Analog controls vs Digital (?) controls

I know analog allows for minute movements but shouldn't the same be true of a digital?

Please excuse me if I am using the wrong terminology here.

 Game formats that didn't succeed like UMD or the gamecube's small discs maybe? How do those work and why did they do them like that?

Games like Duck Hunt, that use a gun of some sort. I think I should know, but I don't

the 64DD - I was always curious about what it was and then it was a Japan only thing.

You could probably do an evolution of gaming, from the early days of microcomputers and the like to what we have nowadays. A brief overview of the technologies involved and how they've changed...ex: cassettes vs. floppies

Oh man, such good stuff.  I wonder if I should maybe do some "quickies" as well.   Like the analog vs. digital thing.  Good topic - but shouldn't take more than a mintue or two to explain.  Well, with the way I ramble, I'm sure I could stretch it out into 3 YouTube videos.

Going back to the light gun, if itrecognizes a spot on the screen during a flash, why would the type television make any difference?

Tommy, light guns of yesteryear only work with CRT televisions. If I recall, it calculates what you're aiming at by exciting the phosphor (a component used in CRT) at the location, calculating its distance horizontally along the scanline. The CRT television refreshes by printing out scanlines at a rate faster than we can see but the fact that it does this allows us to time how long it would take for any certain line to be printed on the screen.

By contrast, LCD screens and Plasma refresh individual pixels at the same time...so we can't time them to get a reading.

Another method I think the NES Zapper uses is that it paints the whole screen black, leaving the target in a white box, the diode in the light gun would detect light from the white box its pointing at. Pretty easy to cheat at, haha.

Although, there is some new light-gun tech that does things a little differently, maybe Roo can take a look at them. :)

What you said about the Zapper is what I'm talking about.

If the whole screen turn black for that moment that the target turns white, why wouldn't the Zapper still recognize that it is pointed at that dot, and why would the screen refresh rate have anything to do with that?

To me, pointing at a white dot in a black field shouldn't be any different no matter what kind of screen it is.

And, yes, I have seen these explanations before.  I just think Roo would be more interesting and entertaining to watch.

@Kurarall, Lol, but bro you've missed the point of Roo taking suggestions, now that you answered the question whats the point now? :)

Stop taking the mans material :)

They forced my hand, dude.

@Arkus: I probably got something wrong anyhow, hehe.

About the Zapper, I dunno why it isn't recreated with modern LCDs...Roo could shed light on it. I suspect it's because it's such a crude method that it just doesn't sit well with developers nowadays. :)

Rooooo, here's an idea!

How about tackling the differences in portable screen tech from the humble game and watch games up to our modern mini-LCDs? (May overlap with your 3D video...)

How do devices with touch screens know if you're using your finger or not. Or why do touch screens not work when you try to touch them with something else. Well, thats not right, cause there are styluses. Ugh.

tl;dr: How do touch screens work?

I'm loving a lot of the ideas being fut forth.  Touchscreens are expecially interesting (to me, at least) since that is a technology that's really been gaining leaps and bounds lately, and they're not all made the same.  The DS, for example, uses a resistive touchscreen, while a lot of smart phones nowadays use capacative screens - and if you've ever tried to use your finger to do much on your DS, you can see just how much the tech has progressed in a few years.

I am also in for seeing an episode for the NES zapper.

To be honest., I would love to see indepth analysis of classic console hardware. Like the actually hardware, Mobo, Processor, etc.

But as I think no one else (including Roo) wouldn't find it interesting, maybe something about wireless technology. It's surprising that even back in the Atari 2600 days, they had wireless controllers.

As for the lightgun, sure, but I kind of already understand the important principle:

LCD != CRT

(LCD does not = CRT, if you don't code :p)

CRT+LIGHTGUN = WIN

LCD + LIGHTGUN =FAIL :(.

While on the subject, I love the fact that the homebrew emulators for the Wii, the NES and SNES emus let you use the wiimote as the zapper. I had a lot of fun playing Duck Hunt again.

Anyways, back on topic. Touchscreens are cool as well. Although, I vaguely remember this book my computer hardware class had that explained touchscreens have lots of layers under the glass/plastic. But I would love to se a more indepth look at it :D.

I can tell I am really gonna like this seires :D.

Sorry just HAVE to bring minecraft up...

Maybe somthing on redstone and logic gates? i dont know if it should be more science-y like the previously but id enjoy something like so...

 @ Rokto - I like that idea.

I'll talk to Roo about it if he hasn;t seen the post already.

I'd like to see a review of King's Quest 6.

Actually, if you'll note, I didn't name the series "The Way VIDEO Games Work", so I left a little bit of wiggle room for such things as explanations of the theory behind cetain tabletop games and the logic involved, so your Minecraft idea is by far not the strangest thing I've thought about in conjunction with WGW.

