Video Games and Its Components (Coursework Sample)

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Introduction
Video game is software that is used for entertainment, playing games and stimulation. It can also be defined as a form of entertainment in which a player responds to electronically generated images that appear on the screen of a device. These games can be designed for single player or multiplayer or can be web based or run directly from device hard ware (Subrahmanyam 12). Examples of such device are mobile phones, personal computer and tablets. A PC provides graphics and processing power that allows developer to create games. The mouse and the keyboard control configuration that allows the designer to create games.
Video game console is a computer that is designed for playing games. It can be used by a single player or multiplayer. It has to be connected with television in order do display the games. Some example of console games are Sony Play station 3, Nintendo’s and Microsoft’s’ Xbox. These games are in form of CD or DVD. Cell phones are portable device and can also be used to play video games (Subrahmanyam15).
This video game differs both in hardware and software. Hardware refers to any physical device that is tangible. Some of the hardware used to play video games are; cell phones, smart phone devices, iPods, laptops, interactive digital TV and desktops. Software on the other hand, is the collection of instructions and codes in the device. They are programmed and are intangible (Chandler 25).
Differences of video games hardware development for desktop and console from cell phones hardware.
* Physical Size
The hard ware for video games in desktop are large compared with a cell phone. The size of the desktop is almost 10 times larger than a cell phone. While playing a game, from either a desktop or console the components used are big. Such components are the keyboard and mouse in the case of a desktop and a TV in case of a console. All this hardware are large compared to cell phone (Gantzler 69).
* Number of components
Video game for desktop and console requires more components. In case, one is using a desktop machine, mouse and a keyboard must be there. A CPU is also required. Likewise, when using a console a TV has to be connected. In cell phone video game, only the phone is required (Subrahmanyam 23).
* Portability
Cell phones are smaller than a desktop, and therefore fit in ones hand. They are designed for mobility. They also have internal batteries which can be charged anywhere. This means that they can be carried from can place to another. Hence, video games can be played anywhere anytime (Gantzler 78).
* Weight
Desktop are heavy and so they are not portable hence can only be used at one fixed point. Mobile phones on the other hand, are light and flexible hence can be carried anywhere any time. Therefore, a game that is installed in a desktop or a console is likely to be played only in doors. This is because it can be hard to carry desktop or console out (Chandler 29).
* Display.
The displays of desktop and TVs are larger compared with that of a cell phone. This means that even the display of the video game in a desktop will be larger than that of a cell phone. Desktop display has a sharp visual and has highest pixel density. A cell phone device has limited control and input while a desktop do not have this constraint (Chandler 36).
Differences of video games software development for desktop and console from cell phones hardware.
* Storage
The storage of a desktop machine is larger compared with that of a cell phone (Gantzler 36). This means that desktop software can save more games each with higher memory. Cell phone software is almost ten times smaller than that of a desktop or console. Hence, the cell phone games will open very slowly or it cannot be seen at all, especially if it contains large images and content. It can also crash the phone device.
* Different programming
In the recent days, mobile programming has grown 10 times faster than desktop programming. A desktop has at least 1 GHz processor, 1 GB RAM and a few gigabytes while a cell phone has 20MHz processor and 100 kb of memory (Novak 82). This makes a big difference between the video games in a desktop and in a cell phone.
* Multiple tasking
Most cell phones are designed to do a single task are one time unlike in a desktop where one can perform many task at ago. This means when one is playing a video game in a cellphone he or she can not open another application other than the game with the same phone. One cannot even listen to the music using the same device (Chandler 59).
* Power storage.
In a desk top machine and console, the power source has to be always connected unlike in a cell phone where the phone has to be charged (Novak 100). Comparing two people playing video games, one using a desktop or a console and another using a cell phone, in case power goes off, the person using the phone will still continues to play the video game.
* Functionality
Mobile phones have less functionality compared to desktop. This is because cell phones are hand held devices with less computing power than the desktop. This functionality varies between the web applications as some are simplistic while o...