The History of the GPU

Once upon a time, or rather at the year of 1946, the first computer as we know it was created. The mechanical wonder is called ENIAC. Compared to the mordern day computer, our "little" ENIAC here have more in common with the modern calculator. A calculator you had to reprogram every time you took the power off that is.

Much water has flowed under the bridge since then, and modern technology is evolving at a steady pase. One of the evolutionary steps the computer has taken through the years are the graphic card.

One of the first personal computers to get released with a graphic card was the Commodore Amiga. Finally, the computer had a dedicated part of it to show graphics. You plug the display cables directly into the GPU, and the GPU sends the final video signal. Before the inclusion of a GPU, the CPU had to draw the display and send the final video signal.

The first real GPU was created by Intel, the iSBX 275. Its resolution was 256 x 256 and had the ability to display eight unique colors. This was quite revolutionary, and this little magnificent tool is one of the most important steps in the evolution graphics, which also means it's an important step in the evolution of gaming. I may not find it the most important step gaming wise, but very important non the less.


But enough about when it came to be, let's take a look at an actual GPU. Namely the one that sits in our old school computers.
We had to tear it appart, to my big pleasure and entertainment, in order to discover what made it tick.
And this is what we found.

The simple way to explain how it works, are that it sends data to the screen. What kind of data? Binary data of couse! But what are binary? To put it simple, it's a whole bunch of 1's and 0's put together to form a separate language. And when I say a whole bunch, then I mean more like millions or billions of numbers. But as I said, the GPU sends this data to your screen. It analyses what the binary code means, and sends the output data. But why do you need a separate component to do this task? The simple answer I can give is performance. If you made the CPU handle all the work the GPU does, just like in old times, the CPU would simply shut down. It can not handle the amount of data at its own.

The graphic card was invented in order to handle the processing of screen data. The GPU are the part of the brain which handles your eyesight. If you had to give this task to the other parts of the brain, you would get stressed and eventually shut down.

Be warned, this blog post might not be 100% true. I just described the GPU the way I understand it.

Hvordan du tilføjer en Wiimote til din PC

ADVARSEL

Denne tutorial kræver at din PC har Blue-tooth, enten indbygget eller igennem en ekstern enhed.

Halløj! Denne tutorial vil tage dig igennem processen der er påkrævet for at tilkoble en Nintendo Wiimote til din pc. Hvorfor skulle man gøre dette spørger du? Det er en måde hvorpå du kan skabe nye måder at bruge programmer på. Selvfølgelig vil dette være mest nyttigt til spil, men af egen erfaring har jeg brugt det til at surfe på nettet, da min ene arm ikke havde det for godt. Du kan nemlig selv lave scripts til det, hvilket vil gøre det muligt at bruge det til så at sige hvad som helst, endda som mus.

Men nok om hvorfor, lad os så komme i gang! Men vent! Lige inden vi begynder, burde du sikre dig at din blue-tooth er tændt på din pc, hente din Wiimote samt downloade programmet GLOVEPIE. Bare rolig, det er ikke ulovligt og det er gratis! Det ødelægger ikke din Wiimote på nogen måde, men du skal være klar på at det dræner din strøm fra selve remoten.

Først åbner du din blue-tooth. Det gør du simpelt ved at klikke på den lille blå ikon nede i højre hjørne.
Jeg har valgt at markere ikoner og knapper med grøn, medmindre de er tydligt highlighted i sig selv.

Du vil nu blive mødt af denne menu, men inden du trykker ”Tilføj en enhed”, skal du finde din Wiimote frem. Nederest på Wiimoten er der to knapper, nemlig 1 og 2. Når du trykker på disse to samtidig, vil lysende nederst på remoten begynde at blinke. Alt efter hvor mange af dem der blinker, indikerer det hvor meget strøm den har tilbage i sine batterier.