Perhaps PS2's emotion engine - that was never fully realised, but the degrees of sensitivity on the pad always interested me - I wouldn't mind seeing which games used it successfully - the only ones I can think of off of the top of my head are The Bouncer (debateable) and a weird conducting game I have on my Jap PS2 (quite an addictive game actually)

That's an interesting idea I haven't considered.  I'll have to look into it.

And by chance, was that conducting game Mad Maestro?  It's a silly PS2 game I got hooked on for a little while and it used pad sensitivity in the game.  Now THAT'S a hidden gem (PS2 actually has quite a few of these).

hehe - yes, it was Mad Maestro - though my version is called Bravo Music apparently - or ブラボーミュージック according to the box (thanks wiki  ;)), but yeah, me and a friend spent a couple of days trying to work our way through that game - rather addictive, though I don't think we ever managed to beat the last level - lol.  It's really quite difficult to master pressing the buttons at different intensities, though very satisfying when you manage it - really start to feel at one with the music - lol  :)

Not a complicated subject, but I always thought Voxels were a pretty neat thing. I'd especially like to see some good examples of it.

Why do some Game Pak edge connectors go across the entire edge of the circuit board will others there are some missing, and with some SNES games you have two extra pieces on each side of the edge connectors.'

Game Genie, maybe. :)

For old tech, I'd say hit something like the Virtual Boy or on the theme of the motion you've done of late, the Powerglove... 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZErvASwdlU

Oooo... I love both of those ideas!  :D

Man, I think I'm motion controlled out for a little while at least.

However, the Virtual Boy would be a great addendum to the 3DS episode.  I actually had one back in the day (with the box and everything still - I never threw that stuff away).  I'll have to see if I can track all that stuff down...

Super Scope 6?

Or maybe the NES Power Pad?

computer language. the base fundemental, BINARY CODE!

Perhaps going into the way ROB the robot works, the flashing colors to coordinate how the bot moves made me wonder, the new 3DS and how the layers and dimensions are made also makes me wonder. The tilt and tumble games for Gameboys were also one I wondered about (Kirby Tilt n Tumble for GBC)

This probably does not apply by any means but I would really like to see a non-hardware based  WGW perhaps in terms of design choices/ theories.

A brief synopsis on difficulty curve and how that's interpreted by a vast ammount of developers is really one idea that comes to mind. I think it would be rather interesting and insightful, and I don't see a lot of videos of design philosophies often.

I second the game genie suggestion.

I like how we just sort of assume you know everything about everything.

I just picked up an old Vectrex console, and while I've done some basic research on how it works, a more in depth feature would be cool since it's such an oddity.

Never mind I posted something that doesn't belong in this thread. But I don't know how to delete it.

A How Games Work on cheat devices like the Game Genie, the Game Shark and Pro Action Replay.

The Nintendo 64's rumble pack and subsequent rumbling on console controllers.

try to explain how the power glove works since it lead to what we have now

How about the backlit screens on Portable Systems?(Gameboy SP/Nintendo DS)

How about the infrared sensor in the DS, and I think 3DS? You know, so that the Pokewalker (from HeartGold and SoulSilver) can be used?

   Speaking of, going farther back into the past, maybe take a look at the NES Satellite and the SNES Catapult, and how the link systems in the Game Boy family work; you know, the way that fans trade Pokemon, and link up to interact with some other games!

   You know, you could also take a look at various consoles and do some compare and contrasts. For example, the SNES and Genesis, or how about more recently, the 360 and PS3; is one of them truly 'better' than the other, from a technical standpoint? What things do they do better or just differently than the other?

I would love to see what started it all in the home consoles, if possible can we see a trip back in time to the Magnavox Odyssey?  Comparing and contrasting with things that help it run with today's video game consoles would be wonderful, especially what it has which revolutionized into what we have today

     Hey, another good one might be how exactly the U-Force worked. I know the Angry Nerd talked about it in a video once, but he didn't look into..how exactly it worked. What was that 'power field,' anyway, and how did it work? And why did the....piece of plastic throttle stick actually work? D:

Hey Roo it would be nice to see how the Power Glove works.  I know it doesn't work very well but how was it supposed to work.  Someone mentioned it already above.  I would like to see it too.

@ShirowWolf

If I remember correctly,  the gameboy color had infared also. Nonetheless, I think the U-Force is a good idea to do too. (and the infrared) 

The GBC had infrared, too? I...don't remember! I also didn't have one, so... :P

Yeah, exactly; you can't explain how the Power Glove works, because it doesn't! >D But yeah, a video explaining how it was supposed to work would be interesting! >3

Yep, just checked, it had infrared, but never realized its full potential. Apparently you could use it to trade items or get pokemon stuffed animals for your room in Pokemon Gold/Silver. I think I did it once, whatever. I find it funny how Nintendo's two biggest failures (Power Glove, Virtual Boy) are being re-made into the Wii and 3DS. Just goes to show Nintendo's dedication to gaming. They won't let anyone down.

You could do one about how the internet changed multiplayer gaming over the years.  I remember playing with a 24.4k modem and thinking it was the coolest.