The Terms - N-Z

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#003399" TEXT="#080000" background="040c8c00erkjxk.jpg"> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#0066CC" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#99CCFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>Next-Gen Console Wars</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFF99" FACE="Arial" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#CC0000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT>  |     <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="NextGen Console Wars"><U>home</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Current Situation"><U>The Current Situation</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id47.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="NEWS"><U>NEWS</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Playstation 2"><U>Playstation 2</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="X Box"><U>X Box</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Game Cube"><U>Game Cube</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE=" The Terms AM"><U> The Terms-   A-M</U></A>   |   <B>The Terms -  N-Z</B>   |   <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Information/Contact me"><U>Information/Contact me</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id46.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Thanx!"><U>Thanx!</U></A></div> <div> The Terms -  N-Z</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>N</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Network Games</B> Multiplayer games run simultaneously on many computers or consoles which are networked together, either locally or remotely (generally through a direct modem connection, the Internet or an online service). The advantage of network gaming is that playing a game with other people is almost always more engaging than playing against a computer. The disadvantages include problems with latency and the fact that most local networks exist only in the workplace, which is not the ideal environment for playing games. </div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>O</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Object Code</B> Intermediate file format between high level source and Assembly, object code can be combined with other object code files to produce one big executable. This allows programmers to write games in small bits, rather than have one massive file.</div> <div>  </div> <div> <B>Operating System (OS)</B> The program that runs a computer, whether a PC, Genesis, or PlayStation. It is loaded into the computer's memory first when it is switched on, and acts as the interface between the hardware and the software that runs on the system</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>P</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>PAL</B> Short for Phase Alternating Line, the dominant television standard in Europe. The United States uses a different standard, NTSC. Whereas NTSC delivers 525 lines of resolution at 60 half-frames per second, PAL delivers 625 lines at 50 half-frames per second. Many video adapters that enable computer monitors to be used as television screens support both NTSC and PAL signals.</div> <div>  </div> <div> <B>Palette Swap(ping)</B> A technique in which a videogame uses the same basic character with a different color scheme to make the character look like a different character. Used often in the Mortal Kombat series and many RPGs, and other fighters.</div> <div>  </div> <div> <B>Parallax Scrolling</B> A method of simulating a 3D feel by having multiple 2D background planes moving at different speeds with the planes that are "farthest" from the player moving more slowly than those in the foreground.</div> <div>  </div> <div> <B>Perspective Correction</B> Also known as inverse texture mapping. Without this, texture mapping is done relative to the 2D screen, causing the texture to "swim" and deform as the object moves in 3D space. By mapping the texture in 3D perspective space, this effect is negated, but at considerable computational cost. Lack of perspective correction is most apparent when looking at a texture mapped object which recedes far into the distance, like the ground or a wall.</div> <div>  </div> <div> <B>Phong Lighting</B> Developed by Bui-ti Phong in 1972, a method of lighting a 3D world, the phong lighting model applies three different types of lighting to the vertex of every polygon. Phong lighting works by performing operations based on the normal of the polygon, the "normal" being an imaginary line drawn orthogonal (straight up from) the face of the polygon. The first of the three lighting types is ambient light - light which is just there because god (in this case the programmer) said it was. It affects every polygon equally. Diffuse lighting is the second type. It assumes that there is no reflection from the objects it is lighting (clay is an example of a nearly perfect diffuse surface), but it does take into consideration the angle that the light hits the surface. If it hits it fully, it will be 100% illuminated, if the object is turned slightly, it will be less illuminated, etc. The third aspect is called specular highlighting, which takes into account the angle between the light-source and the "eye" of the viewer, so that if the light bounces off a particular spot on the object straight into the "camera" it will be illuminated 100%, and less so if it misses the camera. The phong lighting model is fairly realistic for games, but fails to account for the fact that in real life, reflections off of steel or other metals change color depending on what angle they're viewed from, while specular highlighting always gives a reflection of the same color. Phong lighting works only on the vertices of a polygon (using Gouraud shading to color the rest of the polygon), so if a highlight happens to fall in the middle of the polygon, it will be missed, which requires programmers to "tessellate" or break-up large polygons into many small ones to be sure of "catching" highlights at vertices. However, phong lighting is very fast and doesn't require much processor power.</div> <div>  </div> <div> <B>Phong Shading</B> A method of shading that applies the phong lighting model not to every polygon, but to every pixel of every polygon.</div> <div>  </div> <div> <B>Photorealistic</B> An image which approaches photographic quality. With a large enough color palette (around 16,000 colors) it is possible to display photorealistic images on a TV or computer screen. