HCI Task

HCI Task

Screens

 Screens, the main source that all platforms require for you to play your games whether that is a chunky screen from the 1990’s to the touch screen on your phone. Screens have developed over a very short space of time, and they are constantly getting better and better, we have now got the technology to take the 3D that we see on the big screen and put it into a small device such as a phone or a Nintendo 3DS. With these big improvements in technology we could reach 4D sooner then we know.

TV’s have become one of the biggest screens that are need to play consoles such as Xbox 360’s and PS3’s, including your computer, this is because it give more of the bigger and better experience in games by giving you a bigger screen giving you a more detailed game.

Computer screens are main used for the computers since these are the oldest type of screen they have been improved a lot over the years giving better advance, giving you, the player a better game experience.

Touch screens are quite new to the market, since this is a very recent advancement in technology. But gaming industries have taken this opportunity and made games that have become very successful such as Angry Bird. This is a very good advance because it gives people the opportunity to play their favourite games on their phone where ever they want and whenever they want.
The newest improvement in technology is the 3D concept, where you can experience your favourite games in 3D which is a big advancement but it hasn’t been completely successful yet, though it is a great idea it also had its fault where you would have to look at the screen at a certain angle to give the effect, but since technology is advancing very quickly in the game industry, so will the screens that will improve the experience ever more.

Keyboards  

Keyboards have been one of the biggest priorities of the computer or laptop, since these are what are used for everyday use on one of them. Keyboards on the computer are used in many different ways, some use it to do work, other to research or find what they are looking for on the Internet and others to have a sit back and relax playing games. Keyboards in gaming on the PC are quite important since nearly each and every key is/ can be allocated to do a certain task, may it be opening the inventory or even casting a special skill.
Other consoles like the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360 also take control of the keyboard but they aren't really used for the gaming, some may give you the option to play using a keyboard but mainly the keyboard is used only for contacted other players/friends or to use to find stuff in the consoles browser, to even the simplest task of name your character.

Joysticks

Joysticks are special controllers that were design for the PC giving the player easier control in certain games such as battlefield when you're flying a jet to simply driving a tank, it was meant to make your gaming experience better and a lot more fun, though they we're getting popular among the PC users they have now become not so popular due to the new gaming consoles like the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and the Wii. These consoles have taken over the PC industry and become the systems for the best gaming experience, which meant that less people started using the PC, therefore meaning that the Joystick became less of an essical item that all gamers wanted/needed.

       Pads

Pad are the controllers that are everything to the gaming world at this moment in time, since all the big consoles use a controller in some sort of way or the other. But the two big consoles that are using pads is the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360. The pads are used for every/most games that you can play on these consoles, may that be a simple driving game to fighting in a war time situation, they have been made to be playable with any game that is/has been put out on the market today. Though they are the main controllers that we use to date they a rapidly become some what of the joy stick, when new technology comes in the old ones go out.

Touch Screen

Touch screen is associated the modern phones today, advancement in phone has rapidly increased over the past couple of years where only a few years ago you were only just being able to play music you liked on them. Touch screen is a great way to play a game that you have on your phone, it makes you interact more with the game and it make you become more indulged in playing the game more and more. The great thing about touch screen is that you can use it in basically any game that is given, may that be a shooting game where all you need to do is tap the screen or even using one side of the screen for movement and the other for your weaponry, to a driving game where one side might be the acceleration or turning and the other side for breaking, to as simple as a farming game where you can access the menus with a simple touch of a button and the same with placing an item somewhere.

Steering wheel

Steering wheels were first brought out the PC, to make certain games become better and these games were the facing type such and the big franchise of the day "Need For Speed", this was the game of the time and everyone wanted it, and having a steering wheel made your game play ten time more exciting and fun, you felt like you were actually driving the car, and this was the experience that the makers wanted to give you. Steering wheels are such a success with any racing game they started to make them for the gaming consoles such as Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 where they made the steering wheel like the PC style, with the wheel being a separate device from the controller, to even the Wii where you simply put you remote into a steering wheeled plastic object.

Pointing Devices

Pointing devices have been around for quite a few years now, they were first introduced when the console the Wii came out, this was a big hit and this got the Wii console selling out within a few day making it hard for anyone else to get. Since this the Playstation 3 thought that it would be a good idea to introduce their own Wii handset which wasn’t such a big success as the Wii was. Pointing devices are a way that the person can literally point with the controller at the screen and have the ability to move your cursor to the exact position you want to. For the Wii this controller was used for the Wii sports games such as bowling and tennis and for the Playstation 3 it was for sword fighting and archery, both platforms would require you to perform the movements you would actually to in a game of bowling or archery to be able to play the game.

Motion detectors

Motion detectors are starting to take over the gaming pad in every consoles in the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360 to even phones, they are become the new controllers of the modern day, they are a better way of interacting with a game, it makes you feel like you are needed/wanted in the game and it gives you an all new gaming experience, where your body is the controller. Every motion you make will cause an action within the game, may that be that you move your hand to selected or grab an item, to holding moving you hands like you were shooting a bow, to actually shoot a bow. Also motion detectors have started to come to the gaming world of phones where tilting your phone to the right would cause you character to move to the right and holding your phone flat would cause you character to move forward. The way that we are being able to play games is constantly changing and improving, its only a matter of time before this technology was is outdated and even better technology comes in a creates the better gaming interface.

Headsets

Headsets weren't really part of playing a game, they are more for contacting/interacting with fellow team mates online, to get the upper hand in a game to a simple chat. But someone decided it was a good idea to remove the head set and put it into a deceives such as the Xbox Kinect where it will recognize what you are saying and perform that command. Though this technology hasn’t caught on as well as other technology such as the motion detectors (Which are also found in the Xbox's Kinect) it is become something that is being developed, and being considered for the more casual player, in a game where you actually have to talk to interact with an NPC.

Camera

The camera is sort of an old device, that has been out done by better technology. Camera's were the old motion detectors, where your action would cause and certain action to happen, but they weren't so good, some actions couldn't be picked up some of the time and the quality of the games seemed to be very poor and it wasn’t very exciting to play a game like this excluding the fact that there was so little gaming verities that were available for the camera gaming, though this is amongst the consoles such as the Playstation 2.

GPS

GPS is more for the actual gamer who like to go out and about exploring the world and having fun doing it, by playing games. Smartphones came up with the idea of a GPS a few years ago, such a game called "Geocaching" where the gamer would be given coordinates to a certain location, and there mission was to get to this spot and then they would find a case such as a lunchbox or ammunition case which would be full of items that previous people who have found and items that they have placed in the case, because once you find the case you take one item from it and replace it with something you have.


Compass

A compass is generally used to guide people round places by using north, south, east and west, but a compass can be used in a game such as a game on a ds where you move the ds around and on the bottom screen there is a compass and on the top there is a environment where if you find a monster you have to kill it but to move you have to use the compass. A good design for a compass would be something that is small so that it doesn't take up too much of the screen, and also big enough so that it is easy to see.

Augmented reality
Augmented reality is where the user uses, their controller and can use it in real time. A good idea is of this thing is the 3DS, they have taken a game where you look around the room and then you can place down a a card to show that you want to start a battle with this monster, this kind of game is very new, but the franchise hasn't really caught on well because its very limited and cannot offer as good a gaming environment as other games can.