What is gaming?Gaming has always been a topic of ridicule amongst the learned people who have considered it as a time pass and nothing more, considering it as the best enemy a student can have to spoil his academic career. Before we begin this discussion about gaming which has been neglected as a "small children" activity by "experienced" people who claim that they have seen more than us, please bug off if you aren't interested. And if anyone does want to change his view consider the following facts :
- The average age of gamers today is approximately 27 ! (call them kids !)
- The gaming industry is on the rise, in spite of the high levels of piracy involved in the same, with big hotshots like EA Games earning revenues in billions of dollars !
- There are about 153 gaming platforms in the world, for details click here and you thought that PS-3 is the end of the world !
- and many more...
Gaming , as a definition , today is beyond the scope of this blog - but according to a customized definition , it can be stated as an umbrella term which involves lots of subcategories and is a special type of activity/hobby for entertainment and to relax from stress. Another polpular facet of gaming is gambling, but on this page gaming involves everything except gambling - yup... here gaming implies "games" - be it the ones played on your computer, playstation or any other platform. For knowing more about gaming, you can always do a google or wikipedia search, but I dont think it requires any introduction as such.
My tryst with gaming
When I was a kid, 8-12 years, I played the video games and the sega games. I loved them.
When I grew up, 12-16 years, I played the playstation 1 and got introduced to PC games. I loved them even more.
When I grew up even more, I almost got addicted to gaming with Xbox 360 and PS3, but the sheer charm of playing the advanced games on PC remained the best bet for entertainment. I fell for them hook, line and sinker. I knew that this was something I am going to make a future in. I loved gaming even more.
It was because of gaming that my interest in the world of computers was sparked off. I remember advancing from the world of "Mario" and "Battlecity" to the world of "Allan Border Cricket" on DOS. I still cant forget the euphoria that me and a friend of mine had when we completed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, playing 5 hours on a stretch. It takes sheer patience to play strategy games like Age of Mythology without cheatcodes. Games like Need for Speed take you to an entirely new altitude when you race in those thunderbolt cars. Sports like Fifa , Cricket bring you on parallels with the legends you admire and lets you have a shot at the records they created. Multiplayer role playing games and online fiascos brought a new meaning to e-entertainment catapulting the gaming industry to blinding heights. And with the ongoing rivalry between Sony and Microsoft to capture the market with their popular gaming devices, its only more joy for gamers like me. The gaming bug advanced to cell phones too, as Nokia went on to create a special gaming device - N-gage , which I own with pride. (Its another thing that the device was a flop in India, thanks to the unpopularity of gaming at that time, but it sure went on to make record sales everywhere.) People were shell shocked when N-gage production was brought to a halt, but Nokia gave a pleasant relief when it announced that the N-gage hardware is soon going to be implemented in all Nokia models !!!
Gaming has always been a great activity in my friend circle as we exchanged a lots of them among us, and usually had LAN gaming contests of Counter strike and its siblings. Finally I felt that though I couldnt make it as a gaming programmer, I will make it up by keeping loyal with the industry which I have a lot to thank to. Games when played not in excess, can be one of the best stress busters ever and some of them give you lots of food for thought along with some upheaval of creativity and IQ. (Its impossible to prove, but then who cares!)
Future of Gaming Industry
I am ready to predict that it won't be very long before online gaming becomes a spectator sport. Someday in the not-too-distant future, I believe we'll sit around watching online gamers do battle with one another, first on the Internet, and then on something like ESPN. The point being that I think online gaming is going mainstream, joining TV, music, movies, and the Net in the center of our country's entertainment industry. This may sound outlandish, but no more so than ten exceedingly tall people running around in their underwear bouncing an orange ball. Believe me, stranger successes have been made. Console games are already outseling their PC counterparts 10:1 and thats incredible... Over the next 36 months, game consoles and other home Internet hardware, such PCs and wireless access points, will become less and less distinguishable. Put another way, a future Xbox might also be your home's Internet gateway and home entertainment server. Mobile games--meaning games you download into wireless devices like cellular telephones--will generate decent revenue for wireless carriers and expand the video game market to people who don't consider themselves gamers. This will become an interesting diversion for people who have a lot of waiting to do--like in airports. But working against this is the relatively low number of people who play games on their Palms and Pocket PCs. The bottom line is that gaming is likely to only become more important as it reaches out to really embrace the Internet. It will provide more families with a reason to go broadband. That, in turn, will help push a variety of other information and entertainment services into the home. And I dont even need to talk about arcade gaming, though I am not quite into it, I believe that a significant population on earth is.
As more 18- to 34-year-olds check out of network television and check into gaming, marketers will go after that valuable consumer demographic. Product placement may become so abundant in games that NASCAR will look like NPR in comparison. Play a driving game and you'll see familiar landmarks: the Shell gas station on the corner, the McDonald's on Main Street, the Budweiser billboards near highway exits. And thats become a reality in many games already.
Of course there is a downside to excessive gaming too. Its very harmful, if you have an overdose, but then what thing isnt bad when in excess. It may happen that gaming becomes a greater evil than the idiot box. It will be upto us how we embrace this wonderful activity in our life.
Some will be genius. Others will be reprehensible. The key to the future of gaming will be for parents to understand and appreciate those distinctions and to not champion games based on one educational tour-de-force or condemn games entirely based on a violent first-person shooter.
