Case Study (Teacher’s Guide) – The Technology behind Game Console
Case Study (Teacher’s Guide) – The Technology behind Game Console
Case Study:
The Technology behind Game
Console
(Teacher’s Guide)
Case Study (Teacher’s Guide) – The Technology behind Game Console
Author
Mr Chiu Yat-ming, Michael
Lecturer, Department of Electronic & Information Engineering
HK Institute of Vocational Education (Shatin)
Project Coordinators
Mr Li Yat-chuen
Senior Training Consultant
Institute of Professional Education And Knowledge, VTC
Mr Tsang Siu-wah, Ephraim
Training Consultant
Institute of Professional Education And Knowledge, VTC
The copyright of the materials in this Case Study belongs to the Education Bureau of
the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Duplication of materials in this Case Study may be used freely for non-profit making educational purposes only.
In all cases, proper acknowledgements should be made. Otherwise, all rights are reserved, and no part of these
materials may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the
prior permission of the Education Bureau of
the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
© Copyright 2010
Note by the Institute of Professional Education And Knowledge, VTC:
Every effort has been made to trace the copyright for the photographs and images in this Case Study as needed.
We apologize for any accidental infringement and shall be pleased to come to a suitable arrangement with the
rightful owner if such accidental infringement occurs.
4
Case Study (Teacher’s Guide) – The Technology behind Game Console
Case Study: The Technology behind Game Console
(Teacher’s Guide)
General Information
Subject:
Design and Applied Technology
Level:
S4-6
Learning elements:
Knowledge Contexts
Process
Strand 3
Value and Impact
 Values in technology and
design
 Historical and cultural
influences
 Entrepreneurship and
enterprise
Module 4
Electronics
 Evolution of electronics
in modern society




To compare the working
principle of a game console
with a computer through
the study of their
construction
To understand the design
consideration of a product
through the study of
technology in a motion
sensing game controller
To understand users’
impacts created by motion
sensing game controller
through study and
discussion
Small group discussions
and presentation
Impact

Analyse and evaluate
manufactured products
 Understand the impact
of new technologies on
the quality of life
 Manage a product
design project
 State the impact of
emerging and
converging electronic
products in society
Case Study:
Students should be made aware of the relevance of the technology they are studying to the real
world. Case studies on technology and design enable students to put their learning into an
authentic context, and so provide an additional resource that can add a new dimension to
learning about technology and design.
Authentic context:
Topics Covered:
Compulsory Part
Elective Part
Through the study of motion sensing game controller development,
students could explore the development process and social impacts of
an advanced technology product
Strand 3 : Value and Impact
Module 4 : Electronics
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Case Study (Teacher’s Guide) – The Technology behind Game Console
1. Teaching Notes
1.1 Basic Components of a Game Console
A game console can be considered as a specially designed computer for game playing. Its
main components are similar to a computer and have more or less the same functions. The
main components of a game console are listed below:

