Video Game Console System

Design 6 Project:Michael PopoloskiJack AlvinoJon Lado

Project Overview

We will design and build a functioning video game console.

The goal is to have a working hardware platform and one or more games that can be played on it.

Research Articles

A lot of research was done for this project, mostly observation of other consoles

Researched how certain parts work and how a console did in a business sense (strengths and threats)

One article talked about basics of the USB, which can help with programming firmware on to a micoprocessor

Another article demonstrates the insides of a Nintendo Entertainment System, the NES

This helps by showing us the components in a retro console

Research Articles

Another article talks about a kind of cartridge used for the SNES, Super Nintendo Entertainment System

This can give us insight on how to create and program a demo video game to test our console

One article mentions OnLive, a cloud based game store, which can be a threat to consoles (since it is for PCs and Macs) or benefactor to consoles who integrate it

The majority of the other articles talk about various consoles’ successes, which shows that there is always a market for video games

Key Features

Free and open source game platform.

Users can not only play retro games, but have a platform they can use to develop their own as a hobby.

The platform can be very cheap.

Hardware Design

We have chosen the Parallax Propeller chip as the platform for our console.

The Propeller has 8 independent cores, running at 80 Mhz.

We will use several peripheralsincluding NES controllers andNTSC output for video.

Alternative Designs

We looked at several alternative hardware platforms that could fulfill our functional design.

Several ARM microprocessors are widely used today for embedded systems.

However, the Propeller is cheaper and simpler to build a platform around, making it an ideal device for quick iteration of programs.

NES Controller

We will use NEScontrollers to obtaininput.• They have a simpletiming interface and arecheap to purchase.

SD Card Interfacing

Socket mounted for using multiple SD cards if needed

Serial Peripheral Interface Four connections between SD Card and

Microcontroller I2C Interfacing

Two connection serial bus

SD Card Interface

SPI INTERFACING

Higher data rates “Duplex” capability

Data streams from master to slave and slave to master simultaneously

I2C INTERFACING

Simpler wiring Requires less effort

and hardware resources if more than one slave is involved

•SPI Interfacing is likely a better option•Better suited for data “streaming,” reading game data from card and saving game data to card

NTSC Interface

NTSC is the type of video system used in North America

Using Propeller Propeller can generate its own video

signals Transmits 32-bit chunks of video

image data at a configurable rate Must define what signals to output in

propeller coding

NTSC Ports

Composite cables can be used to view the video output

Most consoles use composite

Propeller also allows use of VGA for RGB devices

Professional/Ethical Responsibilities

Content management Users should be aware of what is in said

content▪ ESRB Rating System

Distributed content must be free of copyright infringement

Device itself is a non-issue

Design Constraints

Economic Marketing and

manufacturing costs

Health and Safety Prolonged use

Manufacturability Materials easy to

obtain

Sustainability Having reasonable

amounts of content packaged in

Adding new content in the form of games / services