Gaming For Beginners: Part Two

With Christmas now done and dusted and the year 2011 finally ushered in, providing you were good gaming girls and boys I’m assuming Santa would have treated you to a shiny new console. Now with all great consoles there is an endless amount of peripherals to go with them. If you’re like myself and you’re feeling slightly baffled by the extra bells and whistles you can get and you’re not 100% sure what they do, and even more importantly if you even need them, then do not fear. This second part of Gaming for beginners will take you through what it does and whether you need it.

So what are peripherals, I assume you ask? The definition of a peripheral is a device which is attached to a host computer but it is not a part of it. In more simple terms, it’s the additional accessories you can buy for your console. When you get a new or pre-owned console, you do get the essential items you need to get started. This would include one control pad, power cable and additional leads to hook it up to your TV. Now these items are enough to get you up and running but you can get to a point where having the basics is just not good enough.

What can be seen as an obvious purchase is a second control pad. This then allows you to kick butt against anyone who is brave enough to come to your house and challenge you. As we are now in the age of online gaming, you may find that your friends are ready and waiting to play from the comfort of their own homes. Since I can go on and on about online gaming, this little gem is going to be saved for its own Gaming for beginners.

Other accessories you can get also include headsets (wired, wireless or Bluetooth) and chat pads, which can be plugged into your control pad, and a remote control. These beauties are normally found for either the Xbox 360 or the PlayStation 3 because they’re not only used for gaming, but also to watch our DVDs, chat and send messages to our online friends.

Also for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 you can buy what is called a HDMI cable. As both of these consoles allow you to do high definition (HD) gaming, and with many of us now owning HD-ready TVs, this cable will give you the best chance to see the graphics look all lovely and shiny. Since the Wii doesn’t support HD, you won’t be able to use a HDMI cable. But don’t you fear. The next best cable you can use is called a component cable. At one stage this used to be the more common cable used to connect HD items together, before HDMI came along. So don’t worry, Wii fans, you aren’t missing a thing.

Ok I think that’s enough info-cramming for one blog. I hope that this has gone some way to explaining a little bit about the world of peripherals. If you’re still scratching your head about it all, then listen to this advice. The best way to buy peripherals is to only buy when you need them. Always research what you want, and you shouldn’t go too wrong. Happy gaming!