CPU

Memory

Operating system

Game Controller

Video output

Audio output
From the list, you could find that a game console has CPU, memory and operating system.
Same as the case in computer, an operating system of a game console is a set of software
interfacing between its application software, which is a video game, and its hardware. The
function of an operating system is to simplify the job of writing application program (i.e. video
game) to run on the game console so that the programmers could save their effort in
developing program to directly control its hardware.
A game controller allows game player to interact with the video game e.g. control onscreen
object and input information. Early game controllers are simple paddles or joysticks.
Nowadays, most game consoles come with sophisticated game controllers.
All game consoles provide an output signal for display on TV. In most consoles, dedicated
graphics processor is used to process their graphic to high quality and then generate its TV
output signal. In addition to a dedicated graphic processor, some game console has another
dedicated integrated circuit to handle the audio processing and outputs sound.
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Case Study (Teacher’s Guide) – The Technology behind Game Console
1.2 Game Controller
Similar to the concept of a computer, a game
controller is an input device of a game console. It
can be used to control the movement or actions
of objects in a video game. Typically, game
controller
is
used
to
control
the
player
character’s actions and movements but the
exact types of object controlled with game
controller actually vary from video game to video
game.
A game controller may simply a keyboard, mouse, gamepad, joystick, paddle or any other
device for receiving input. Some devices, such as keyboards and mice, are actually generic
input devices and are not strictly limited to use as game controller. On the other hands, there
are specially designed game controllers to suit the kinds of game object movement or action
in certain types of games / game console. Examples include steering wheels for driving
games and light guns for shooting games.
1.2.1 Joystick Technologies
Joystick is a traditional game controller. It was designed to translate the movements of a
plastic stick into electronic signals.
In the simplest joystick design, the movements of plastic stick were translated into close or
open of electrical switches and then the computer sense the absence or presence of current
through these switches. By this mean, digital information of “1” and “0” can be transferred
from player to computer. [Note: here, we can link to the concept covered in Chapter 1
Electronic Signal, Device and Circuit and Chapter 3, section 3.3.6 Simple Interfacing.]
Joystick allows game player to control game like Pac Man or Tetris.
However, when it comes to games required game player to do more complicated actions like
controlling an airplane in fight simulator. For this purpose, the design of joystick was
enhanced later so that they become able to monitor the movements along x-axis (left to right)
and the y-axis (up and down) by using two potentiometers, one for x-axis while the other for
the y-axis. For further information, please refer to [1] in the reference under section 4.
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Case Study (Teacher’s Guide) – The Technology behind Game Console
1.2.2 Motion Sensing Game Controller
Although it is possible to design video games that have its game player using a joystick to do
complicated control actions such as controlling an airplane to do sharp turns, barrel rolls and
loops. However, the plastic stick and button in joystick are not used in the same way as an
airplane steering wheel (called york). As a result, it is necessary for game player to learn how
to make use a joystick in the way assumed by the game designer.
Motion sensing game controller is advancement in the history of gaming interaction as
compared to traditional input devices such as joystick. It represents another step on the road to
total immersion in game playing. Its objective is to provide game player with an intuitive input
device that it is easier to pick up how to use it. More specifically, it allows the design of video
game in which player is only required to move the game controller as if they were moving the
real stuff. For example, it allows design flight simulator game in which player can control an
airplane by simply moving the game controller in the way you want the airplane to move and
then airplane will move on the screen accordingly or table tennis game in which player can
swing a motion sensing game controller like a table tennis racket. More rigorous studies of
motion sensing game controller versus joystick can be found in [2, 3, 4].
Motion sensing game controller typically contains accelerometers and gyroscopes (for some
game controller only) to sense the movements of the game controller, which is typically held
and moved with hand by a game player. Beside held and moved with hand, Wii remote can be
attached in many input peripherals boxing gloves, Wii Helm, sport pack, fishing reel, steering
wheel, zapper and Nunchuk. Ideally, a motion sensing game controller should be able to
sense the following six types of movements:

Rotation about the x axis, i.e. rotate up and down (called roll)

Rotation about the y axis (called pitch)

Rotation about the z axis i.e. rotate left and right (called yaw)

Left and right movement (along +x axis and –x axis)

Back and forth movement relative to the TV screen (along +y axis and –y axis)

