Console Games (Nintendo, Sony etc.) and Arcade Games/how video games work?

Advertisement

Expert: Helen Joan Casper - 3/28/2007


Question
How do 3-d video games work?
how do interactive video games work (like DDR and Wii)?

Answer
Could you please rephrase the question? I'm not sure what you mean by the term 'work'. Do you want to know how the console reads and loads the software? Do you want to know how graphics interact with games? Do you want to know about a specific interface or want a general view?  Do you want to know how software interacts with peripherals?

As you can see, there's a lot that goes into video games. =) Today's games, especially, are large and complex pieces of software and several teams of dozens of people will work on a single game. Next time you win a game, look at the credits. =) Companies that create video games hire coders, artists, directors, actors, musicians, modelers and often outsource other services like motion capturing, texturing, and interface to hundreds of other companies.

Then, on the flipside, there's the random person who codes his own game by himself using C++ and Paint.Net. It just all depends on the game.

Let me know how I can help you further.

Thanks!
Helen =)

Console Games (Nintendo, Sony etc.) and Arcade Games

All Answers

Answers by Expert:

Ask Experts

Volunteer

Helen Joan Casper

Expertise

Ever since I played "Pong" in the early 80's, I've been a video game aficionado. I can answer hardware & games questions about PSP (PlayStation Portable), all PlayStation (1,2,& 3), Wii, Wii Fit, GameCube, Nintendo DS, Nintendo (NES), Super Nintendo, Gameboy/Gameboy Advance, and antiquated systems (ColecoVision, Atari, Sega, etc). I can answer hardware questions about all systems (including PS1 - PS3, Wii, NES, SNES, PSP, DS, GBA, GB, Xbox and Xbox 360). I can also answer PC game questions, especially CounterStrike: Source, Vampire: Bloodlines, Half-Life 1&2, Portal, Team Fortress 2, and all Sims & Sims 2 questions. I am ESPECIALLY knowledgeable in Square-Enix (formerly SquareSoft) games such as ALL the Final Fantasy games (I can even tell you really obscure things about these games). If I haven't played the game yet I will research it and help you find the answer, renting the game if necessary. I can even answer questions dealing with the consoles themselves (hardware questions). I cannot answer questions about Action Replay. I cannot answer questions about football, basketball, or wrestling sports games. I also have very limited knowledge about Xbox & Xbox 360 games unless they are cross-platform. If it is an independent game that has not been widely published and/or a game only released in some countries, I may not be able to help with it either (sadly!)

Experience

I currently am employed as a supervisor for a large, national video game retailer. I am also an expert here in games/roleplaying games, weddings, childbirth, and doulas. My husband is a computer programmer and one of the forefront coders for CounterStrike: Source scripts & mods. He has his own forums for coders/scripters at Mattie.Info. I have been an expert here since 2000 (under the name of Helen Chipman) and also volunteer on numerous other game-related websites and forums.

©2012 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.