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Pixel</B> Short for PIcture ELement, it is the smallest discrete unit of a computer or TV tube that can be assigned a specific color, the "dots" that make up TV and computer screen pictures. It is also used to refer to smallest element in a digitized image. </div> <bR> <div> <B>PlayStation</B> 32-bit videogame console introduced by Sony in September 1995. Originally conceived as an add-on to Nintendo's SNES (see: PSX), the CD-based standalone console went on to become the most successful of the '90s "next-generation" gaming consoles, beating out Nintendo's N64 and Sega's Sega Saturn.</div> <div>  </div> <div> <B>PlayStation 2</B> Sony's follow-up to the mega-popular PlayStation console. Although it utilizes more advanced circuitry and chipsets, this DVD-based system is fully backwards compatible to its predecessor. The console is powered by a 300 MHz CPU and outputs DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound in DVD playback mode. The PS2 launched in Japan on March 4, 2000 and October 26, 2000 in the US.</div> <div>  </div> <div> <B>PlayStation one</B> Redesigned, smaller version of the original PlayStation. The system, which is about 1/3 the size of the PSX is 193 mm wide, 38 mm in height and 144 mm in depth and it weighs in at 550g. Launch date: July 7, 2000 in Japan and September 19, 2000 in the US.</div> <div>  </div> <div> <B>Point Sampling</B> The standard way for mapping a texture map to a 3D object. Only one point on the texture map is looked at per pixel. When the object being mapped is very close to the camera, the same texel is mapped to many pixels, resulting in the blocky close-ups found in Doom and other games. When the object being viewed is far from the camera, the distance between texels represented in contiguous pixels is too great, resulting in a swimming, aliased effect. Contrast with interpolation, mip-mapping.</div> <div>  </div> <div> <B>Polygon</B> A three or more sided 2D shape from which 3D environments are created, and which can then be represented on a 2D screen.</div> <div>  </div> <div> <B>Prerendered</B> A 3D scene which is rendered and then stored, usually as a bitmap. Prerendered images are often used as backgrounds in games, likePlaystation's Resident Evil . Unlike scenes which are rendered in realtime, you cannot change the viewing angle or size of a prerendered image.</div> <div>  </div> <div> <B>Producer</B> Although the roles of producers differ at different companies, generally, the producer coordinates the activities of the designer, programmers and artists on a game. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Programmer</B> The person who actually writes the code that makes up a game. Ten years ago, programmers were often also the designers and artists of their games, but this is now the exception, not the rule.</div> <div>  </div> <div> <B>Publisher</B> A company which actually physically produces discs, boxes, and manuals, and handles getting software boxes into stores as well as marketing and advertising. Publishers may develop their own games (like Interplay) or they may contract all their games out to independent developers, or they may do some of both. </div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>Q</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Quad Speed</B> A measure of speed of CD-ROM drives. A quad-speed drive,  spins the CD four times as fast as the original standard called for (a single speed drive), and enables the computer to take information off the CD four times as fast. </div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>R</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>RAM (Random Access Memory)</B> This is the temporary memory in a computing device, where information directly relating to what the processor is currently working on is stored. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Rasterization</B> The process of going from a mathematical, polygonal representation of a 3D scene to a 2D image displayed on a screen. This is where the intensities of lighting on polygons are translated into actual color values for pixels on the screen. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Rating(s)</B> In 1994, after a '50s style senate witch-hunt in which videogames were blamed for every problem facing American youth, the videogame industry caved in and implemented a ratings system. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Ray Tracing</B> A way of rendering a 3D image which follows the path of every ray of light. Noninteractive, it works best for rendering images which have many reflective surfaces, like steel balls. </div> <bR> <div> <B>RCA Cord</B> The standard connecting cord for video and audio information. Yellow cords are for the video signal, white is for left channel audio, and red cords are for right channel audio. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Realtime</B> Adjective which indicates that the thing it modifies happens immediately. Almost all games function in realtime. Another peripheral definition is where things progress in a temporal sequence whether a player is there to witness it or not. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Region Coding</B> DVD players and gaming machines are often "region (en)coded," which means they are limited to playing back software made for the local market. Region coding is basically a pretty straightforward way of ensuring that the varying worldwide release dates of movies are adhered to by consumers. The region codes for DVD players are as follows: </div> <div> Region 1: U.S., Canada, U.S. Territories</div> <div> Region 2: Japan, Europe, South Africa, Middle East (including Egypt)</div> <div> Region 3: Southeast Asia, East Asia (including Hong Kong)</div> <div> Region 4: Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Central America, Mexico, South America, Caribbean</div> <div> Region 5: Eastern Europe (Former Soviet Union), Indian Subcontinent, Africa (also North Korea, Mongolia)</div> <div> Region 6: China</div> <div> Region 7: Reserved</div> <div> Region 8: Special international venues (airplanes, cruise ships, etc.) </div> <bR> <div> <B>Render</B> When the computer creates a graphic representation of an abstract mathematical 3D model. It can take hours to render an extremely complex scene (like a frame from the movie Toy Story); 3D games exist in an