Interactive entertainment and gaming
Interactive entertainment and games are often seen as synonymous, but in reality include rather different sets of activities, interactive television and gaming.
Interactive TV is often described as "lean back" interaction, as users are typically relaxing in the living room environment with a remote control in one hand. This is in contrast to the personal computer -oriented "lean forward" experience where a keyboard, a mouse and a monitor is used. Thus ‘gaming’ in this sense is technically, a computer game composed of a PC or video game console (a computer specially made for game play) – a controlled virtual universe that players may interact with in order to achieve a goal.
Internet games require a connection to the Internet. Internet gaming was originally an offshoot from personal computer games, but may be considered a platform in itself due to its growing scope and the inclusion of Internet capabilities in modern consoles, such as the PlayStation 2, the Gamecube, and the Xbox. Internet gaming in the form of multiplayer online games currently has a massive presence and includes a number of genres such as: Action, Board (involving play on a virtual game board), Cards, Classics, Flight Sim, MUD (Multi User Dimension / Multi User Dungeon), RPG (Role playing games), Sports, strategy, Trivia/ Puzzle.
How to play VCDs using Media Player
These guides describe how to watch and play VCD, SVCD or DVD on your computer or TV.
How to play VCD, MPEG1 In Windows
You can play VCDs with Windows Media Player, insert the VCD in your CD-ROM or DVD-ROM and browse to the MPEGAV folder and double click on the .dat file and associate it with Media Player and open them with that.
To play a VCD with menus and still pictures use WinDVD or PowerDVD, insert the VCD and just hit Play.
Use a low resolution, like 640x480, on the monitor when watching a VCD to get best quality.
How to play DVD, MPEG2 In Windows
To play a DVD you need a software DVD Player, then it is just to insert the DVD in your DVD-ROM and hit Play using any player like PowerDVD or WinDVD.
To play MPEG2 with Windows Media Player you need a software DVD Player installed or a MPEG2 Codec.
To play a copied/ripped DVD from your HD you can use WinDVD, just right click on the play window and choose Source->DVD from folder and choose the VIDEO_TS folder.
To play a copied/ripped DVD from the HD with PowerDVD just click on the open button and choose Open DVD File from the Hard Disk Drive and open the video_ts.ifo in the VIDEO_TS folder.
Audio - Listening
If you would like to listen to MP3 files on your computer, then you need:
• A computer
• A sound card and speakers for the computer (If your computer has speakers, it has a sound card.)
• An MP3 player (a software application you can download from the Web in 10 minutes) Media player, CD/DVD ROM
MP3 files - Audio
You can go to one of the sites, find a song and download it to your hard disk (most MP3 sites let you either listen to the song as a streaming file or download it -- you want to download). Most songs range between 2 and 4 MB, so it will take 10 to 15 minutes unless you have a high-speed Internet connection. Once the song has finished downloading, try to double-click on the file and see what happens. If your computer plays it, then you are set.
