Video Gaming: Getting Into The Game

Ready for another rousing round of Donkey Kong, I dig the game cartridge from a box and pull the Nintendo Entertainment System out of the closet. Then the console goes onto the coffee table. Its power cord must reach the wall, its A/V cable the television, and its wired controllers the couch. This means moving the coffee table 7 inches closer to my 25-inch Zenith.

With the console in place and the Donkey Kong cartridge in its slot, I pull out an RF converter/adapter to link the Nintendo system to the Zenith’s antenna input. Squeezing between the wall and the television stand, I grope behind the Zenith with one hand, contort my body and my other arm like a Cirque du Soleil acrobat, and make the connection.

That was 20 years ago. Today, controllers are wireless and RF adapters are as scarce as suits and ties are at a beach volleyball contest. Sure, plenty of Sony PlayStations still perch precariously on coffee tables, but video game consoles and PCs are increasingly becoming integral components in home theaters, not mere toys to be dragged out of a closet for a few hours of playtime.

Making Gaming Better
Clockwise from upper left: Voodoo PC’s Aria media center PC in its bright-red, home-theater-friendly chassis; Sony’s EyeToy video game camera system for PlayStation 2; Gyration’s wireless mouse, which works without a hard surface; and Monster Cable’s premium-quality component video/stereo audio cable for Xbox. (Click images to enlarge)

“We set up gaming for every home theater we put in,” says Marilyn Sanford, president of Vancouver, British Columbia, custom installer La Scala. “We really believe that gaming is a fundamental growth area for entertainment in the home.”

Rich Green, founder of Palo Alto, Calif., custom installer Rich Green Ink, takes it a step further. “Gaming is the future of our industry,” says Green who, like Sanford, is a member of the Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association (CEDIA) board of directors and its Certification Council chairman. Even ultra-high-end audio/video equipment maker Goldmund agrees: “Video games are now installed in most of our systems,” says company president Michel Reverchon. “Not so much for the person who buys the system, but so other family members can enjoy the system, too.”

While Green strongly believes that a dedicated gaming room is the best choice for most families, he concedes that, “You can effectively combine gaming into a home theater environment.” After consulting with Green and others in the home entertainment and gaming industries, we developed a seven-step to-do list for introducing video games into your home theater.Select Your Screen
Any television technology works fine for gaming, although Green warns that flat-panel LCDs can have a hard time handling fast-motion games if their pixel refresh rate is too slow. He recommends refresh rates of 16 milliseconds or faster. Sanford, meanwhile, warns gamers to be cautious about using CRT or plasma displays because of their susceptibility to phosphor burn-in. But most new plasma models have a user-enabled feature that can help prevent this by almost imperceptibly jiggling otherwise static images.

A Video Game Haven
Custom installer Rich Green recommends creating a separate area for video gaming—such as this workcenterlike space he created for one of his clients. He believes that because game soundtracks are intended to be attention-getting and even annoying at times, games are best confined to their own, purpose-built environment. (Click images to enlarge)

The existing Sony PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Xbox can deliver widescreen 16:9 1080-line interlaced (1080i) high-definition video, so an HDTV set should be considered a bare minimum for today’s gaming. Nintendo GameCubes manufactured before May 2004 support at most 480-line progressive (480p) widescreen video—about halfway to high-definition—but GameCubes made since then can only produce 480-line interlaced (480i) images.

While the soon-to-be-released Microsoft Xbox 360 produces the same 1080i video as its predecessor, Sony’s upcoming PlayStation 3 will produce 1080-line progressive (1080p) video. If you, like most serious gamers, plan on buying a PS3, you may want to seek out one of the new 1080p video displays. The Nintendo Revolution console previewed last May does not support high-definition video.

Surround Yourself
“Audio is where you can really make your gaming experience a lot better,” says John Dahl, product line director for THX Ltd., which provides technologies and services for optimizing the production and playback of entertainment content. “Game soundtracks are like movie soundtracks; their purpose is to get you involved in the game. Having a surround-sound system really gets you involved. It gives you a better sense of envelopment and direction.

“In some cases, audio can be more important (to game play) than video,” he continues.“When you’re playing a game and you hear the sound coming from a particular direction, you move the controller correspondingly. For example, if you are playing Need for Speed Underground on a surround-sound system, you can hear cars coming up from behind or the side and react. If you have only two speakers, that can be a problem.”Green agrees. “You have to have surround sound,” he says. “And you need to pay attention to the acoustics for video gaming the same way you would for any other source in any critical listening space. You want a good mixture of reflection and absorption of sound, and you want the sound in the room to be neutral and natural and not fatiguing.”

Fortunately, getting good surround sound is easy with today’s consoles and PCs. The Xbox and PlayStation 2 consoles support digital surround sound to varying degrees. The former features on-the-fly Dolby Digital encoding, and most Xbox games take advantage of it. The PS2 supports digital surround only in its cut scenes (the movie-style sequences that break up the game play), and it has become a popular feature in new games.