Up and down movement (along +z axis and –z axis)
+z
TV
Screen
Motion Sensing Game controller
+x
+y
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Case Study (Teacher’s Guide) – The Technology behind Game Console
1.3 Accelerometer and Gyroscope
Accelerometer and gyroscope are two types of motion sensors that motion sensing game
controller incorporated with.
An accelerometer is an electromechanical device for measuring acceleration due to moving or
vibrating the accelerometer. More specifically, an accelerometer measures linear acceleration
that it experiences relative to free fall. That is, its acceleration relative to a fixed reference
frame minus the acceleration due to gravity. As a result, when an accelerometer is at rest on
the Earth’s surface, it will indicate a 1g upward along the vertical axis (z axis). To obtain the
actual acceleration (due to motion only), we subtract 1g from the accelerometer output. On
the other hand, when the accelerometer is at free fall, its output will be zero. To better
appreciate why accelerometer measures as such, we may consider what a person feels on
his back (due to his seat) when he sit inside a vehicle accelerating forward or slowing down.
Accelerometers can be used to measure vibration on vehicles, machines, buildings, process
control systems and safety installations. They can also be used to measure seismic activity,
inclination, machine vibration, dynamic distance and speed with or without the influence of
gravity. For further details on the underlying principles of accelerometer, please refer to
[5,6,7,8].
A gyroscope measures angular velocity around a particular axis (Note: accelerometer
measures acceleration and gyroscope measure velocity). By using the original orientation as
the initial condition and integrating the angular velocity, the current angular orientation is
known at all times. For further details on the underlying principles of gyroscope, please refer
to [9].
We usually find gyroscopes in GPS and Car stability control systems.
Both accelerometer and gyroscope require the use of integration to determine current position.
However, the calculated results of position suffer from "integration drift”. More specifically,
small errors in the measurement of acceleration and angular velocity are integrated into
progressively larger errors in velocity, which is compounded into still greater errors in position.
Since the new position is calculated from the previous calculated position and the measured
acceleration and angular velocity, these errors are cumulative and increase at a rate roughly
proportional to the time since the initial position was input. Therefore the position must be
corrected periodically.
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Case Study (Teacher’s Guide) – The Technology behind Game Console
1.4 Wii Remote
Wii Remote, nickname is Wiimote, is a motion sensing game controller that represents a
recent innovation in game controller. It was introduced in Nintendo’s Wii game console. Its
major success is in giving the game console the ability to sense three dimensional
movements of itself.
In each Wii remote, it uses three key technologies, namley accelerometer, PixArt image
sensor and bluetooth. Following subsections provide a brief summary on these key
technologies. For further details on how Wii remote works, please refer to

The Wii Remote and You
http://people.cs.vt.edu/~bowman/3dui.org/course_notes/chi2009/wiimote.pdf

Sensor Bar highlighting IR LEDs
http://bbs.wiichina.com/simple/index.php?t6127.html
The Wii Remote is able to sense acceleration along three axes using its accelerometers and
determine where it is pointing. The Wii Remote uses two AA batteries, which can power a Wii
Remote for 60 hours using only the accelerometer functionality and 25 hours using both
accelerometer and pointer functionality.
1.4.1
Accelerometer
Each Wii remote has an ADXL330 3-axis accelerometers (designed and manufactured by a
company called STMicroelectronics, who was originated from Taiwan [10]), which is able to
determine the movement along x, y or z axis and measure up to three times the force of
gravity by sensing small voltage changes that output from the accelerometer during
movement in each of the three axis.
As its accelerometer always sensing gravity, when the Wii remote is completely stationary (i.e.,
at rest), it will show an acceleration of 1g in the upward direction (i.e., +z direction). If someone
drops the Wii remote and let it freefall, it will report zero acceleration. If Wii remote is not
moving, it is not possible to calculate yaw (see next subsection for how the sensor bar and the
image sensor can determine yaw). However, when Wii remote is at rest, it can calculate the roll
and the pitch of itself using the following equations:
roll = arctan2(az,ax)
pitch = arctan2(az,ay)
where ax, ay and az are the acceleration along the x, y or z axis respectively.
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Case Study (Teacher’s Guide) – The Technology behind Game Console
arctan2(y,x) uses arctan|y/x| to determine the angle and use the signs of both x and y to
determine which quadrant the angle should be in.
When the Wii remote is moving, the mathematics gets more complicated (see
www.wiili.org/motion_analysis for details).
1.4.2 Image sensor
The Wii remote can be used as a pointing device e.g. to point at menu options or objects e.g.
enemies in a first person shooter game. For this purpose, the Wii Remote features a PixArt
image sensor, allowing it to determine Wii Remote’s roll and yaw, and hence determine where
it is pointing at. (PixArt is a Taiwan company. It specializes in CMOS image sensors and
related
IC
design
such
as
image-processing
algorithm
IC
design.
See
http://www.pixart.com.tw/ for more about it.)
The PixArt image sensor is an Infrared camera situated at the front end of the Wiimote. The
camera has a resolution of more than 750,000 pixels (In digital imaging, a pixel or picture
element is the smallest item of information in an image. Pixels are normally arranged in a
2-dimensional array/grid). The camera is connected to an image analysis chip that has facility
to identify up to four individual Infrared light sources and report position, approximate size and
level of intensity.
Unlike a light gun that senses light from a television screen, the image sensor senses light
from a sensor bar, which can be used with a television of any type or size. The sensor bar is
about 20 cm (8 in) long and features with two clusters of 5 infrared LEDs. The LEDs farthest
away from the center are pointed slightly away from the center, the LEDs closest to the center
are pointed slightly inwards, while the rest are pointed forward. This spread helps to improve
the image sensor’s range.
Sensor Bar
The sensor bar can be placed above or below a television, and should be centered. If placed
above, the sensor should be in line with the front of the television, and if placed below, should
be in line with the front of the surface the television is placed on.
When the Wii remote is pointed at the sensor bar, the light emitted from each cluster of LEDs
is focused onto the image sensor as two bright dots. Considering the sensor bar forms the
base of a triangle (with length l) and the Wii remote at the opposite corner of the triangle,
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Case Study (Teacher’s Guide) – The Technology behind Game Console
using a principle called triangulation [11], it is possible for Wii remote to calculate the distance
(d) between the Wii remote and the sensor bar. In addition, rotation of the Wii remote can also
be calculated from the relative angles (,) of the two dots of light on the LED array. This
allows the Wii remote to act as a pointing device at a distance up to 5 meters (approx. 16 ft)
away from the sensor bar.


