Week 6 New Technologies

Next-Gen Consoles

With the release of the next gen consoles the games industry has the opportunity to produce video games with higher quality as this next gen hardware can handle the performance specification needed to run the high quality these new video game titles will offer.

Along with this powerful hardware comes the opportunity for new hardware to attach to these consoles. I will discuss the most recent technology in connection to next gen hardware theses technologies include, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Duel-Screens and cross platform gaming

(VR) Virtual Reality & (AR) Augmented Reality

Virtual Boy 

Virtual reality has always been something that the games industry has tried to develop it began in the early 80s with the virtual boy this piece of hardware was produced by Nintendo and was a very sizable head set but due to technology constraints this did not do well in the eyes of the consumers.



Only recently due to the massive leap in technology which has allowed for an increase in hardware capabilities which has resulted in new VR technology such as the Oculus Rift which started on kick started from a small developer, Due to the massive interest from consumers even companies such as Sony are planning their own VR headset having a company as big as Sony taking interest in this technology proves how far this technology has come.

Sony VR - Project Morpheus 

Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality contains a very similar concept to VR, although used on a smaller scale within the more small handhelds such as Nintendo 3DS and so on this technology has also reached to the mobile market in gaming, AR works with the cameras in your device and generates 3D graphics which are layered on top of real life surrounds which are captured through the camera.




Two Screens for gaming

The secondary screen has only within the last decade become more popular to the development of the Nintendo ds which was the first true hand held console to hold two screens and one being a touch screen this has been translated into more powerful hardware.
As the Nintendo Wii U which the secondary screen is the technically the controller known as the game pad this allows the player to interact in various ways with the on screen video game such as a survival horror game,where the player must access their in game inventory which with the game pad can be accessed the leads to a more immersive style of game play as it gives the player a more sense of control.

Wii U - Game Pad 

The second screen which can relate to the video game being used is not only limited to the Wii U although this is where it first began. Microsoft have developed an app "Smart Glass", which in fact allows the player to use there iPad or tablet to download this app which will allow the user to interact with their video game in the same way the game play allows the player to interact. This technology is becoming more accessible to a wider community due to the advances in mobile hardware.

Xbox Smart Glass

Cross-platform gaming 

Sony have taken a leap into developing cross platform gaming with their PlayStation consoles, they began with the simple use of using the PlayStation portable and using this as controller for the PlayStation console. Now with the new hardware with the PlayStation 4 and the PlayStation Vita cross platform gaming technology has progressed, allowing the player to stream directly from their ps4 consoles and play their ps4 video games on the PS vita with no frame rate issues or syncing issues this is a great feature that Sony offer.

Sony Cross-Play