The action sequences in PS2 games often feature special Dolby Pro Logic II encoding, which gaming aficionados consider to be nearly as good as discreet 5.1-channel surround. This encoding originated with the GameCube, which does not support digital audio at all.

Fit To Be Untied
Logitech’s Freedom 2.4 joystick communicates wirelessly with a PC or Macintosh computer, so it can be used even in a large home theater where the computer may be mounted in an equipment rack 20 to 30 feet away from the player. A USB receiver module connects to the computer. The Freedom 2.4’s 10 buttons are programmable, so they can execute the game functions you choose. (Click image to enlarge)

Most decent PC audio cards and even computers with integrated audio have digital audio output capability for true 5.1-channel surround sound. With some of these computers, an adapter may be required.

Boost Your Bass
The experts’ consensus is that your surround-sound system need not be adjusted specifically for gaming. They point out that today’s games feature musical soundtracks, explosions, and other sound effects similar to those found in DVD movies—maybe not When Harry Met Sally, but certainly Harry Potter. However, because gaming is interactive and movie watching is passive, avid gamers may want to pay particular attention to the bass delivered by their home theaters. Green has used as many as four subwoofers in his custom installations, and Sanford is a proponent of seat- or floor-mounted transducers that let gamers feel, as well as hear, explosions.

Even if you don’t install transducers that shake, rattle, and roll knickknacks off of shelves, anyone introducing gaming to a home theater should heed Green’s warning that, “The difference between video games and other sources is that the soundtracks on most video games are intended to be loud and obnoxious.” That means the den or living room that is accessible and open to other areas of the house may work well for movie watching but turn into a domestic battleground if used for gaming. For example, that “loud and obnoxious” gaming soundtrack coming from the next room might tick off a significant other trying to talk on the telephone in the kitchen. For that reason, Green believes basement playrooms and bonus rooms over the garage often make the best gaming environs and should be strongly considered if you want to incorporate gaming into a new home theater system.Make Connections
The experts state that making the right connections is an often-overlooked step in optimizing your home theater for gaming. Although today’s consoles have ditched those dismal RF converters for higher-end interfaces, the cables that come with the systems do not allow optimum performance. And connecting a PC to your home theater may require a new graphics card or interface.

Just as you would with conventional components, you should always opt for the best possible connection when interfacing a PC or game console with your home theater. The number and type of inputs on your TV, receiver, or surround processor may limit your choices, but from least to most desirable the preferences for video connections are composite, S-video, component, and DVI. For audio, the choices from worst to best are 3.5mm minijack, RCA-type stereo analog audio, and coaxial or Toslink digital audio. As of this writing, there are no HDMI options for connecting a game console or PC to your home theater, although Sony announced in May that its upcoming PlayStation 3 will have two HDMI output jacks.

For consoles, the experts agree that component video cables will deliver the best video even at 480i resolution with a standard 4:3 aspect ratio. If you’re connecting a newer GameCube that lacks the component video connector, go with S-video. To use component or S-video cables with any console, you’ll need to purchase an optional adapter from the manufacturer or an aftermarket accessories maker.

The GameCube supports only analog stereo sound, but if you set your receiver for Dolby Pro Logic II decoding, you’ll get a reasonable facsimile of 5.1 surround. Getting true digital surround sound out of the other consoles means plugging an optical (Toslink) cable directly into the PS2 or into an HD A/V adapter for the Xbox, which lacks a digital audio output on the console.

The audio and video cards in your PC will determine the connections you can use to make the computer part of your home theater. Although many plasmas, flat-panel LCDs, and projectors feature VGA inputs compatible with nearly every PC, you’ll get better video if you use a graphics expansion card with DVI output. A fast video card is a must for gaming, so look for a card with the latest video chip from a manufacturer like NVidia or ATI, and at least 128 megabytes of onboard memory. Another advantage of these cards is that they come with software that will help you set your PC video’s output to a refresh rate and resolution that most closely matches your television’s native resolution.Whether you’re going to play on a PC or a console, the growing popularity of online gaming makes high-speed Internet access a must. All three current consoles already take advantage of online gaming, and it will become even more of a factor with their next-gen successors. Your console or PC can be connected to the Internet via an Ethernet cable or a WiFi adapter.

Clear Convenience
Although some may question the aesthetic design of Mad Catz’s Xbox Wireless Controller Pad Pro, its wireless operation offers greater convenience than standard Xbox controllers. Plug the included micro-antenna into your Xbox and you are ready to play. The device includes vibration capability and pressure-sensitive buttons. (Click image to enlarge)

Another thing to consider when you connect your game system to your home theater is how far the PC or console is going to be from the TV and processor. The longer the distance, the more important the quality of the cables is going to be. A few well-known cable manufacturers, most notably Monster, offer high-end game cables that ensure the best performance. But Green warns that even with the best cables, exceptionally long runs may require an amplifier or line driver to deliver optimum video and audio. Such long runs are common in custom home theaters, where the console or PC may be located near a seating area on one side of a room, while the video comes from a ceiling-mounted projector, and the sound processor is in a hidden rack or another room altogether.

