Not to be nit-picking
Okay, with 8-bit Is Enough on its way, I really have to go out on the whole 8-bit thing.
While it is true that most consoles from the 8-bit era are in fact 8-bit, the graphics themselves are not. 8-bit only refers to the processor capacity, the CPU. It's still accurate that the Atari 2600, the console the Fun Machine was loosely based on, was 8-bit. In fact, it's still accurate that almost all of Videlectrix' games use more than the usual four colors per sprites (where one of the colors is reserved for the background color mask).
However, we can't say that these four-colored sprites are 8-bit. They are actually 2-bit. You only need two bits (bits being either zeroes or ones) to have four possibilities:
00
01
10
11
In fact, the Game Gear has an 8-bit processor, however, it can handle four bits per pixel (small block representing a dot on a sprite), meaning a total of sixteen colors per sprite.
To reverse it even, the Neo Geo Pocket, although an 16-bit system, could only handle two bits per pixel! Take into consideration that the SNES and the Genesis both were 16-bit systems as well.
For more information, check this handy forum post I used to bring up as an explanation:
http://forum.captainn.net/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1083683450
I bet you never though a gaming forum could teach you this much.
Also, what's a nit, and why would I ever want to pick it?
While it is true that most consoles from the 8-bit era are in fact 8-bit, the graphics themselves are not. 8-bit only refers to the processor capacity, the CPU. It's still accurate that the Atari 2600, the console the Fun Machine was loosely based on, was 8-bit. In fact, it's still accurate that almost all of Videlectrix' games use more than the usual four colors per sprites (where one of the colors is reserved for the background color mask).
However, we can't say that these four-colored sprites are 8-bit. They are actually 2-bit. You only need two bits (bits being either zeroes or ones) to have four possibilities:
00
01
10
11
In fact, the Game Gear has an 8-bit processor, however, it can handle four bits per pixel (small block representing a dot on a sprite), meaning a total of sixteen colors per sprite.
To reverse it even, the Neo Geo Pocket, although an 16-bit system, could only handle two bits per pixel! Take into consideration that the SNES and the Genesis both were 16-bit systems as well.
For more information, check this handy forum post I used to bring up as an explanation:
http://forum.captainn.net/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1083683450
I bet you never though a gaming forum could teach you this much.
Also, what's a nit, and why would I ever want to pick it?
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Comments
I'm glad someone could finally explain exactly what a bit is. I've heard people say that it was a measure of pixel size, processing power, and colors on screen, but the only one it really isn't is a measurement of pixel size.
But anyway, a bit is nothing more than on or off. This is due to the fact that it has two states, on (which is often represented by a 1) and off (represented as 0). Since computers work with magnets, and magnetized material only has the state positive or negative, computers will always work in the binary system. Since it's a mouthful to say "binary digit", people probably shortened it to "bit". Where the word "byte" (eight bits) comes from I don't know.
So, when someone says 1-bit, it's just something consisting of one digit:
0 or 1
When someone says 2-bit:
00, 01, 10 or 11
When someone says 3-bit:
000, 001, 010, 011, 100, 101, 110 or 111
And so forth.
Sorry, I haven't been paying attention. Are you saying Gary has lice?
Oh, and that hyperlink sort of explains where I'm going at.
Actually, "Nit's" means something that belongs to a nit (or perhaps someone named Nit), or a contraction of "Nit is". "Nits" are lice eggs.
...how's THAT for nitpicking?
I KNEW I wasn't the only one that reads those!