Sample Artifact-Comparison Essay
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Tyler Thygerson
ENG 2010-02
Prof. Mike Peterson
9 June 2016
A Monumental Step in Videogame History
Never in history has there been a bigger step than these last few years with technological advances to live in a virtual world, such as the ones many video games now make. In fact, 50 years ago no one would have believed in a virtual reality world. During the 1960s, video games were invented as computers got cheaper, and monitors were made to display what these computers could do. One of the first and well known video game in its days was tennis for two, and in those days nobody thought it possible to make a complete virtual reality world. In the 1970s and 80s, arcades became mainstream in the U.S., and they started to become a modern entertainment for many people in the U.S. Near the end of the 1970s, home consoles of video games were invented. Yet, many thought the creation of virtual worlds and virtual realities would not be possible, not for many years later at least. By the 1990s, video games took a huge leap in its technology and became what many had only hoped for, a third-dimensional virtual world. Since then, tremendous leaps continued as the years past, even to the present with the new prominent video game console, the PS4. We will explore how the PS4 has become a monument in these days compared to the past of all video games, the new gaming and multimedia features that it offers, as well as the PS4 controller and how it marks its importance in the history of videogames.
It is quite obvious to note the differences of video games from present day compared to the past. Let us begin with the differences of the actual consoles or playing method of video games and how they compare from the time video games were extremely popular during the arcade era, in contrast to the PS4. The very first difference is the convenience. In the 1970s during the arcade golden era, if kids wanted to play a video game, they had to travel from their home to the arcade downtown, bring a bag of quarters with them, and hope that nobody else was playing the game that they desired. Big gatherings of these kids and adults would fill the arcade stores, and they could all be seen standing next to towering boxes which would emulate the game for them to play. Easily there would be over 30 to 40 different arcade games that everyone could play, but to play the popular ones, a large wait was usually required as people would stand in lines to play Pac-man, Centipede, and Kong. These never-ending games were only glorified by the highscores that gamers would achieve and have listed at the end of each game.
Now, in comparison to the PS4, one does not have to leave the convenience of his or her home. With just 40 years difference, video games can now be played on a console that emulates not only one game, but hundreds upon thousands that exist in the world. Along with that, the console allows the convenience to stay at home and play on either a 60” giant screen T.V. or a small 17” computer monitor, whichever the user finds more convenient for him or herself.
One of the other big changes was the community with whom one could play with. In the arcade era, gamers could only play at the arcade with other players who lived in their same area, and they could only play till 10:30 p.m. as most of these stores closed during the night. With the PS4 console, anyone can play online through internet servers with literally anyone else throughout the world; and the best part is, it is available to play all-day and all-night non-stop, if one so desired.
Now, what is the point of a video game without actually playing the game? That is what makes the PS4 so monumental with its gaming capabilities, along with many other multimedia features that it carries. The graphics alone mark a huge difference in their respective eras. Arcades mostly had a raster-scan program that would display the graphics and images of the game to be played. A raster-scan is an electron beam that swept across and down the screen to draw the image of what is being played (Montfort 34). Typically these images were not high in detail and the pixels were so big that most of the images looked square with different colors. Compared to the PS4, the console has a CPU clocked at 1.6GHz and contains a custom AMD 8-core processor unit with x86 based architecture. This is the technology that produces 1.84 teraflop GPU (Swider 2-3). Basically in a nutshell, the hardware of the PS4 means it runs games with 1080 pixels in every square inch on the screen with 60 frames flashing per second across the screen, making a seamless, picture-perfect display. All of this new technology practically makes a realistic virtual world. So no more choppy block graphics.
Also, a huge difference between the arcades and the PS4 are the games. Blatantly where the arcade games would be repetitious and always have the same objective, new PS4 games bring in a variety of genres and different styled gameplays. There are role-playing games, which are long, depicted stories that a person may play as a character throughout that character’s life and story. Then, there are the famed first-person shooters where anyone can get into the heat of a war battle and shoot at each other. Also, there are MMOs, which are massive multiplayer worlds, where anyone can create their own playable character and play within a completely virtual world with millions of other people across the globe. The list goes on, but there are so many new and different types of games that put arcade games as its own little genre of video games. The last details of the PS4 console is that it can play music from what someone would hear on the radio, and it allows anyone to watch movies and television series on the console, as well. These are new capabilities that transcend the arcade era.
Last, but not least, are the differences in the controllers. Back in the day of the arcades, all of the controls came with the towering box to the game. Usually, these arcades would contain at least one giant stick protruding from the left side along with two, four or six different buttons beside the stick to issue different commands to what the person was playing. These buttons were large, bigger than a finger, along with the joystick being as large as one whole hand clasped around it. Compared to today, the controller has upgraded and transitioned to becoming relatively smaller. A controller now fits within the grasps of two hands, is completely wireless (not being connected to any part of the console), and it has a series of buttons on the left and right side of the controller. Instead of having 6 buttons at most on the arcade, the PS4 controller contains 17 different buttons that may be pressed, each giving its own command and significance to the games that is being played. Instead of one giant stick for the hand to control the movement of a character, the PS4 controller has two thumbsticks (they are exactly as they sound) on the left and right side which allows movement of the character and, in most cases, the camera view of the game. To top it off, the PS4 controller has been ergonomically designed to fit the hand for long use and comfort as one plays between 2-12 hours of gameplay. The arcade didn’t really think ergonomic as a person would play on a slanted surface with their hands bending backwards playing their games, which led to soreness within an hour or two.
The differences can go on and on to prove the monumental status of the PS4 and all of its features and capabilities that it presents; however, the just of the point has been made. Video games are not the same as they used to be, and they have progressed to monumental statues as they have become more and more the daily form of entertainment in many people’s lives. Video games are not considered just for nerds anymore, as they were in the arcade era. It is now a modern culture that is widely accepted between many groups socially and nationally. No matter what, the PS4 must give its credit to the retro arcade era, as that is the era that compelled all of the video games to become as large as it is today. Soon enough, even the PS4 will be considered old and retro as time continues to pass, but it only promises for a brighter future of video games. 20 to 30 years down the road, as hard as it may seem, there might be no need of controllers or monitors to play video games; because one day, we ourselves will be the controller, and these virtual worlds will be created around us to make it an even more realistic experience. We will be the ones inside of the game controlling what happens as if it was our own lives.
Works Cited
Montfort, Nick, and Ian Bogost. "Random And Raster: Display Technologies And The Development Of Videogames." IEEE Annals Of The History Of Computing 31.3 (2009): 34-43. Academic Search Premier. Web. 7 June 2016.
Swider, Matt. "PS4 vs Xbox One: Which Is Better?": 1-9. TechRadar. 24 May 2016. Web. 07 June 2016.