l
d
It is not necessary to point directly (or orthogonally) at the sensor bar but the above calculation
works best when the Wii remote is really pointing directly at the sensor bar since the image
sensor cannot tell that the distance between the two LEDs it sees from the sensor bar is due to
the Wii remote is rotated or not. This represents one of many ambiguities with the Wii remote.
One other issue with the Wii remote’s image sensor is that it will pick up any infrared light in the
room (e.g. incandescent light bulbs or candles), which can cause accuracy problems.
1.4.3
Bluetooth
By using Bluetooth technology, action data collected from the sensors (e.g. image sensor) is
sent back to the game console as far as 10m away (due to the limitation of Bluetooth). As a
pointing device, the controller can send a signal from as far as 15 feet away (due to the
limitation of the image sensor). Up to four Wii remote can be simultaneously connected to the
same game console for playing multiplayer game.
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Case Study (Teacher’s Guide) – The Technology behind Game Console
1.4.4
Limitations in Motion Sensing Game Controller
Besides the limitations mentioned in the subsection 1.4.1 Accelerometer and 1.4.2 Image
Sensor, the Wii remote also have the following problems [12]:
(a) 1:1 Control
When we use the Wii remote to control the on-screen game object, it is often for me to
expect the “in game” character to do exactly the same movement as the game player
does. For example, when we swing our arm, we want to see the in game character do the
exact same movement with their sword. This is what some people call 1:1 control. If this
can be achieved, the game player will fell more immersive. But, this is far easier said than
does.
As accelerometer is designed to measure the sum of linear and centripetal acceleration,
gravity and vibration, extracting the motion along individual axis from the accelerometer’s
linear motion information is not feasible. As a result, it would confuse the linear motion of
the game controller with that due to centripetal acceleration. If game player make subtle
hand movements such as the player swing the baseball bat in Wii Sports, Wii remote will
not be able to produce an 1:1 representation of player hand motion in screen.
Furthermore, the Wii remote has also difficulty to differentiate small motions from big
motions. As a result, the remote is not able to track where it is in the 3D space. In game
like tennis playing, the Wii remote are often left the player wondering why their character
did, or did not, swing the racket in response to the player’s swing.
The Wii MotionPlus is a small controller add-on for attaching to the Wii remote. It has an
InvenSense IDG-600 dual-axis MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems, which is a
technology enable to fabricate in silicon as a chip and hence allow for cost and size to
reduced that the gyroscope become suitable for consumer electronics.) gyroscope [13]
to supplement the capabilities of the accelerometer and Sensor Bar in the Wii remote. But,
the Wii MotionPlus make the Wii remote extends by approximately 4 cm in length. When
combined with the other sensors and the Sensor Bar, the Wii MotionPlus suppose to give
Wii remote the capability to sense all six types of movements that we mentioned in
subsection 1.2.2. However, the technology isn't flawless, its hardware and software could
still not able to smoothly achieve the true 1:1 representation capability.
With Wii MotionPlus, the wiimote’s position and orientation are estimated by first
integrating the accelerometer for velocity and then once more for position, and once for
the gyro reading for orientation. Because the MEMS based accelerometer in the Wii
remote and gyroscope in the WiiMotionPlus have very high drift rates that vary as a
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Case Study (Teacher’s Guide) – The Technology behind Game Console
function of temperature, they are only able to estimate WiiMote’s position and orientation
for a matter of seconds before they loose all accuracy.
They correct the position and
orientation using the infrared camera’s observation of the Sensor Bar. Again, if the Wii
remote is pointed away from the Sensor Bar (the field of view of the infrared camera is
very limited), the estimation will start to degrade and drift off until the Sensor Bar is again
observed, which will allow the Wii remote to again correct its estimation parameters.
(b) Full Body Motion
Wii remote was designed to estimate its own position in the 3D space but it is not able to
sense the position of its game player’s entire body. It is because there are no sensors
attached to other part of game player’s body such as the waist, elbow or head to detect
