P1 - B - Platform Technology

Myles Harrison P1- B

Platform Holders:

Platform holders are the companies who own the platform of which games are played on. These platform holders compete with each other by bringing out exclusive games and all releasing the newest updated consoles around the same time. The top three platform holders are Sony which own PlayStation, Microsoft which own Xbox and Nintendo which own a variety of Nintendo Branded Consoles such as the Wii U.

Developers:

Developers are the people/company who design and produce computer games from scratch using graphics and computer coding with a team of developers within the company. Many game companies own other sub companies within which work on their own games, testing etc. For example, Rockstar Games owns Rockstar North which is known as vertical integration as their bosses are Rockstar games whereas Rockstar Games owners is Take 2 Interactive.

Xbox One:

The Xbox On was released 22^nd November 2013 and is still the most up to date console alongside PS4. It was created by Microsoft and is a home console which needs a power supply and an active internet connection to play online.

The memory/storage of the Xbox One is a choice of a 500gb console or a 1tb console (1000gb) The price of the console will depend on the memory as the higher amount of memory means more things can be downloaded and saved to the system such as games, videos, DLC, apps etc. External hard drives can also be inserted using the USB ports.

The Xbox One includes the Kinect which allows games to be played through a 1080p camera which faces the player so that their body movements control what happens in the game. The most popular Kinect game is the sky landers game. Kinect is usually aimed towards children and families due to the games which are featured on it. However, the console as a whole appeals to all ages and ethnicities.

The operating system the Xbox One runs on is the “Xbox One system software” which was created by Microsoft and will only work on the Xbox system and is not open source software as nobody is allowed to change any part of it otherwise it would break the Microsoft terms of service.Some of their most popular releases was the Halo series which was produced all by Microsoft as a first party game which is aimed towards mature audiences.

PS4:

The PS4 was released 29^th November 2013 and is still the current generation console alongside the Xbox One. It was created by Sony and is a home console which needs a power supply and an active internet connection to play online.

The memory/storage of the PS4 mirrors the Xbox One and has the same storage options. The PS4 has a choice of a 500gb console or a 1tb console (1000gb) The price of the console will depend on the memory as the higher amount of memory means more things can be downloaded and saved to the system storage such as games, videos, DLC, apps etc. This means that the larger the storage the higher the cost. External hard drives can also be inserted using the USB ports just like the Xbox One.

The PS4 includes the PlayStation Move Motion which is like the Xbox Kinect with the controller. The PS4 also are releasing their Virtual reality system with the head gears o that games can be played in VR. Some games appeal to a more mature audience whereas some appeal to a younger audience whereas the Kinect usually only appeals to one audience which is children.

The PS4 operating system is called PlayStation 4 System Software. This was created by Sony and is legally only available for their consoles so if it was used by another company they would have a law suit for copyright infringement. Some of their most popular releases was The Last Of Us Remastered and Uncharted which were PS4 exclusives.

Wii U:

The Wii U was released worldwide by November 30, 2012. It was the first eighth-generation video game console which was released  year before the Xbox One and PS4. The console is like any other home console and has to be plugged in to function and needs to be connected to an internet connection to have network access.

The Wii U comes in two models both with different memory capacities; one with 8gb of storage and the other with 32gb of storage. The Wii U is played with an interactive handheld controller or alternatively a standard controller with buttons rather than using a motion controller. The Wii U’s games can be played with the controller or the motion controller but some games however are solely required to use one of the two.

One of the most popular releases exclusively for Wii U was Zombie U which is a zombie game which was fully interactive for the player which was new of its kind to be immersive and not just have to hold a controller while playing such a complex game.

IPhone:

The IPhone 6 came in three possible models all of which had different memory options. The models consisted of a 16GB model a 64GB model and a 128GB model. There is no external memory option for any of the 3 models. The IPhone 6 was released September 19^th 2014 worldwide just two weeks after their announcement.

The most updated IPhones runs on IOS 10 which is apples operating system. These updated IOS are downloaded via the settings with an active internet connection established. These updates offer new features and a better experience when using the phone.

The IPhone brand has an exclusive apple app store which features any different games which are able to be played for free or can be paid for. These games are not big in content and are usually small mini games or indie games as the processing speed would not handle fully functioning games such as GTA V whereas it can run GTA III as it is not as demanding on the phone as otherwise it could overheat or crash.