Gaming Platforms

GAMING PLATFORMS

1. Arcade

Arcade gaming started and video games where features on arcade machines in almost every public place such as cafe's. It introduced fairly good graphics and sounds quality in games which caused it to become so popular, the catchy theme tunes and gameplay is what continues to be a selling point for games even today. The best sellers of arcade gaming like Pac-man Mario and space invaders

Advantages: 

Disadvantage: 
1. Takes money to play.2. The longer you play the more money it costs.

2. Console

Console gaming is one of the biggest markets and cultures in gaming today, events like E3 and gamescon are hosted every year where gamers from all over the globe gather to celebrate console games old and new and to experience new releases and consoles. The market for 8th generation consoles is one of the most competitive markets there's been, launch parties are held for new consoles like the PS 4 or Xbox 1 as to show off the new developments and try to dominate the gaming market. There are also new features on the Wii U console, and the PS 4

Advantages:

1. A lot of mainstream consoles have online marketplaces to buy games from if you cant get to a store
2. Popular all year round as apposed to platforms such as arcade
3. For a reasonable fee most consoles have online play via internet servers.

Disadvantage:

1. Need a screen

2. Mainstream consoles can be expensive, newly released consoles can cost up to or more a couple 100 pounds3. As it is the most popular platform with the most features it can make people lazy in terms of other responsibilities.4. Can be costly to keep up with new game releases for each platform 

3. PC

PC gaming is a very diverse platform, it was one of the first platforms to be introduced and because you can install drivers and emulators you can play a wide range of games from different formats/platforms depending on the power of your computer. Gamers can also buy a tower case and then buy gaming hardware from websites and build their own gaming computer, although gaming computers can be bought already built and specifically design for gaming like "alienware". There is also the feature of multitasking as with all computers, you can use task manager  to browse the web, play music, watch a film and/or play games simultaneously (if you want to). This said, gaming computers normally have slightly different hardware to standard PC's with improved heat management, graphics cards, generally better RAM space and memory space for games that need more space to run.

Advantages:
1. Online marketplaces such as steam with accounts that can be accessed on consoles
2. Can be played on indoors with commuting like consoles
3. Compatible with many different game formats such as PS 1, PS 2, Nintendo 64, game cube, Nintendo ds, Gameboys etc.
4. Can surf the web and do other things whilst gaming

Disadvantages:
1. Performance of PC games depend on the PC itself, gameplay can be slow and laggy
2. Streaming can lead to viruses for inexperienced people
3. Gaming computers can be expensive
4. Tend to break and have problems more than consoles

4. Mobile


The earliest development in mobile gaming was the game "snake" which you could play on the earliest mobile phones which was a simple game with 8 bit graphics easy controls and high addictiveness. this lead to the mobile gaming industry based around the idea of gaming and playing simple addicting games in public places and on devices that can be carried around with you. Although mobile gaming has come a long way since the most popular amongst industries being apple products.
The most obvious feature of Mobile platforms in terms of games is that they are portable and can be carried around and played anywhere which can be useful when your on public transport or in a waiting room somewhere and have some time to kill. Also a lot of business and restaurant's offer free Wi-Fi so you can multitask browsing the web and playing games, whilst also staying connected to friends, also due to the fact a lot of apps and games are connected to the internet or require internet to play they feature servers where you can play with other people online.

Advantages:

• a lot of mobile platform games are free
• can keep you occupied for hours and is usable of public transport.
• games that need internet can be played in cafe's where there is normally free wifi

Disadvantages:

• although a lot of mobile games are free there are is level progression and power ups for difficult levels that cost money that people can end up paying a lot of money on over time
• modern phones can easily be broken and have cracked screens
• games normally aren't as detailed an as in depth as console games