Whatever anyones says, Gaming here is to stay !
My tryst with gaming
When I was a kid, 8-12 years, I played the video games and the sega games. I loved them.
When I grew up, 12-16 years, I played the playstation 1 and got introduced to PC games. I loved them even more.
When I grew up even more, I almost got addicted to gaming with Xbox 360 and PS3, but the sheer charm of playing the advanced games on PC remained the best bet for entertainment. I fell for them hook, line and sinker. I knew that this was something I am going to make a future in. I loved gaming even more.
It was because of gaming that my interest in the world of computers was sparked off. I remember advancing from the world of "Mario" and "Battlecity" to the world of "Allan Border Cricket" on DOS. I still cant forget the euphoria that me and a friend of mine had when we completed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, playing 5 hours on a stretch. It takes sheer patience to play strategy games like Age of Mythology without cheatcodes. Games like Need for Speed take you to an entirely new altitude when you race in those thunderbolt cars. Sports like Fifa , Cricket bring you on parallels with the legends you admire and lets you have a shot at the records they created. Multiplayer role playing games and online fiascos brought a new meaning to e-entertainment catapulting the gaming industry to blinding heights. And with the ongoing rivalry between Sony and Microsoft to capture the market with their popular gaming devices, its only more joy for gamers like me. The gaming bug advanced to cell phones too, as Nokia went on to create a special gaming device - N-gage , which I own with pride. (Its another thing that the device was a flop in India, thanks to the unpopularity of gaming at that time, but it sure went on to make record sales everywhere.) People were shell shocked when N-gage production was brought to a halt, but Nokia gave a pleasant relief when it announced that the N-gage hardware is soon going to be implemented in all Nokia models !!!
Gaming has always been a great activity in my friend circle as we exchanged a lots of them among us, and usually had LAN gaming contests of Counter strike and its siblings. Finally I felt that though I couldnt make it as a gaming programmer, I will make it up by keeping loyal with the industry which I have a lot to thank to. Games when played not in excess, can be one of the best stress busters ever and some of them give you lots of food for thought along with some upheaval of creativity and IQ. (Its impossible to prove, but then who cares!)
Future of Gaming Industry
I am ready to predict that it won't be very long before online gaming becomes a spectator sport. Someday in the not-too-distant future, I believe we'll sit around watching online gamers do battle with one another, first on the Internet, and then on something like ESPN. The point being that I think online gaming is going mainstream, joining TV, music, movies, and the Net in the center of our country's entertainment industry. This may sound outlandish, but no more so than ten exceedingly tall people running around in their underwear bouncing an orange ball. Believe me, stranger successes have been made. Console games are already outseling their PC counterparts 10:1 and thats incredible... Over the next 36 months, game consoles and other home Internet hardware, such PCs and wireless access points, will become less and less distinguishable. Put another way, a future Xbox might also be your home's Internet gateway and home entertainment server. Mobile games--meaning games you download into wireless devices like cellular telephones--will generate decent revenue for wireless carriers and expand the video game market to people who don't consider themselves gamers. This will become an interesting diversion for people who have a lot of waiting to do--like in airports. But working against this is the relatively low number of people who play games on their Palms and Pocket PCs. The bottom line is that gaming is likely to only become more important as it reaches out to really embrace the Internet. It will provide more families with a reason to go broadband. That, in turn, will help push a variety of other information and entertainment services into the home. And I dont even need to talk about arcade gaming, though I am not quite into it, I believe that a significant population on earth is.
As more 18- to 34-year-olds check out of network television and check into gaming, marketers will go after that valuable consumer demographic. Product placement may become so abundant in games that NASCAR will look like NPR in comparison. Play a driving game and you'll see familiar landmarks: the Shell gas station on the corner, the McDonald's on Main Street, the Budweiser billboards near highway exits. And thats become a reality in many games already.
Of course there is a downside to excessive gaming too. Its very harmful, if you have an overdose, but then what thing isnt bad when in excess. It may happen that gaming becomes a greater evil than the idiot box. It will be upto us how we embrace this wonderful activity in our life.
Some will be genius. Others will be reprehensible. The key to the future of gaming will be for parents to understand and appreciate those distinctions and to not champion games based on one educational tour-de-force or condemn games entirely based on a violent first-person shooter.
Whatever anyones says, Gaming here is to stay !
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2 comments:
Totally agree with you that "Gaming is here to stay".
But these days, high end consoles are out of reach for an ordinary man. Talk about PC gaming, hardware requirements have increased so enormously, you just can't maintain the pace with it.
I was a NFS lover, who tried to install NFS Carbon which pretty screwed my PC. Not ready to upgrade, I gave up gaming.
But every coin has two sides. Instead of PC gaming, I started going to playground everyday, and believe me, it feels good when you get some exercise.
Also, it totally depends on person to person how he want to spend his teenage. We cannot ignore the side effects gaming has on a person.
to dynamic-dormant:
of course I second you about yur views... these days high end pc games have really made life hell for gaming enthusiasists....
and yeah...to the readers of this blog,
gaming is dangerous when u get addicted to it...
the purpose of this blog is to remove the common misconception that gaming industry is going to die..
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