Photo by Bill Davenport from Stock.Xchng
By Ethan Lyon, Senior Writer
Before we look forward to the next evolution of gaming, let’s take a step back—20 years to be precise. April 1989, the gaming device that marked the beginning of our lifelong pursuit for the virtual entertainment, was born. We welcomed the hand-held (what we now call mobile) device, Nintendo’s Game Boy into this world. When I think back on my childhood, the Game Boy put an end to the tediousness and boring rides to my grandparents house or vacations the Adirondacks. Zelda, Tetris, Mario and a sleuth of other games entertained the second generation of gamers.
In the short span of 20 years, we have gone from two-tone graphics to Wii Tennis. Now, I can fit two, maybe three iPhones into my GameBoy. Size definitely plays a large role in device development and game content relies on the wow factor. The functionality and features of new gaming technology is more imaginative and innovative than the grandfathers of gaming could ever have envisioned.
Gaming shows no signs of slowing. With Nintendo’s Wii, non-gamers are spending just as much time in the virtual world as the diehards. And the diehard gamer base is growing exponentially. Game Informer outsold TIME, Playboy and Sports Illustrated. Gaming is no longer a two-button, d-pad, two-tone graphic experience anymore. Now, you can join teams of assassins to break-up terror cells, or get your daily exercise with a virtual trainer.
We are going to discuss five emerging trends in the gaming industry:
1. Contextualizing—It’s not enough to kick and punch anymore… unless of course you are actually kicking and punching, or thinking about kicking and punching. More and more video games are bringing a multi-sensorial experience to users, or they are literally putting the gamer in the drivers seat.
2. Real-Time Play—Real-time play (RTP) is nothing new. Fighting terrorists with your friend 200-miles away has been done (Xbox Live, WOW, etc). Developers are taking it a step further to find new applications of RTP, how it can change your entire gaming experience and have you thinking twice about your gym membership.
3. Cloud 9—Google is the king of the tech world for many reasons. The reason they will continue their reign is in part to their cloud computing, software as a service initiatives. There are many applications for cloud computing in the gaming industry and companies ushering in the next generation of play.
4. Mobile Console—Movie-theater size entertainment in a pocket-size device. As technology advances and devices become smaller and smaller, we are going to fit more into less. To think, just twenty years ago, the Game Boy, one of the first hand-held gaming devices, was so… primitive. If Game Boy to iPhone can happen in twenty years, what will the next even five years have in store for gaming devices?
5. “The Next Billion”—Gaming has been the staple of western entertainment. Even those that used to detest gaming, now game. The industry has captured the western world, now developers are going after “the next billion.” Though there have been many attempts at penetrating emerging markets, there is still hope that an affordable, portable gaming device can seed the first generation of gamers in a global way.
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