Platforms

What is a platform?

A platform is a hardware device that allows you to play video games. Platforms are often connected to high resolution monitors in order to display the game. They can also be connected to TV’s depending on what type of platform you use. Playing on the platforms mean that you will only be able to play with the amount of input controllers that are provided. If you have four controllers with your following platform then it will be possible to play with four players (depending on the game). There are several platforms available which can be played on. The platforms are different in terms of graphics, size, controller input etc. For example on the computer you will be able to upgrade hardware whereas the other video games platforms are ready to be played on and not upgradeable.

PS3

Playstation 3 is the newest console released by Sony recently. At the same time it is the seventh console produced by Sony in as many years. Playstation 3 is a much more improved console compared to its last version. The main concern about the PS3 was probably the price when its first been released. The price was unrealistic for students as the price was far too high and before the console even came out there were speculations about the price being approximately £500. However as these prices were far too high and the sales would probably be below the expectations, the price has been dropped to £350.00 making a reductions of £150 and a company loss of £1.00 billion ($1.97 billion). The PS3 only sold 14.41 Mio. Times Worldwide (compared to PS2 sold 140mio. Times Worldwide) it is a huge difference and that’s why the Sony president probably announced his retirement. The PS3 has a much improved graphic compared to its old version and when playing games it looks more realistic because it’s been fitted with a phenomenal graphic card. The PS3 allows you to play with up to 7 people as the controller input can be increased. The controller can be played wireless as the PS3 now has got an usb peripheral and it also charges the controller if it runs out of power. This means that you can play with the control wireless (first invented by Microsoft Xbox). PS3 has 3,2GHz Cell Broad Band engine (developed by Sony itself) this allows the platform to load games very quick as well as play the game smoothly. The PS3 has different sizes available (in terms of the storage). They use a 2.5” SATA Hard Disk Drive probably because transfer rate is faster as well as the wires are smaller (IDE wires are bigger and the transfer rate of data is slower than SATA) .They have 20 GB up to 160GB available, the more storage the higher the price.

XBOX360

Xbox 360 is the newest Microsoft console that has been released recently. They have improved the graphic, the speed and increased the storage. The previous Xbox console was really big which looked like post box (meant to look like a box) whereas the new one is slightly thinner and smaller. The difference to other consoles was that it included memory storage inside the console (internal HDD) so that the user can save his games (levels) without using a memory card. The graphics was really good at the time it came out and it compared to PS2 (came out a year later) it was slightly better with the graphics and the storage (internal HDD 8-20 GB). Even though PS2 was the best selling console (approximately sold 5 times as much as the Xbox) Xbox is really popular and the bestselling game was Halo (approximately 2,4mio.). Xbox has got 4 controller inputs which can either be connected wireless, with wire or combination of either.

Nintendo WII

Nintendo has a great history with several platforms available. Nintendo 64, DS, GameCube only a few to mention, Nintendo WII is already the seventh platform released by Nintendo in as many years. However this new Nintendo is different to the other ones because of the unique movement (motion sensing – unique feature) controller which can be used for sports games or other games where movement is required. The controller is wireless and its fitted with a Bluetooth system so that it can connect with the system. The controller also called “Wiimote” has buttons as not all games are about movements. Games such as Mario Kart or super Mario still exist on WII and as these kinds of games require buttons they are available on the controller. The system storage is 512MB internal flash memory (where you can transfer data from a computer to another digital product such as usb’s or memory cards).The WII requires CD-ROM disks such as the other platforms. 30mio. Units has been sold worldwide since November 2006 meaning that it sold twice as much as PS3 and gained a competitive advantage over their platform rivals in terms of popularity.

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