digital TV is sometimes interactive, as you can vote with your red button. You can now even pause live TV.

Some people choose to download films. Downloading is the word given to obtaining a file by linking to a distant computer and moving data from it into your local machine.

The thing to be careful about is to ensure you are downloading from a legal site and therefore not committing a crime when you download. Things to consider:

Use only legitimate sites
Avoid peer-to peer
Avoid free sites
Check if your download is limited in some way

Downloads usually end up as a file on your computer. But there is another way called ‘streaming’.

Instead of a file being create on your computer, the digital data is passed straight into a media player – nothing gets stored. You simply listen to the music or watch the film in ‘real time’. For example BBC iPlayer

The biggest disadvantage of video streaming compared to a normal download is that the speed of your connection has to be high enough to support the stream. If it is too slow, then ‘buffering’ occurs, where the player has to wait for more data.

Smart TVs and games consoles allow users to stream channels or films directly from the Internet. Apple TV allos users to access the audio and video media stored in their iCloud.

HDMI Cables

The HDMI connector has quickly become the standard interface for connecting your audio-visual devices together. The HDMI connection on the back of your TV or Blu-ray player looks like this:

It is a bit like a USB port on your computer, but a little thinner and wider. The connection is designed so that HDMI cables will only fit one way round.

The HDMI cable that is used to connect the two devices looks like this:

You need just one cable between devices to transfer the sound and the picture.

The HDMI cables transmit digital video and digital audio signals between devices. The support high-definition video signals and surround sound audio.

For the GCSE paper you will be expected to know about these tables of cables and ports and what they are used for.

Some people now are setting up home cinemas. They might simply choose to use Digital projectors to project HD images on to a screen or wall. Alternatively they might invest in full home cinema/theater system which include a DVD/Blue-ray player, amplifier and six speakers to provide high-fidelity surround sound.

Some terms that you should know:

Personal Video Recorder (PVR) - contains a hard disk drive (HDD) this allows you to record TV
Digital Video Recorder (DVR) - contains a hard disk drive (HDD) this allows you to record TV
Set top boxes transform and enhance the signal from the cable of satellite to a form that the TV can display
Blue-ray players play HD movies on Blu-ray discs, which can store up to 50GB.

Augmented Reality

Augmented reality is quite a new concept that is starting to creep into use in different situations. If you have seen the augmented reality posters in class (Happy Feet and Harry Potter) you will appreciate what a fabulous tool it will be for companies wanting a new way of advertising their products. The company Zapper.com have created augmented reality t-shirts and people are using buying them and then having the 'fun-factor' of playing games from devices such as an i-pad or a phone, once they have downloaded the relevant app.

www.zappar.com