Blog 9 (Week 10, 11 & 12): Gaming

Gaming is an incredibly advancing medium. From its initial inception in the 70s and later 80s as video games, gaming was a huge phenomenon. Overtime, it has expanded into even greater things. Games started out as either arcade machines or home consoles, but now there isn't even need for one; you can get games and apps for your phones, and if you want to play a game in depth on the move ther are now portable consoles like the new Nintendo 3DS, supposedly allowing 3D gaming and the PSP. Of course now, we have Kinect for the Xbox 360, which completely removes the controller instead 'You are the controller', allowing your own physical actions and gestures to control the game.

 Though all these changes are fantastic and innovative, the core of a game has always been pretty much the same: there's always a set of rules that the player must abide by, a set of possible outcomes which the player has come choice over, player's actions, how they feel about the actions and the outcome. Games are now more like Hollywood films in their production, millions are spent to make the game, and the plot of most games is like that of a movie; a key character - the hero, usually a second main character - the villian, and a mission or task that needs to be completed to reach the goal at the end of the game.
In the early days of gaming only a select group of individuals played games, now designers are trying to open up games to the world and become more universally accepted. On the Nintendo Wii's release, Nintendo made sure in their advertising campaign that the message was fun for all the family, you could get your parent or grandparents to play, it was that easy;

But games haven't seemed to have forgotten about their roots. Retro games have become very fashionable and novice and expert gamers alike seem to be highly nostalgic for them. Online demand for them has allowed  the three major consoling giants (Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo) to sell these games as downloadable content through their online networks (Xbox Live, Playstation Network and WiiWare). Online multiplayer has allowed millions of players from all around the world to keep in contact with each other and interact in a virtual world with one another. Second Life is a perfect example of this, where you literally create a second life for yourself virtually. In this world, you can do what you want, even marry someone. I think that gaming has finally entered the masses, more people than ever before are playing games, and there is now so much more choice on offer than Pong and Pac-Man.



 As technology advances so will gaming, this is inevitable. Film producers are already realising this and are now starting to work together to create new and artistic games, such as Fahrenheit on the Playstation 2 and Heavy Rain on the Playstation 3, both developed by Quantic Dream. In both games the plot is a thriller where the player makes choices which dictate what the character will do next in the game. There is no other media which allows this level of interactivity and multiple choice, you cannot decide the outcome of a TV show or movie, but in the gaming world, anything is possible.