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- Contemporary Media
- Video Games and the Third Screen
- AT&T
- established 1877
- vertically integrated
- universal service
- Kingsbury Commitment
- natural monopoly
- common carrier
- Break up of AT&T
- Modified Final Judgement, 1984
- divested of local telephone companies
- Regional Bell Operating Companies
- “Baby Bells”
- retained long distance company
- new competition
- Sprint
- MCI
- “Baby Bells”
- Ameritech
- NYNEX
- Bell Atlantic
- BellSouth
- Southwestern Bell
- Pacific Telesis
- US West
- Telephone Networks
- wired
- wireless
- AM-FM terrestrial
- microwave
- citizens band
- satellite
- Analog Signals: Electronic
- code: Telegraph
- audio: Telephone
- video: Television
- Digital Signals
- binary code
- software applications
- text
- audio
- video
- compression
- Bits and Bytes
- bit
- byte
- series of bits, usually one character of text
- multipliers
- kilo (k): 1 thousand
- mega (M): 1 million
- giga (G): 1 billion
- tera (T): 1 trillion
- peta (P): 1 quadrillion
- transfer rates
- Plain Old Telephone Service
- voice
- computer data as sound
- modulator-demodulator
- as slow as 300 bps
- as fast as 56 kbps
- Broadband
- DSL: digital subscriber line: 768 kbps
- T1: T-Carrier, version 1: 1.5 Mbps
- FiOS: fiber optic system: 1 Gbps
- First Generation Wireless
- analog radio
- network of cells
- weak signals
- relay system from one cell to another
- AMPS
- Second Generation Wireless
- digital audio
- small cells
- compressed signals
- increased capacity
- GSM: standard: Global System for Mobile Communications
- data transmission: 50 kbps – 1 Mbps
- Third Generation
- switches between digital audio and computer data
- telephone
- web browser
- email applications
- data transmission: 2 Mbps
- Fourth Generation
- Long-Term Evolution (LTE) standard
- co-mingled voice and computer data streams
- data transmission: 100 Mbps
- Wi-Fi
- wireless internet
- IEEE 802.11
- internet packets over microwave radio
- 10–500 Mbps
- Bluetooth
- wireless serial connection
- connects computers and peripherals
- lower bandwidth than Wi-Fi
- used for persistent connections
- Satellite
- Low Earth Orbit
- Geostationary
- Telstar, 1962
- satellite broadband
- triangulation: geo-positioning system
- Wireline Industry
- international record carriers
- long-distance: interexchange carriers
- calls between area codes and LATAs
- local exchange carriers
- incumbent LECs: pre-AT&T breakup carriers
- competitive LECs: mixed telecommunications carriers
- Wireless Industry
- national cell phone networks
- AT&T
- Verizon
- Sprint
- T-Mobile
- mobile virtual network operators
- Boost Mobile
- CREDO
- Cricket Wireless
- FCC classification?
- Title I: information service
- Title II: common carrier
- Wireline Apps
- POTS functions
- computer switching functions
- touch tone, three-way calling
- custom local area signaling services
- toll-free calling
- Wireless Apps
- platform specific
- computer software applications
- location-aware
- m-commerce
- Access
- cell-phone carrier locking
- universal access subsidies: not the same as universal service
- Telecommunications Act: zero cent-per-minute long-distance
- Voice-Over IP
- wireless spectrum is auctioned thus less regulated as broadcasting spectrum
- Privacy
- government surveillance
- warrant for wiretapping telephone and email
- warrantless bulk trap-and-trace information
- Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act
- government access to telephone central offices and Internet provider networks
- Video Games
- First-Generation
- video consoles
- transistor consoles
- one-screen game play field
- games hardwired
- line, block, and dot graphics
- e.g., home version of Pong
- Second-Generation
- 8-bit microprocessor consoles
- ROM cartridges
- shapes and sprites: 160 × 192 pixels
- 2–16 colors
- sounds of beeps and buzzes
- e.g., Fairchild F (1976), Atari 2600
- Third-Generation
- 8-bit computing consoles
- tile-and-sprite based graphics: 320x200 pixel
- D-pad game controllers
- 25–32 colors, from a 256-color palette
- e.g., Nintendo Entertainment System (1983)
- Fourth Generation
- 16-bit computing consoles
- multi-button game controllers
- complex parallax scrolling, multi-layer tilemap backgrounds, with pseudo–3D scaling & rotation
- 64–4096 colors on screen, from a 65,536-color palette
- e.g., Super Nintendo Entertainment System (1990)
- Fifth Generation
- 32-bit and 64-bit computing consoles
- 3D polygon graphics with texture mapping
- optical disc (CD-ROM) game storage
- display resolution from 480i to 576i
- 16,777,216 colors on screen
- e.g., Playstation and N64
- Personal Computers
- advanced personal computers
- graphics and sound cards
- custom controller
- CD, DVD, or Blu-Ray drive
- headphones
- HDTV resolution
- Handheld Systems
- Nintendo 3DS
- Playstation Vita
- Android and iOS devices
- Post-Console Era
- cloud computing games
- controllers
- dance pads
- light guns
- virtual reality
- screens
- 3D games
- augmented reality
- rules
- continuously changing games
- artificial intelligence
- Gear Makers
- consoles
- custom controllers
- high-end gaming desktop computers
- Game Publishers
- console makers play a large role in their own publishing games
- Electronic Arts
- MTV Games
- Zynga
- Game Developers
- graphic artists
- computer programmers
- in-house design studios
- independent game developers
- mods: changing game features
- apps: smartphone games
- Selling the Game
- coin-operated arcade machines
- toy stores
- game retailers
- big-box retailers
- digital downloads
- Video Game Genres
- Abstract
- Sports, Game, Activity, Gambling
- Adventure
- Capturing, Catching, Collecting, Dodging, Combat
- Demo
- Driving, Flying, Racing
- Educational
- Escape
- Interactive Mode
- Simulation
- Obstacle Course
- Platform
- Puzzle, Maze
- Quiz
- Role Playing
- Rhythm and Dance
- Strategy
- Video Game Effects
- violence scenes
- depictions of sex
- reinforces traditional gender roles
- anti-social behavior
- Entertainment Software Rating Board
- self-regulatory body
- introduced after public outcry over Mortal Kombat
- content ratings
- Early Childhood (EC)
- Everyone (E)
- Everyone 10+ (E10)
- Teen (T)
- Mature (M)
- Adults Only (AO)