Developing the ‘black box’: Comparison of Convergent Technologies on Popular Games Platforms since the 1970’s
On January 31st 2008 academic Barry Ip of the Swansea Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom, wrote an article for the journal of Games and Culture entitled ‘Technological, Content, and Market Convergence in the Games Industry’. Within the article Barry outlined the development of convergence within popular gaming platforms since the 1970’s. The graph can be seen below; however I have edited it to show the key developments on gaming consoles (most notable the Xbox360 and PlayStation3) since the articles release in early 2008. This was done by accessing the websites of the three latest consoles (Wii, PS3 and Xbox360) and adding the key features that had been made available since 2008 (The references for those sites are below). This article is a prelude to my next article “The Black Box: Introducing game 2.0” which will be made available soon. Watch this space.
| Period | Central Format | Converged Feature(s) | Function(s) |
| 1970’s | | | |
| Magnavox Odyssey | Games cartridges | N/A | Games |
| Atari VCS | Games cartridges | N/A | Games |
| 1980’s | | | |
| Nintendo NES | Games cartridges | N/A | Games |
| Sega Master System | Games cartridges | N/A | Games |
| Early 1990’s | | | |
| Nintendo Gameboy (handheld) | Games cartridges | N/A | Games |
| Nintendo Super NES | Games cartridges | N/A | Games |
| Sega Game Gear (handheld) | Games cartridges | N/A | Games |
| Sega Megadrive | Games cartridges | Backwards Compatibility | Games |
| Mid to Late 1990’s | | | |
| Nintendo Gameboy Advance (handheld) | Games cartridges | Backward compatibility | Games |
| Atari Jaguar | Games cartridges | Network add-on for multi-console connectivity | Games |
| 3DO Company 3DO | CD-based games | CD–ROM | Games CD player photo viewer via CD video CDs with add- on |
| Philips CD-i | CD-based games | CD–ROM | Games CD player photo viewer via CD video CDs general multimedia applications |
| Nintendo N64 | Games cartridges | | Games |
| Sega Saturn | CD-based games | CD–ROM | Games CD player |
| Sony PlayStation | CD-based games | CD–ROM | Games CD player |
| Early 2000s | | | |
| Microsoft Xbox | DVD-based games | CD–ROM DVD add-on hard drive Internet connectivity | Games CD player DVD player Internet access for online gaming |
| Nintendo DS (handheld) | Games cartridges | Wi-Fi network connectivity backward compatibility | Games |
| Nintendo Gamecube | Custom CD-based games | Custom CD–ROM plans for Internet or network connectivity | Games |
| Sony PlayStation2 | CD- or DVD based games | CD–ROM; DVD; USB; Internet connectivity; backward compatibility | Games CD player DVD player Internet access for online gaming |
| Sony PSP (handheld) | Custom UMD based games | Custom movie discs (UMD) USB wireless network and Internet connectivity | Games movie player PC-media player (e.g., MP3) digital photo viewer Internet access for online gaming |
| Current generation 2005 to present | | | |
| Microsoft Xbox360 | Dual layer DVD based games | CD–ROM DVD USB hard-drive Internet connectivity (including Wi-Fi) Backward compatibility; Connectivity to PCs and other devices such as digital cameras and iPods live speech between players via network and headset HD-TV support | Games CD and DVD player PC-media player (e.g., MP3) digital photo viewer direct transfer of media files from PC Internet access for online gaming and downloads streamed music and video Access to social media sites Twitter and Facebook Access to downloading movies from the Zune movie market Access to Foxtel channels Access to Skysports (Europe) Access to ESPN (USA) HD television (USA) Netflix |
| Nintendo Wii | Custom CD- or DVD–based games | CD–ROM DVD add-on Internet connectivity (including Wi-Fi) backward compatibility; HD-TV support | Games Internet access for online gaming and downloads communities, and browsing DVD add on digital photo viewer |
| Sony PlayStation 3 | Blu-ray BDROM- based games | CD–ROM DVD USB hard-drive Internet connectivity (including Wi-Fi) Backward compatibility Connectivity to devices such as digital cameras and iPods; Bluetooth HD-TV support | Games CD, DVD, and Blu-ray player general media player (e.g., MP3) digital photo viewer; Internet access for online gaming and downloads Web browser |
References:
Ip, B 2008, ‘Technological, Content, and Market Convergence in the Games Industry’, Journal of Games and Culture, vol: 3, iss: 2, pp: 199-224, accessed date: 9/9/2010, Sage Journals.
Xbox.com, 2010, accessed: 9/9/2010, http://www.xbox.com/en-au/.
Official PlayStation, 2010, accessed: 9/9/2010, http://www.xbox.com/en-au/
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