environment which can be rendered enough times per second to provide the illusion of actual motion. This is known as being rendered "on-the-fly" or, "in realtime." </div> <bR> <div> <B>Resolution</B> A measure of the density of pixels on a screen, measured by two numbers, which represent the number of pixels available across and down the screen (e.g. 640x480). Many computers and game systems can generate video output at a variety of resolutions. Higher numbers are capable of displaying more detailed and lifelike images. </div> <bR> <div> <B>RGB (Red, Green and Blue)</B> RGB refers to the way monitors and TVs create color images. Creating colors on a screen is an additive process, in which the primary colors are red, green, and blue (in the reflected color model, the primary colors are magenta, yellow, and cyan - often misconstrued as red, yellow, and blue). Each pixel on a screen is made up of three sub-elements, one red, one green, and one blue. When each sub-element is excited by the electron gun in the back of the tube, it glows. Depending on the intensity with which it glows, it can have a state somewhere between black (not glowing) and fully red, green, or blue. When all three sub-elements are fully glowing, the pixel is perceived by the eye as glowing white. By varying the intensity at which the various sub-elements of the pixel glow, different colors are created. Computers and consoles can cause the sub-elements to glow at a certain finite number of intensities. If the system can generate 8-bit color, it can make each sub-element glow at 8 different intensities (one per bit), which results in 256 different colors. The number of colors that can be displayed is equal to 2x, where X is the number of bits assigned to color. See also bit.</div> <div>  </div> <div> <B>ROM (Read Only Memory)</B> This is memory data that can be read by the CPU, but cannot be rewritten over. Traditionally, ROM was found only inside computers. Cartridge games changed that, by storing games on ROM chips which were inserted into the system. The use of CDs as a storage mechanism changed the definition again, as ROM left chips and began residing on plastic discs. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Rotoscoping</B> A way of creating animation by tracing the movements of human actors from film or video. Previous to the advent of motion capture, this was the best way of getting smooth, humanlike animation. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Rubbernecker</B> Analogous to the "tire kicker" who frequents car dealerships without ever making a purchase, a rubbernecker is someone who hangs around game stores like Electronics Boutique or Software Etc. without ever buying a game. Most hard-core gamers "rubberneck" from time to time. </div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>S</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>S-video</B> A video cable standard that is less subject to interference than standard video RCA cables. </div> <bR> <div> <B>S3TC</B> Developed by S3, S3TC (S3 Texture Compression) is a technology used to compress textures in 3D games. Textures are compressed at a 6:1 ratio. S3TC technology is built into Gamecube's graphics chip. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Saturn</B> A 32-bit console introduced by Sega in May 1995, it features dual Hitachi 28 MHz RISC processors. Released early in a surprise move by Sega, it suffered until late 1995 when the first excellent titles, Virtua Fighter 2 and Sega Rally were released. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Scaling</B> Some consoles like the Lynx, for instance, had the ability in hardware to scale sprites very quickly and very smoothly. The Super NES was also touted as having hardware scaling of sprites. In reality it only supported hardware scaling of backgrounds which programmers used tricks to make it look as if it was scaling sprites. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Scan-line Conversion</B> Process used to take vertices defining a polygon, and fill the polygon in. In simple terms lines are "drawn" between the vertices, and the minimum X value (in 2 space) and the maximum X value are recorded. Once the polygon is converted into a min/max value (basically lines running on the furthest left side, and right side) horizontal lines between the minimum and maximum are drawn, and the polygon is filled. Texture mapping, Gouraud, phong, and flat shading can all be accomplished using this procedure. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Second Party</B> A company which publishes software exclusively for a single company. SquareSoft was a defacto second party publisher for Nintendo, until it defected to Sony. See also first party and third party. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Sega CD</B> A CD-ROM drive add on for the Sega Genesis. Hampered by poor sales, long load times, dated graphics, and flat-out bad games, the Sega CD never caught on and died a quiet, unnoticed death when Sega pulled the plug on it in late 1995. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Shoshinkai</B> Former name of Nintendo's annual Spaceworld Expo in Tokyo, Japan. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Shovelware</B> A CD-ROM that contains exceptionally poor software, designed to sell units to uninformed consumers; also, a CD that contains dummy files to appear more full than it actually is. See also coaster. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Side-scrolling</B> The planes of the foreground and background move from left to right or vice versa. </div> <bR> <div> <B>SKU (Stock Keeping Unit)</B> Pure marketing jargon. In plain English, an SKU is the box that the software or hardware comes in. Pronounced "skew." </div> <bR> <div> <B>Slipstream Release</B> Often when a product is rushed to market (to make a heavily advertised release date, for example) it ships with bugs in it. Rather than recalling the software, the bugs are quietly corrected and the new software is "slip-streamed" shipped in place of the flawed original without any announcement. Sometimes people who find the flaw in the first shipping copy receive a free upgrade if they call and complain. Sometimes not. </div> <bR> <div> <B>SMS (Sega Master System)</B> Sega's 8-bit answer to the original NES, it and the Atari 7800 shared less than 10% of the U.S. market to Nintendo's 90+% in the 8-bit age. