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Video games
History
General
Video game history
Early history of video games
Golden Age of Video Arcade Games
History of video game companies
Near future in video gaming
Video game controversy
Video game crash of 1983
Consoles
First generation
Second generation
Third generation
Fourth generation
Fifth generation
Sixth generation
Seventh generation
Genres
History of computer role-playing games
History of massively multiplayer online games
History of online games
Industry
Activities
Game design
Game development
Game modification
Game programming
Game studies
Game testing
Journalism
Level design
Music
Jobs
Game artist
Game designer
Game producer
Game programmer
Game tester
Level designer
Companies
Video game developer
Video game publisher
Types
Platforms
Arcade game
Audio game
Personal computer game
Console game
Handheld game
Mobile game
Online game
Purpose
Adult game
Casual game
Party game
Non-game
Interactive art
Interactive movie
Nonviolent video game
Serious game
Advergame
Art game
Edugame
Exergame
Militainment
Traditional game
Genres
Action game
Action-adventure game
Adventure game
Role-playing game
Simulation game
Sports game
Strategy game
Culture
Terms
Electronic sports
Fandom
Gamer
Gaming PC
Gaming slang
Events
Australian Game Developers Conference
BlizzCon
Digital Game Xpo
E3
European Computer Trade Show
Game Developers Conference
LAN party
Tokyo Game Show
Organizations
Entertainment Consumers Association
Entertainment Software Association
Gamers Outreach Foundation
International Game Developers Association
Scratchware Manifesto
Info
Lists
List of best-selling video games
List of gaming topics
List of video game companies
List of video game franchises
List of video game industry people
List of video game publishers
List of years in games
Lists of video games
Portals
Portal:Final Fantasy
Portal:Insomniac Games
Portal:Mario
Portal:Nintendo
Portal:Pokmon
Portal:Sega
Portal:Sonic
Portal:Sony PlayStation
Portal:Strategy games
Portal:Video games
Portal:Xbox 360
Portal:Zelda
Projects
WikiProject Video games
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The terms gaming PC and gaming computer refer to computers specifically built to play PC games at a higher frame rate higher resolution and/or higher graphical settings than domestic PCs. They commonly feature extravagant casings 1 and high-end components and are sometimes liquid cooled.
Although gaming computers sometimes called "gaming rigs" may be bought retail in the same manner as the common computer they are frequently built by their creators citation needed for use in single-player or online gaming. Gaming computers are purpose-built to gain the best possible performance advantage in order to produce a computer that will out-perform an opponents computer thereby winning the game in an online contest or to simply enjoy the best images and effects a new PC game has to offer.
Personal computers made specifically for playing games started being popularized with the introduction of games back in the 90s citation needed such as Doom by id Software made for MS-DOS based personal computers. These games pushed standard business and home computer hardware to their limit and game enthusiasts began building computers with the highest performance hardware to run Doom at the best possible performance . Therefore the gaming computer began as a modified utilitarian device for competitive events. citation needed
Check this out from Wired!
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Tech Biz : Media
Movie Industry Doubles Down on 3-D
By Betsy Schiffman 04.14.08 | 12:00 AM
DreamWorks Animation's Monsters vs. Aliens is the studio's first movie produced in 3-D technology. It's slated for a March 2009 release.
Courtesy DreamWorks
Studio execs have an odd conundrum: Box-office receipts have steadily grown but the number of ticket sales have not. Thanks to the proliferation of home theaters, movies-on-demand and portable video players, moviegoers have fewer reasons to actually "go" to a movie. The studios' solution? Hike ticket prices by a couple bucks apiece and ramp up production of 3-D movies.
"It's pretty clear right now that you can charge a premium for 3-D," says Doug Creutz, an analyst with Cowen & Co., who covers the entertainment industry. "We're probably talking about the difference between $15 and $10 [tickets]. And attendance is much better for 3-D movies."
Filmmakers and studios alike have pledged their allegiance to 3-D. Disney and Pixar announced this week that it will release all of its films in 3-D, starting with Bolt, which is slated for a November release. Dreamworks Animation says that by 2009 all of its movies will be released in 3-D. James Cameron is working on big-budget 3-D sci-fi flick called Avatar, and George Lucas is working on remastering all the Star Wars movies in 3-D.
For studios, the financial allure of 3-D is twofold: The technology can't easily be replicated in home theaters (yet); and moviegoers are still willing to pay a premium for 3-D films. The big question is whether the technology is a game changer or just a short-lived gimmick to drive ticket sales, like Smell-O-Vision -- or, for that matter, the 3-D technology of the 1950s.
"This is a serious visualization technology that's just begun to be used for entertainment," says Elizabeth Brooks, chief marketing officer of 3-D system maker RealD, which has about 97 percent of the 3-D market. "It's been used by NASA and by scientists who need to render things perfectly. It's my job to sing the company's praises, but if the technology weren't good, [filmmakers] wouldn't be planning to make as many 3-D films as they're making."
Unlike 3-D films of the 1950s, the new wave of 3-D pictures don't blur and they don't cause headaches. In basic terms, a 3-D film is shot in two frames -- one for the right eye and once for the left eye. The projector buffers the left and right streams and projects them in alternation at 144 frames per second, using a "triple flash" technique that shows each frame three times in order to smooth out the picture. The RealD 3-D system also requires theaters to install a special silver screen to maintain the polarization of the image.
"To the people who continue to say it's a gimmick I would simply say, 'You're going to be the one left saying the Earth is flat,'" says Jim Dorey, a 3-D obsessive and writer of the Marketsaw blog, which is sponsored by several 3-D companies, including RealD. (Dorey, whose background is in IT, says he first became intensely interested in 3-D with the release of Jaws 3-D in 1983.)
And it doesn't hurt that 3-D is poised to improve theater attendance and box-office grosses. The average ticket price for "Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds," a 74-minute 3-D concert flick, was reportedly $15. By contrast, the average 2-D movie ticket price is about $7, according to the National Association of Theater Owners. Hannah Montana grossed about $65 million domestically, and on its opening weekend, it grossed about $31 million, handily out-selling the 2-D Jessica Alba vehicle, The Eye, which sold about $12 million worth of tickets.
But while studios move full-steam ahead with 3-D production, there's one minor hitch: There still aren't a whole lot of 3-D movie theaters -- only about 1,000 out of 38,900 screens in the United States are 3-D.
In order to install a 3-D system, theaters must have digital projectors. And at the moment, there are only 4,600 digital projectors in the United States, according to the National Association of Theater Owners. It costs tens of thousands of dollars to upgrade to digital projectors, and $20,000 to $50,000 more to install a 3-D system. It's a rich investment, and theater owners may not see much of
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