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How gaming works
IN 1991, when Sony introduced the PlayStation, it appeared to be an unsuccessful venture. In fact, the turnover was so low, that Sony had to release a new and modified version of the PlayStation, Play-Station2, or PS2.
PS2 was launched in Japan in December 1994, and in Europe and United States in September 1995. Gaming buffs began buying PS2 and Sony finally hit the gaming gold mine. Superior game graphics along with PS2’s ability to run DVDs and audio CDs turned it into a multimedia centre of countless households.
The CPU in PS2 is a Reduced Instruction Set Computer processor (RISC), quite like the way it was in the earlier version. Instructions and computations done by the processor are simpler and fewer and these RISC processor chips are super scalar, meaning that they can perform multiple instructions at the same time and complete each instruction faster. This makes the CPU perform better than the previous version
There is also a special processor in the PS2, known as the Floating Point Unit (FPU), which handles complex mathematical equations, mostly the ones that include non-integers (numbers after the decimal point). These calculations are called Floating Point Operations (FPO) because the decimal point can move or float.
However, this depends on the result of the calculation. FPU has been installed in PS2 so that it does not affect the performance of PS2. Hence, these calculations go directly to the FPU.
The speed of FPU is very high and the process of these calculations is known as Floating Point Operations Per Second (Flops). A gigaflop is one billion flops, so PS2 with a 6.2 gigaflop FPU can perform 6.2 billion floating operations in a second.
The graphics synthesizer in this console handles the hardware effects of PS2. The synthesizer includes an alpha channel, Bezier surfacing, perspective correction and mip mapping.
An alpha channel is a special graphics mode, which adds the transparency effect to a certain object. This mode is used by digital video, animation and video games. An alpha channel works in the following manner:
1. 24 bits are used to define the amount of red, green and blue. A specific colour is created by 8 bits each.
2. Another 8 bits create a gray-scale mask, which acts as a separate layer for representing levels of object transparency.
3. The amount of transparency can be known by how dark the gray in an alpha channel is.
4. To make an object seem transparent, an area of the mask can be made dark gray.
5. If making the area of the mask light gray, you can create a special fog or water effect.
Bezier surfacing is a 3D modeling process, which creates an object. It also calculates the number of polygons that are needed to create an object. These numbers are bases on the level of detail, in order to make the object appear smooth to the viewer. PS2 performs these calculations on Bezier-surfaced objects that are in the game. The texture map has to be resized at the same rate as the object that it is mapped on, and this is done by perspective correction.
Mip mapping is a form of texture mapping where different sizes of texture map are made. When in the game, you move closer to an object, the processor changes the object to a more detailed image. PS2 uses these maps in tri-linear mip mapping as follows:
1. The system calculates the distance from your viewpoint to an object in the game.
2. The system loads texture maps for the object.
3. The system sets the exact size that the image map needs to beat.
4. The system then decides which two texture maps it has to use based on their size.
5. The system then calculates averages between the two texture maps it selected and then creates a custom texture map, which it applies to the object.
The system uses the smallest texture map as much as possible, because the smaller the texture map, the lower the processing load. However, smaller texture map are not always useful. Nearby objects get a blurry look in smaller texture maps, so larger texture maps are then used by the system.
The controller is the main thing, which gets a link between the user and PS2. The PS2 controller is very easy to use because of its winged shape, analog controls, and well-positioned buttons.
A standard PS2 controller has 15 buttons:
1. Four buttons arranged as a directional pad on the top left.
2. Analog, start and select buttons in the top middle.
3. Four action buttons on the top right.
4. Two action buttons on the front left.
5. Two action buttons on the front right.
6. One analog joystick on the top left.
7. One analog joystick on the top right.
Each button in the controller has a tiny curved disk attached to its bottom. This disk is very conductive. When the button is pressed, the disk is pushed against a thin conductive strip mounted on the controller's circuit board.
If the button is pressed lightly, the bottom part of the curved disk is all that touches the strip, increasing the level of conductivity slightly. The harder the button is pressed, the more the disk comes into contact with the strip, increasing conductivity levels. Controller buttons are pressure-sensitive.
Analog joysticks work differently as compared to the buttons. Two potentiometers and variable resistors are positioned at right angles to each other below the joystick. Constant current flows through both joysticks, but the amount of current is calculated by the amount of resistance. The position of the joystick increases or decreases resistance. PS2 monitors the output of each potentiometer and then determines the exact angle at which the user is holding the joystick. Only then can it give an exact response in the game. Games that support the analog feature have excellent control over gameplay.
PS2’s controller has another function in it, known as Dual Shock2. This function provides tactile stimulation to certain actions in a game, for example, in a racing game, you will feel the controller vibrating as your car slams into a wall.
The Dual Shock2 controller has two simple electric motors in it. Each of them are located in both controller handgrips. The shaft of each motor holds an unbalanced weight. The weight spins when power is supplied to the motor, the weight is unbalanced therefore the motor tries to wobble. However, since the motor is safely placed inside the controller, the wobble transforms controller vibration.
PS2 has become a very popular thing for all age groups. It is a highly addictive and entertaining multimedia device, for it provides good sound, quality graphics and unmatched gameplay. Now, whenever you run a game on PS2, you will all know exactly what is going on inside, while it loads the game for you.
The writer
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