these area’s movements. Furthermore, the image sensor in Wii remote is not able detect
how far it is above the ground. For example, if on screen opponent attacks towards the
face of a game player and the game player hold sword up to deflect the attack, but the
game cannot interpret whether the controller is being held at eye level or the game player
is defending his/her chest or torso.
To solve this problem, a thumb stick (as in Wii Nunchuck) is used in combination with the
Wii remote for a large amount of gestures and directional input to compensate for the lack
of the capability to detect full body movement. But, this also makes the feeling of game
playing not immersive.
1.4.5 6-Axis Motion Sensing Solution [14]
In light of the discussion that we made so far, we still need a better way to solve the problem
of sensing all the six types of movements that we mentioned in subsection 1.2.2.
To the eye integrated circuit manufacturers, the way the WiiMotionPlus integrate an external
gyroscope together with accelerometer in the Wii remote is again referred as a non-integrated
solution. Following block diagram represents an integrated solution [14] offered by Ivensense.
In the solution, a number of the company’s products are put together to solve the problem of 6
axis motion sensing.
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Case Study (Teacher’s Guide) – The Technology behind Game Console
IDG-650
X-axis Gyroscope
ADC
Dual-Axis
Gyroscope
Y-axis Gyroscope
ADC
4x5x1.2mm
IDG-650
Dual-Axis
X-axis Accelerometer
Output
ADC
6-axis
Output
Z-axis Gyroscope
Gyroscope
Y-axis Accelerometer
4x5x1.2mm
Z-axis Accelerometer
IME-3000 3-Axis Accelerometer
(3x3x0.9mm)
InvenSense 6-Axis Motion Processing Solution Block Diagram
(In the above diagram, ADC refers to Analog to Digital Converter)
Further development in the technology of motion sensing game controller include integrating
all the necessary parts as a single chip [15]. The locally manufactured motion sensing game
controller quoted in the case study is of this type. A number of video about the game controller
can be found from the Internet at the following links.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EC2DbggtbM8
(overview of the packing)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0o8eqUTjbc
(gaming example 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8xViOhDdqU
(gaming example 2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV5Yw4Nd2xI
(gaming example 3)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6n71rnbAkQ
(gaming example 4)
1.5 Importance of Game Technology [16,17,18]
Game consoles are highly specialized computer that often required cutting-edge technologies for
each of its main components including game processor, audio processor and CPU.
Furthermore, it is very often these cutting-edge technology are invented firstly for playing
video game (either for game consoles or PC used for playing game) before a number of them
find their ways into other mainstream electronic products. For example, 3D video cards were
called graphic accelerators, which was invented for playing game in PC and they are now
found in every Personal Computer.
Although the market for high-end game consoles may be small, the developments of these
highly specialized cutting-edge technologies require the manufacturers to build an advanced
15
Case Study (Teacher’s Guide) – The Technology behind Game Console
research-and-development laboratory. But, the developed technology, when used in their new
game console, could help them to withstand the severe competition from other game console
manufacturers. Hence, it is important for the game console manfuacturers to state in the art of
the technology.
Pedagogy
In this case, the visual representation on game console and its accessories together with the
cases will be more stimulating to the students than the textual basis. Video regarding the
technology with game is available from the Internet [19, 20, 21,22,23,24,25,26]. Teachers can
use the video as a stimulus to students with a more realistic local design situation in game
console or its accessories such as Sengital (http://www.sengital.com).
There are some tips recommended for the students to conduct group discussion:
1. Read the case materials at least twice and put down some footnotes or questions aside
the paragraphs.
2. Jot down a list of the problems and issues that to be discussed.
3. Try to add meanings to the data presented in the case (if any) or any findings discovered
during their research.
4. Try to apply the concepts and tools that they have learned earlier or in other subjects.
5. Be thorough in diagnosis of the situation and make at least one page summary of their
group discussion.
6. Support any and all opinions among the group with well-reasoned argument skills and
