I’m not old enough to remember when Pong first came out, but I’m definitely part of the generation that enjoyed countless hours playing Destroyer, Space Invaders and Centipede.  For those of you too young, or too ashamed, to admit to knowing about these video games of years gone by, this is what an old Atari system looked like.  As you can tell, these systems had simple controllers: a joystick with one button.  I had to go to my friend Tony’s house to play, but boy did we have some fun.

Current game systems, sometimes called next-generation systems, play games much, much more complicated than those we played as children.  In fact, current game systems aren’t just for kids anymore.  Connecting one of these systems to a high-speed data connection to play online or receive updates is a given.  They do so much and vary in their specialties to the point of asking what we would do without them.  Oh, what would we do without them? 

Nintendo Wii

The Nintendo Wii seemed to come out of nowhere.  It wasn’t taken seriously at first due to Nintendo’s recent failures at console systems and the offerings of Sony and Microsoft.  But when it hit, boy did it hit big!  I think the system has been out for about two years and it is still hard trying to find one – a PS3 or Xbox 360 can be picked up whenever.

The big draw is the controllers that force the players to actually get involved and move.  Taking this one step further, Nintendo came out with the Wii Fit (pictured).  The Fit is a way to further get involved and lose weight while having fun.  I don’t own a Wii so I can’t really speak as to wether it works or not, but the Fit is a hit too.

The Wii’s specialty: player physical involvement.

Sony PS3

It was ridiculous how successful the Playstation and Playstation 2 have been.  People are still playing them like they just came out.  Unfortunately for Sony, the Playstation 3 (PS3) hasn’t been as successful.  Microsoft is partly to blame, but Sony must take a hit on this one too.  The system price was too high (some parents think it is still too high) when it came out and it has yet to get enough game titles to make most happy.

Putting aside its shortcomings, the PS3 plays Blu-ray discs.  As a matter of fact, it is still considered one of the best Blu-ray players out.  Blu-ray, conveniently a Sony thing, has yet to totally catch on, but the picture is better than DVD and the only gaming console to play the discs is the PS3.  How about a two-in-one device?

The PS3′s specialty: Blu-ray player.

Microsoft Xbox 360

This is the system I own so I’m sort of biased.  The Xbox took a while to take off, but like everything Microsoft, we get comfortable with a Microsoft product and it almost becomes the standard.  The Xbox 360 improved on the original Xbox and there are no signs of a slowdown any time soon.

If you want to play games online or be part of a community Xbox Live is the preferred method.  The funny thing about it is the fact that Microsoft thrives on a $50 online community which should be free.  Hey, I happily pay my money so I can’t really complain right?  The graphics are great, I can play with my nephew who lives in Indiana and there is much more.

In November Microsoft updated the dashboard for the 360 and along with it came the ability to watch movies from Netflix.  The user must have a Netflix account and only movies available for instant viewing can be watched but it is still a neat feature.  A Netflix user without a 360 will have to purchase an additional piece of hardware to watch movies instantly so this is another reason to buy a 360.

The Xbox 360′s specialty: streaming Netflix movies.

It is much more than simply playing Donkey Kong or Astroids with the current crop of gaming consoles.  I didn’t even touch on the day Madden Football comes out – basically a holiday for gamers.

The point of this all is to get us closer to one device that does all we want it to.  One device that allows us to play, watch and browse whenever we want to seems to be within reach.  Now if the ISPs will play along and not apply download limits.  Another subject for another day.

No, I’m not talking about your New Year’s resolution, I’m talking about the resolution you see when you look at your TV screen. For years we have been trying to achieve a crystal clear television picture, capable of looking like the real thing. Remember when we thought a better picture was purely a function of the picture tube? That seems like so long ago. Let’s talk resolution the way it is looked at today.

I have to start off by apologizing to my nephew Kendall. We had a conversation about this the other day and I defended my opinion in error. Sorry man.

One thing to know right off the bat is resolution can be stated in either lines or pixels.  Fore the purpose of this discussion think lines of resolution and leave the pixel count to your computer monitor.  It is important to not get too caught up in all this though.  I think it is best to understand a little and let your eye tell you the rest since what you see when you watch TV is where pleasure is derived from.

What you see on your TV screen is made up of scan lines which means the whole image isn’t actually put on the screen at one time.  Each line is put on the screen (horizontally) from top to bottom in one of two ways: interlaced scan or progressive scan. 

An interlaced scan is completed when the lines are split into two fields in which all of the odd numbered lines are displayed first and then all of the even numbered lines are displayed next.  This process produces a complete frame.

When progressive scan is used the lines are displayed sequentially instead of being divided into two fields.  This means both the odd and even numbered fields are displayed in numerical sequence.

The number of lines is what you may see on the spec sheet for that new LCD TV you are considering and that is where some of the confusion comes in.  1080i was the big feature virtually every company used to show their product was hi-def (HDTV).  The part of this I had wrong the other day was when I thought DVD was hi-def.  DVDs produce up to 540 lines of resolution.  The lowest resolution considered hi-def is 480p so technically a DVD can produce hi-def, but from what I’ve learned the (storage) capacity of a DVD would only allow about 20 minutes of hi-def video - not quite what you are getting from that DVD you bought at Wal-Mart huh?  So, DVDs aren’t hi-def, at least not the DVDs we buy and watch.

480p, 720p and 1080i were the standards advertised on most HDTVs until recently (the last couple of years).  Now 1080p is the highest standard normally advertised, the “Holy Grail” of hi-def resolution.  The only problem I see is the fact that you need a blu-ray player and disk to get 1080p.  Guess what one of the cheapest blu-ray players is?  Sony’s PS3 gaming system!

So, remember how I said DVDs aren’t really hi-def and they produce up to 540 lines of resolution?  There is something called resolution upscaling which outputs a video signal in the 720p or 1080i format; the DVD player itself does this.  This isn’t the same as watching a blu-ray disk (go to a store and watch a blu-ray disk, they are phenominal) in true hi-def, but it will provide increased detail and color.

With the whole issue of analog TVs not working over-the-air in February 2009 I think this is a relevant subject.  I also hope this helps some wives and girlfriends understand why your significant other wants to buy that new TV before the football season!