Du skal nu begynde at trykke på disse to knapper samtidig og konstant, med et ét sekunders interval. Når du er påbegyndt dette, kan du trykke på ”Tilføj en enhed”.

Ny popper denne skærm op, desværre kan jeg ikke vise billeder af de næste 2 skridt, men jeg vil prøve at forklare det så godt og billedligt som overhovedet muligt.

Du skal selvfølgelig, som jeg fortalt tidligere, fortsætte med at trykke på de 2 knapper til denne del af processen. Efter et kort stykke tid, burde der gerne dukke en enhed frem hvis navn indeholder Nintendo. Klik på denne.
Efter et kort stykke tid, vil den spørge om du vil generere en sikker forbindelse. Den øverste mulighed burde gerne hede sig at du ikke vil gøre dette. Denne mulighed skal du klikke på, da en sikker forbindelse højest sandsynligt vil ødelægge muligheden for at scripte din Wiimote. Efter dette, vil den begynde at forbinde din Wiimote til pc’en. Efter kort tid burde den gerne komme med beskeden at din enhed er forbundet, og først her må du stoppe med at trykke 1 og 2 samtidig.

Nu burde din Wiimote gerne fortsætte med at blinke af sig selv, men i det tilfælde at den skulle stoppe, begynd ikke at gå i panik. Først senere vil vi finde ud af om den er tilsluttet eller ej. Nu skal du åbne programmet GLOVEPIE som jeg bad dig om at downloadet tidligere.

Når du kommer ind i programmet skal du trykke på ”Open” oppe i ”File” tappen.

Derefter vælger du mappen med scripts som er kaldet WiimoteScripts. Herinde kan du finde mange muligheder til hvordan du kan scripte din Wiimote til alle slags formål, men vi holder os til det simple i denne omgang.

Inde i mappen vælger du så NESController.PIE. Den vil scripte din Wiimote så dens knap layout minder om
den klassiske Nintendo Controller.

Efter du har valgt denne skal du så simpelt trykke ”Run”. Derefter vil ”Run” blive om til en ”Stop” knap, som du så skal trykke på når du vil stoppe scriptet.

Nu burde din Wiimotes første lampe gerne lyse konstant. Det vi har gjort her, er at lave din Wiimote om til en form for tastatur. Du kan inde i spil lave simple keybinds der passer til din Wiimote. Fordelen ved dette er du kan lave hvilket som helst script, til hvilken som helst situation. Denne guide er dog ikke til hvordan du selv laver scripts, men hvis du er kommet så langt her, kan du hurtigt gennemskue hvordan man laver om på dem. Programmet er nemlig en tekstbehandling i sig selv, så du kan nemt åbne filerne og ændre i dem.

En sidste ting. Når du på et andet tidspunkt vil tilkoble Wiimoten igen, skal du først slette enheden fra listen over enheder der er tilsluttet. Nintendo enheden burde gerne være synlig på den skærm, hvor du valgte ”Tilføj en enhed”. I stedet for at der står Ingen elementer svarede til dine søgekriterier, burde enheden gerne være der. Lav en simpelt højreklik på den, og klik "Fjern Enhed". Derefter gentager du bare processen igen.

Held og lykke, og håber du kan få noget sjov ud af hvordan du scripter din Wiimote!

The 3DS, The Social Media in the Pocket

Today, we had to test one of my favorite handhelds of all time. The 3DS.

The focus was the AR, Augmented Reality, which can create a "reality" around a certain point. The camera registers a picture, in this case a card, and creates a virtual game that animates around the card.

I know this is the technology that our teachers want us to write about, but my focus are elsewhere, and no, it's not the 3D technology.

It's the Spotpass and Streetpass.

The Streetpass are a simple funktion. While your 3DS are in sleep mode, it searches for other 3DS' within radious. Then it exchange data, which unlocks many funktions in your games. Other villagers may pop up in your town. New challengers may appear in form of other players. You gain more support for your army and so on.

