Video game consoles have become increasingly popular, and to choose the best one is often a dilemma. That’s why let’s consider the main features from the list of video game consoles and their target audience.
What is a game console?
Many of you can remember the time when the play market was flooded with all sorts of cheap game consoles. Everyone surely remembers yellow cartridges “1000 games”. During that period, and even a little earlier, such game consoles of major manufacturers as Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo, Sega MegaDrive, etc. hit the market. Those classic video game consoles were exclusively for games and to use the console for other purposes was almost impossible. Various accessories and software for game consoles were produced, but they did not become popular enough. The main purpose of game consoles was just games.
Modern consoles allow you not only to play games but also have a lot of other possibilities, such as access to the Internet, watching movies and photos, listening to music and so on. Game consoles have become truly multi-functional devices nowadays and successfully replaced DVD and Blu-ray players, media players, and other equipment.
Video game consoles can be divided into two main categories:
– Portable or pocket consoles (PSP, DS) are ideal for travelling and playing at home on the couch.
– Stationary consoles (PS4, Xbox One, Wii) have an advantage of the high quality of the image and their possible use as multimedia centers.
Why should you buy a game console?
The first reason is entertainment, of course, whether it’s a game, a movie or music. A variety of game genres allows you to choose the right game for any sophisticated taste and for any age category.
The second reason is the use of the console as a media center. Video game consoles allow transferring music, photos and movies to the TV set. In addition, you can play files from the console hard drive, and also use your console as a Blu-ray or DVD player.
The third reason is different Internet services and social networks as Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
The fourth reason is physical training with the help of games. Of course, they will not replace hikes or training in the gym, but if you have little free time, then these exercises will be useful for you.
As you can see, game consoles can successfully perform a lot of computer functions and even help you keep fit.
In fact, you can easily get lost among the game console varieties, their specifications. It is a well-known fact that Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony are the main leaders in the gaming market. Therefore, let’s take a closer look at their offspring and compare PlayStation 4, Xbox and Nintendo.
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Which is better – PS4 or XBox One? The disputes about these game consoles have not subsided since their production.
Significantly, both platforms are based on the eight-core AMD Jaguar processor of x86-64, operating at 1.75 GHz. More precisely, despite the identity of the CPU, the other specs of the system are quite noticeably different. And above all, it’s graphics.
Graphics XBox One vs PS4 is compared to the following characteristics.
FLOPS – the number of floating point operations performed by the GPU in 1 second (peak power indicator). By this parameter, the processing power of the Playstation 4 is higher than that in Xbox by 1.4 times.
The number of shading units is responsible for the speed of processing certain parameters of three-dimensional graphics (textures, shadows, displacement of objects, etc.) and the image realism. PS4 against XBox One has more of them: 1152 and 768 respectively.
The number of rendering blocks ROPs are responsible for the clarity of the output image. The video card Sony has 32 of such units, and Microsoft has 2 times less.
In addition to the rest, the PlayStation 4 GPU has advantages due to tessellation support positively affecting the quality of object detail and a more powerful accelerator.
And only the one indicator adds bonuses to Xbox – this is the clock speed of the GPU. It is 853 MHz for Microsoft versus 800 MHz for Sony. That is, in general, the graphics processor of the Xbox works faster, so the visual quality of the graphics of the one and the other platform is quite comparable. And if you do not be excessively picky, the differences between the two are not so great.
The RAM volume of both here is 8 GB. But XBox One RAM modules vs PlayStation 4 have lower data rate – 86 GB / s (DDR3) compared to 176 GB / s for PS 4 (DDR5). However, the drawback of the data rate in the Microsoft console is compensated by an additional ultra-fast ESRAM memory module of 32 MB. Moreover, both consoles can use hard drives of 500 GB, plus there is access to cloud storage. This is enough for gaming collections for the main mass of gamers.
As for the interface, both game consoles are equipped with USB port, Wi-Fi module and NIC to connect to networking, HDMI, and optical outputs.
The PS4 operating system has received more socialization functions such as apps for communicating with other players, modules for broadcasting the game to the network with possible comment exchanging and even remote connection to the game. In short, thanks to the OS, the game console justifies its purpose and is used for games and communication.
Microsoft’s concept is notably somewhat different. The device is believed to be a home media center, and therefore 3 OSs have been developed for the new Xbox. They are the Xbox system OS, mini-Windows (especially for consoles) and a hypervisor, i.e. both the XBox OS and Windows can be used simultaneously.
Speaking of the Nintendo Wii console, it represents a revolutionary common ground between the game and the player. In general, Nintendo has never positioned the Wii as a competitor to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox 360 and One. Although Nintendo itself claims that its console is for a wider audience and rather a casual project for the whole family than a serious gaming platform.
The game system instantly conquers its appearance. The Nintendo game console was created in the minimalistic style. Unlike its competitors who tried to maximally improve the graphic capabilities of their consoles, the developers of the Nintendo Wii chose a different way. They equipped the console with an IBM PowerPC Broadway processor (729 MHz), 88 MB memory (24 MB of 1T-SRAM system memory, 64 MB of shared GDDR3 SDRAM memory). In addition, there is another 512 MB of flash memory for saving games, software and updates.
But special attention should be paid to the main highlight of the console as GamePad. This accessory, indeed, is impressive, because it is an independent portable game console. GamePad is equipped with a display allowing you to use the console almost everywhere without being tied to the TV. In addition, the device is equipped with a camera, an accelerometer, a magnetometer, a gyro and a touch screen. The game console WII U also boasts of various additional features: for example, powerful Internet browsers, the ability to download games via the Internet, as well as a variety of social functions.
In general, in contrast to its predecessors, this console is an original and rather unusual product that allows not only playing games, but also enjoying other multimedia features and Internet resources.
On the whole, it’s up to you and your tastes to choose the best game console for your pleasure. That’s why to play it for a long time and extend its life, never forget about its maintenance. As you should know that a proper storage extends the service life of any device. And video game consoles are not the exception.
Here are some tips for you how to store video game consoles.
The first rule is a well-ventilated area. Never forget to place the console far from heat-generating electronic devices, as they produce a great amount of heat hampering the game console performance.
Also, keep in mind that any video game systems can’t bear dust, cold and humidity that can really damage your entertainment devices. That is why it’s better to keep the game devices away from the saboteurs and pull the dirt out every six months.
Don’t keep game stuff on top of the game system as it reflects the heat back into the system. This causes improper functioning.
As it’s clearly seen, only with a few actions you can store your console in safe and it will serve you for a long time.