data until they can say “here our analysis show that …".
7. Use tables, charts, and graphs to present their findings or conclusion as far as they can.
Sometimes simple summary tables or a bulleted paragraph will work wonders.
8. Prioritize their recommendations means make sure their practical recommendations are
really practical; make sure they can be carried out in an acceptable time frame with the
available skills and resources.
9. Review the recommended solutions to see if it really addresses all of the identified
problems and issues, advices from other groups can be consulted.
10. Be conscientious to recommend some solutions or conclusions that could not have
disastrous results if it doesn't work out as planned, remind them to be a responsible and
conscientious case analyst and is tackling a real case.
Teacher can take the role of a facilitator and recommend some worksheets in accordance with
the case context. The worksheets can be some reflective questions so that they can be a
formative assessment to determine how students are learning and to make sure they are
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Case Study (Teacher’s Guide) – The Technology behind Game Console
engaging in the learning process. The worksheets with appropriate designed tables and hints
can help students to record their work systematically so that they can be easily monitored.
This makes their learning outcomes become tangible and assessable.
The follow-up activities recommended in this case study are the substantiation of contexts
through different learning and teaching strategies e.g. Design Project, Visit. We believe that
students can acquire the generic skills and explore the problem in a greater depth through this
series of interactive activities. However, the classroom implementation is up to the teacher
professional decision that is based on the teaching schedule and the learning outcomes
depend on the readiness of students, lesson preparation and planning.
2. Schemes of Work
The teaching scheme is served as a basis for teachers to plan for their own lessons. This
topic is quite comprehensive and emerging. It involves the issues of different stage and
design consideration. The primary planning just covers all the necessary tasks and
experience that students might need to go through. Like any other case studies, students
need to do a lot of background readings to formulate their own concept and understanding of
the issue, otherwise they cannot play an active role in presenting their views in a provocative
group discussion. This means students need to take many non-school hours to complete their
tasks.
Transforming knowledge and data from extensive information search and literature review into
a comprehendible and presentable conclusion or practical recommendation is the acquisition
of high-order thinking that involves integration of knowledge form different perspectives.
Students may find it challenging in the beginning but they have to work on it. Students take
time to familiarize with this students-centered learning activity instead of traditional “chalk and
talk” ones. The role of teacher is like a coach to encourage them and set them an achievable
goal for them to progress and success. We believe in the motto “Practice makes perfect”,
once students are used to learn in this approach, and importantly, with the support of teachers,
they will become a good case analyst.
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Case Study (Teacher’s Guide) – The Technology behind Game Console
No. of periods:
8 periods
Duration of each period:
40 mins. x 2
Level:
S5 or above
Theme:
The Technology behind Game Console
Presentation:
Powerpoint, video, game console and its accessories
Period
Teaching /Learning Activities
01
Introduction of Case Topic
 Teacher should explain the case study topic. It will cover different stages
of forming a new product idea and introduction to game console
 Teacher needs to explain the assessment method and the expected
learning outcomes with powerpoint presentation and worksheet
Studying the case story
 Students need to understand the case as the background information;
 Self-assessing questions help them to identify the key issues;
 Class assignment in groups
 Encourage them to discuss the topic area in their group;
 Group carry on the problem identification works at home
Forming groups and brainstorming
 Teacher divides students into small groups and encourages them to work
in team. Grouping in according to their strengths and interest;
 Teacher can show a few minutes of Internet video to stimulate their
interest to the topic
 Teacher asks the groups to discuss the problems found and summarize
on the worksheet.
 Idea generation should start with brain storming among groups.
Development
02 -03
04
05 -06