Hold Your Place
Even the most avid gamer is unlikely to want a custom home theater cluttered up with cables running from a console or PC to a TV. Besides, few TVs and surround-sound processors have the front-mounted digital audio and component video input jacks required to get optimum picture and sound from a gaming device. And even if yours does, do you really want to connect a bunch of wires before every gaming session, and unplug them after the last sword is swung?

Optimizing your home theater for gaming should include finding a place on a shelf near the TV where the console or PC can join other components and be permanently connected. That isn’t always easy in custom theaters. Green says the approach he takes, regardless of how the theater is designed, is to treat the gaming PC or console like a DVD player. That means it should be accessible to the gamer and, in the case of a PC, be in a horizontal case that can sit on a rack that allows front-to-back ventilation.“Very often in a formal theater, gaming devices are hidden from view,” says Green, “but some people like to put them on display. I’m also finding that people who are really into games want be close to the hardware. In some applications, I’ve put the console or PC right in a custom-designed coffee table in front of the theater seating. I’ve also mounted them behind the seating area.”

Situations like this require special provisions for the cables, and not just to ensure that they have the quality and/or amplification required to deliver their signals. To hide the wires, special conduits are often created under the floor or through walls and ceilings to bridge the gap between output and input components.

Because most PCs and even the Xbox—the largest of the current consoles—are similar in size and shape to a small audio receiver, they can be accommodated by most standard component racks. Smaller video game consoles, like the paperback-size PS2 and the GameCube, are even easier to shelve or hide in a custom coffee table or ottoman.

Integrating a PC into a home theater means making sure its form factor works in the environment. That typically means that the PC must live in a horizontal case as opposed to the common vertical tower cases. Some horizontal PC cases are designed to look like home theater components, rather than like industrial computers, which is a big plus in situations where the PC is going to be visible.

Another important consideration when integrating a gaming PC into a home theater is to make sure it is optimized for that purpose, not for home theater applications like video recording and playback. This means having a fast CPU and a powerful video graphics processor, both of which tend to generate a lot of heat. Be sure the cooling fans used to dissipate that heat are not going to be a distraction when the home theater is not being used for gaming. The whoosh of even the loudest PC cooling fan is unlikely to annoy someone trying to destroy aliens, but it can distract you during the more cerebral games, or when the PC is idling while you’re trying to watch Lost or 24.

Cut the Cord
Although connecting a game console or PC to other home theater components can present serious cabling challenges, controlling the action usually isn’t as problematic. This is particularly true of consoles, for which radio-frequency wireless controllers are readily available. Not only do they eliminate the web of wires that can clutter a room, but their typical 30-foot range makes it possible to play from any seat, even in large home theaters. Wireless controllers are available from the console makers as well as from gaming accessory makers such as Pelican and Mad Catz.Wireless joysticks also are available for PCs from companies like Saitek and Logitech. Gyration, owned by Thomson, even makes a wireless mouse for PCs that uses a gyroscope to turn hand movement into cursor control. But Green cautions serious PC gamers that the response time of today’s wireless mice and keyboards may not be quick enough for their needs. He also cautions gamers using conventional keyboards and mice that the correct ergonomic position is crucial to hours of pain-free play. This means having a place to rest keyboards, mice, and elbows. In the case of a home theater, this may require, as Green puts it, “setting up a workstation-type environment in the front row.”

Video Vanguard
This rear-panel view of the PlayStation 3 console shows its technical superiority over competitors—the two jacks in the upper left are HDMI digital video connectors, which provide the best possible high-definition images. (Click image to enlarge)

As far as controlling the audio/video system itself goes, the same Crestron-type touchscreen remote controls are the best bet. They won’t make it any easier to interact with your games, but they can make setting the monitor and audio processor to the right inputs and optimizing the lighting for gaming a one-touch process.

Light It Up
For the most part, lighting that works well for viewing movies or TV in a home theater will work just fine for gaming. But because gaming sessions can be more intense and last longer than television viewing sessions, Green likes to use subtle backlighting behind the screens in his dedicated game rooms. That way, gamers are not staring at a bright spot on a black wall for hours on end. He also often installs small reading-lamp-style spotlights that can be directed at the gamer. These are especially useful when you use devices like Sony’s EyeToy, a special video camera designed for the PS2 that superimposes a gamer’s image on the screen and senses movement that allows the subject to interact with the game.

Gaming should be an engaging activity. Integrating your console or PC into your home theater can enhance the experience by taking advantage of surround sound and superior video. And it sure beats the days of rummaging for the RF converter every time you feel like pursuing a giant ape.