Taking your old video game system online

Many people think of videogames in more or less three eras. The Pong era, the tennis videogame with the two bars and bleeping ball. The Atari and Pac-Man era, that propelled the videogame both in homes and in arcades. The Nintendo era, that took game systems to the next level. That was until the advent of the video game systems that we have today.
At this point, you are probably saying what is different about game systems today and what does that have to do with computers? The video game systems of today are more of a computer that happens to play video games, while older game systems primary function was to play video games. The Sega Dreamcast was the gaming console that took video gaming to the next level. It offered three features that facilitated this. The first feature was a graphical upgrade from the 64 bit graphical standard to 128 bits of graphics. The second feature was including an internal modem in their game console. The third feature was placing the games on compact discs instead of the industry standard cartridges. Those three features offered more options to gamers and has since become the foundation for many of the systems that we see today.
Playstation followed up its’ original version of its’ gaming console with a successor that has employed the components of the Dreamcast foundation and added a 300Mhz processor, compatibility with CD, DVD, and MP3s, and also two USB ports. Other extra options that are available are flash memory cards, network adapters, and a Linux kit. The Linux kit includes a 40GB hard drive, Ethernet network adapter, USB mouse and keyboard, and Linux software. The Linux kit was not designed for the novice gamer, but instead for those that are more comfortable with programming and hardware installation. This is partly because the hard drive must be internally installed. When Microsoft released the Xbox, it took gaming a step further. Microsoft built on the Sega and Playstation foundation by including an internal hard drive and operating system on their gaming systems without requiring additional purchases or installation.
These game consoles are now beginning to blur the distinction between computers and game consoles by assuming more computer tasks and functions. The network adapters that Playstation, Xbox, and Nintendo all offer, allows gamers to compete against other gamers via our friend the world wide web. The ability to verbally taunt your opponent by using a game communicator or microphone headset will help to promote online video gaming. Some game systems require a yearly subscription and a network adapter to game online, while others only require the network adapter. You still need to have internet access though. The only significant difference that I can tell between game consoles and PCs is the image quality divides due to the consoles’ use of TVs. Once the price of the pixel based Plasma TVs begin to fall I believe that this divide will also be eliminated.