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Source Code</B> Computer instructions written in a language like C or Pascal, which a compiler translates into object code and which is then read directly by the CPU. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Specular Highlighting</B> AKA: Specular Reflection. A rendering technique that creates a reflection of the light source on a shiny surface. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Sprite</B> A 2D graphic object on-screen which can be manipulated without affecting the background images. Most pre-32-bit systems used sprites for everything that moved on-screen. </div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>T</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Tester</B> Someone who is paid by a software company to play a game extensively to ensure that it is bug-free and that the gameplay is at the appropriate difficulty level. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Texel</B> A texel is the term for the dots that make up texture maps (many people incorrectly call these bitmaps). Because texture maps scale larger and smaller as the object which is texture mapped moves toward or away from the camera, the dot which defines the color at any given point of a texture map may correspond at a ratio of less than or more than 1:1 with screen pixels. Thus, we call them "texels" to underscore the fact that, unlike the pixels that make up a standard bitmap, their size may be different from a screen pixel. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Texture Map</B> A special kind of bit-map, texture-maps are laid over or wrapped around polygons in 3D games to enhance the realism of the look of the game. A map of bricks may be laid over a polygon wall, for example. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Texture Mapping</B> The process of placing a bitmap image, or texture, on a surface during rendering. </div> <bR> <div> <B>TGS</B> See Tokyo Game Show. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Third Party</B> A company which publishes software for a console that it doesn't produce. Almost all software publishers are thus third parties. Getting the support of independent third parties is considered essential for a platform's (or first party's) success. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Tokyo Game Show </B>A bi-annual event held by Japan's Computer Entertainment Software Association (CESA). </div> <bR> <div> <B>Trilinear Interpolation</B> A rendering technique used to improve the appearance of a textured surface when viewed at a given distance by blending the colors of adjacent texels from two separate texture maps. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Trilinear MIP-map Interpolation</B> Also known as TLMMI. An advanced form of texture mapping. A sophisticated rendering mode combining trilinear interpolation with MIP mapping. </div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>U</B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>V</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Vector Graphics</B> An early graphics system used primarily in the early 80s that could only draw using bright green or blue lines against a black background. Asteroids, Star Wars and Battlezone are prime examples of vector graphics titles. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Vectrex</B> Early '80s home console with 9"x 11" black and white screen. Colors were provided via colored plastic overlays that stuck to the screen for different games. The system was based around the Motorola 68A09 microprocessor and was known for such games as Minestorm, Star Castle, Star Hawk and Solar Quest. These systems are quite rare, and are extremely valuable to collectors. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Vertex</B> A point in 3D space that defines a corner of one or more polygons. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Vertically Scrolling</B> The planes of the foreground and background move from the top of the screen to the bottom or vice versa. </div> <bR> <div> <B>View Volume</B> The portion of a 3D world that is actually viewed on-screen at any given moment.</div> <div>  </div> <div> <B>VRAM (Video RAM)</B> This is memory in a computer or console that contains the image shown of the screen. It can be read from (painted on the screen) and written to at the same time and it is far faster than using standard RAM. </div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>W</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Wave Table Synthesis</B> A way of creating sounds of simulated musical instruments by using samples of the instruments instead of purely electronic music generation</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>X</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Xbox</B> Microsoft's first videogame console, scheduled for launch in 2001. The system is said to be powered by an nVIDIA 300MHz custom Xchip and a 733 MHz Intel CPU. Although it is DVD-based like Sony's PlayStation 2, it raises the bar by also including a hard drive for storing massive amounts of data. </div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>Y</B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Z</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Z-buffering</B> When dealing with 3D graphics, it's very important that the computer not draw polygons that can't be seen by the user (that are off the screen or behind other polygons closer to the user's point of reference), since drawing, or rasterizing, polygons to the screen takes a lot of time. To avoid this in conventional 3D programming, the developers must take special care to note how polygons are drawn to the screen, in what order they are drawn, and they must keep a list, in memory, of the "order" in which the polygons go along the z-axis, so that time is not wasted drawing hidden polygons. Z-buffering is a hardware routine that takes care of the chores of knowing which polygons to draw and which to omit automatically. This speeds the process of drawing polygons to the screen and can allow a faster refresh rate. Although no 32-bit game machines support z-buffering, it's become a standard for 64-bit and later hardware. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Z-line/Z-axis</B> In a 3D environment, the Z-line or Z-axis, is depth. The X-axis defines height, the Y-axis defines width, and the Z-axis defines depth into the world from the edge on the view volume (the screen). </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>