07-08
Presentation/project Meeting
 Students should final check and rehearse their presentation;
 Teacher explains the presentation / project meeting details
 Teacher gives timely feedback and correct answers if necessary.
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Case Study (Teacher’s Guide) – The Technology behind Game Console
3. Assessment
The checklist assessment rubrics are given to each student for their self-evaluation after each
lesson. Teacher can discuss the checklist with them to perform formative assessment.
Teacher should record the checklist results and monitor the students’ progress.
The score rubrics are given to assess the final presentation by teacher and peers. The rubrics
criteria can be subject to change by the teacher professional judgment. The benefit of using
score rubrics is that students can know which areas they have performed well and which
areas need improvement. Students should know the assessment criteria before working on
the case so that they can divert their focus onto their learning.
For a fair assessment, students can request to be assessed individually instead of as a group.
They can state their percentage of contribution to the case before the assessment. Scores
can be calculated in accordance to the contribution percentage and allocate to individual
student.
4. Reference Materials / further reading materials
[1]
How Joysticks Work?
http://www.howstuffworks.com/joystick.htm
[2]
Conventional Joystick vs. Wiimote for Holonomic Wheelchair Control
http://www.springerlink.com/content/5383j64m7j56351q/
[3]
Designing games for the Wiimote
http://www.develop-online.net/features/58/Designing-games-for-the-Wiimote
[4]
Case study-the Nintendo Wii Remote
http://nerdacumen.com/Case_Study_on_the_Nintendo_Wii_Remote_by_Matthew_Stringer.pdf
[5]
How does an accelerometer for Nintendo Wii work?
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_does_an_accelerometer_for_Nintendo_Wii_work
[6]
Accelerometer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerometer
[7]
Accelerometers – build one yourself
http://blog.dotphys.net/2009/07/accelerometers-and-build-one-yourself/
[8]
What Do Accelerometers Measure?
http://www.strapdownassociates.com/Accels%20Measure.pdf
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Case Study (Teacher’s Guide) – The Technology behind Game Console
[9]
New iMEMS® Angular-Rate-Sensing Gyroscope
http://www.analog.com/library/analogdialogue/archives/37-03/gyro.html
[10] STMicroelectronics Drives Gaming Revolution with Nintendo's Wii
http://www.st.com/stonline/stappl/cms/press/news/year2006/t2031.htm
[11] Triangulation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangulation
[12] The Sad, Sad Truth of Sword Simulation
http://www.vooks.net/story-11544.html
[13] IDG-600 Integrated Dual-Axis Gyroscope
http://www.invensense.com/products/idg_600.html
[14] Ivensense introduces Single-Axis Yaw Gyroscope and 3-Axis Accelerometer to
Complement Family of Dual-Axis MEMS Gyroscopes
http://www.topas.de/presse1.html?&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=61&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D
=51
[15] 6-axis motion sensor
http://www.semi.org/cms/groups/public/documents/web_content/ctr_032235.pdf
[16] Video gamers drive high-end PC design
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/tech/videogames/fun-machine.html
[17] How gamers drive the market
http://icrontic.com/forum/showthread.php?p=585496
[18] Gamers Drive the Market
http://backtalkandsass.com/Gamers-Drive-The-Market.pdf
[19] Microsoft Flight Simulator with the Wiimote
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3hk2H-PhAo&feature=related
[20] FlightGear Wii-mote Flying
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyFTc_XH0Zs&feature=related
[21] Table Tennis - The Official Wii™ Version Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxxqx-evAdc
[22] Wii ping pong
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI8xqTt1Ql4&feature=related
[23] Flight simulator, Condor, Joystick, Cockpit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I52FUeAiIWA&feature=related
[24] Flight Simulator Projected Screens
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3szJjaX51ig&feature=channel
[25] DIY Flight Simulator Multiple Monitors
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNoyHdWXUlI&feature=channel (part 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkQKYlkgE6w&feature=fvw (part 2)
[26] Moving Axis Flight Simulator
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECeLsCIxh3Y&feature=related (part 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrC0_EFnLFE&feature=channel (part 2)
20
Case Study (Teacher’s Guide) – The Technology behind Game Console
21
Case Study – (Teacher’s Guide) Environmental Technology: Hydrogen-powered car
22