Spotpasses are Wi-Fi spots that gives you data when you pass them. New items for your games, new people for your village and so on. It's great for events like GameStop exclusive items, you only have to carry your handheld to the store in sleep mode, and then you have it.

You gain bonuses for carrying your handheld console with you, and while you do, you also gets coins to spend in the games for every onehundred steps you take. You get rewards for having your handheld in your pocket at a stroll or trip to the mall.

But the bad point about this are our culture.

In Japan, people actually sits in cafés in order to play. They keep their handhelds with them at all time. In a country like Denmark, where every person minds their own business, do not gain this benefit. I carry my 3DS with me very often, but I haven't met a single one who use this wonderful feature. We have one of the most social gaming machines, we just don't use it. You don't have to share a thing about your personal life like you do on Facebook. You have the choice to share your photos, but it ends right there. The only thing that matters are sharing the love of your games.

The downside of the 3DS are that not every culture is fit for it, and not every person can use the 3D feature. Luckily you can turn all of the above off, and just enjoy the games for what they are.

The Kinect, The Body in Motion

The kinect, an infared wonder which tracks every move you make. This Big Brother of video gaming use an infared camera and a normal camera in order to make a sense of depth. It creates an infared dot grit which contains points which your body mass disturb. It analyses the disturbences in the force in the grit, which allows it to create a in depth analysis of the people in front of it.

This is a fun way to play video games, but it can also be used for other purposes. It can be used in order to control other units, such as machines. It can even control 3D models and robots. The downfall are the amount of space it needs, which are approximately 2-3 meters. Also the amount of time it takes for menues to work 100%. An action that takes 2 seconds with the Kinect only takes 0.1 seconds with a controller. But the Kinect also have another funktion. The voice control.

The voice control can create an extra gameplay element along with the controller. An example are the voice control for Skyrim, which allows you to use the "shouts" with your own voice. You can also switch weapons in the heat of battle, instead of using the menu system, which can be quite time consuming.

A downside of both funktions are that not everybody can use them, but every type of controller cannot be used everybody. This is one of the reasons why games should include, but not solely, depend on the kinect.

The kinect holds much potential, and hopefully it will be optimiced with the new Xbox One, as the Kinect might be the future of interaction. 

Interaction. Future or Fall of Mankind?

We have seen many kinds of technology develop over the years. Touchpanels, motion control, voice control and the simple click with a controller.
I use these kinds of interaction every day of my life. As a gamer, this have been the way forward since the dawn of gaming. Nintendo even tried to create motion control back in the 80's by creating the Power Glove for the NES.
Technology are not used manely for one purpose anymore. An example is the Kinect, developed by Microsoft for their console Xbox 360. The Kinect can be used in order to control machines, create virtual environments and for all sorts of non-gaming purposes. The line between what is for entertainment and what is for the benefit of mankind got broken a long time ago. Maybe before video gaming even began.

As a gamer, and a man who is planning to educate myself in order to create games, I think we are reaching a dangerous moral crossroad.

The technology we are developing are one step from creating virtual reality, and my fear is that it's not only the line between entertainment and benefit that are being crossed. In our society, we are already experiencing individuals who try to escape reality through games. When we are so close to breaking this line, will we experience people who don't even want to live the real life anymore? And the moral question is, should we care?

I want to design games in the future, but do I really want to design a game, which can and will rob many people of their sense of reality? I know why many of my friends and family don't see any problems, but as one of those who may be responsible for many people locking themselfes out of the society, can I just sit back and say i don't care?

In my opinion, we have to find a way that doesn't involve creating technology that can give you the experience of "real life". Because of this, I'm both for and against technology as the Oculus Rift. You may not be able to feel the game physically, but as they say, the eyes can deceive the rest of the body.

It all starts somewhere.

This is the very first blog post by yours truly. I will upload the madness that unfolds here at my school, one unethical shenanigan at a time!