How to connect and configure different platforms and devices to be able play games

Introduction

I’m going to showing how to connect and configure different devices and platforms that will allow

the user to be able to play video games. There are many different aspects you have to think about,

for example connecting a console to a display, connecting a console to Wide Area Network (WAN) as

well as installing drivers for GPU’s and SPU’s.

Connecting a console to a Display

There are many different ways you can connect a console to a display. You can use the VGA cables

(Red, Yellow, Green, Blue and White) or you can use a HDMI cable. The method I chose to use is to

connect the console to the display by using a HDMI cable, this gives a better quality. My TV supports

HDMI and VGA so I would be fine just with using VGA cables.

These images show that I am connecting by Xbox to the TV by using a HDMI cable. I use a HDMI

cable because the quality of the image on the screen is much better when compared with VGA cords

because HDMI allows more pixels to be displayed and it depends on the resolution of your TV.

HDMI input on console

Power Supply

HDMI input in the back of the display (TV)

Connecting console to the Internet

There are many different ways you can connect your console to the internet, you can use a Ethernet

cable, which is a cable which connects your console to your modem or you can use a wireless router.

Now that consoles have a built in Wi-Fi adapter, I use this method, I think it is good because there

isn’t any hassle with wires all of the place but the connection to the internet when using a Ethernet

is much more reliable because you can’t just disconnect randomly unless your cable is pulled out the

console or the modem.

This is network system built into the Xbox which will

scan for routers in the area it can pick signals up.

The one selected is my router.

Once you have selected a network you want to

connect to it will either connect straight away or

it will ask for WPA password, this is case in most

cases because you don’t want anyone else using

you router for internet.

Once you have connected to a router, it will do a test

whether the console can connect to the router, then it

will see if the router can connect to internet then finally

seeing if you can connect to online service in this case

Xbox Live

Connecting wired and wireless devices

There are many different varieties of devices which require a wire connection or a wireless

connection. For example the Turtle Beach headphones which I own have to a wired connection, one

wire includes a USB connection which plugs into the Xbox, another two wires (Red and White) into

the adapter which is plugged into the back of the Xbox and one more which has to plugged into the

bottom of the controller which will then enable the user to speak into the microphone. A wireless

connection device is the Xbox wireless controller. This only has to be synced to the console.

Once the test has finished it will give a summary of

what is connected and what is ready. As you can see

everything is connected from the router, the internet

and online service as well as matchmaking is allowed.

Once this has finished you can see that it gives a tick symbol

which tells you that you are connected to this particular

network.

This is way you can tell that you have successful connected

to the online service, if this message appears on screen

because you need to be connected to the service to be able

to communicate with your friends.

The sync button is located for the controller is on the top of

it.

These is what the controller looks like when trying to sync

the controller. The LED’s on the controller light up and

rotates around the home button. This is good feedback for

the user, it tells the user when it is trying to sync.

The sync button on the console is located above the front

USB ports.

Once the sync button is pressed on the Xbox the same feedback

happens, the LED’s rotates around the power button.

This is my Turtle Beach headset. It has many different outputs, a USB

port, 3.5ml Headphone jack and the Red and White cable which will

be plugged into HDMI sound adapter.

This is a sound adapter; this is needed because Turtle Beach

outputs are designed for VGA, and so this is need so that the

headset can connect to the Xbox correctly.

This is where the adapter is located when plugged in to the

Xbox, right next to HDMI input.

This image is showing what the headphone jack looks like

when plugged into headsets adapter.

Installing a game to console

You are able to install a game to your console, there are many advantages for doing this and

disadvantages. The first advantage being that it will make your console much quieter because it isn’t

just running of the disc it is running off the hard drive as well, the downside to this that you done

install a game like Call of Duty it will take up a lot of memory because of all the complex features and

functions in has.

This image is showing the chat lead plugged into the Xbox

controller.

This image is showing the USB output coming from the

turtle beach being plugged into the Xbox USB ports.

When you have inserted a game disc into the disc try

you can then begin the process of installing a game to

your hard drive.

Updating Drivers

There are many different methods used to update drivers you can easily go to device manager or

you go online to search for updates for your drivers.

This is what message looks like when you are

installing a game. Once the installation as finished

it will appear in your hard drive and can be run of

the hard drive.

This image is showing were you can

locate the device manager in the control

panel.

This is the device manager that

will come up when clicked; it

will give a list of many devices

which are connected to that PC.

Under the display adapters you can

the graphics devices, such as the

graphics cards. In this case the NVIDA

GeForce GT 525M.

When you click on your graphics driver this menu

will appear. If you go to the driver tab you are able

to update your driver from this.

Once you click to update your driver it will

start to download the driver software

need to update the driver and then it will

proceed to installing the software.

Another way to update your

driver is to go onto the

manufacture website in this

case NVIDA and find your

driver you have.

After this choosing and agreeing

to your driver update you will

have to go through the NVIDA

graphics driver update system.

This is what It looks like when you

downloading the driver update through

the NVIDA website.

Configuring Games

There are many different ways to configure games. The method which I used is to load the game, in

this case Bastion, go to options, then to display and I changed the Anti – aliasing to 4x the default

setting. Anti-aliasing is a software technique used in games to get rid of jagged edges on the

graphics and make them smooth. The jagged edges only occur because usually the monitor

displaying the game doesn’t have a high enough resolution to represent the smooth lines. So Anti-

aliasing reduces the amount of jagged edges by surrounding the stair steps with shades of grey.

Conclusion

Due to the fact I have owned a console and the devices that work with it such as the headset I find it

easy to set up but when compared to changing drivers on a PC or configuring a game on the PC I

don’t have the same confidence I do if I was doing something on the consoles, this is only because I

don’t have enough experience using a PC for gaming.

This is me changing the anti-aliasing in

the game 4 times the amount the

default is.