Nintendo Wii
Wii has “casualized” the gaming market is what most of you say. But I say this- it has not casualized the gaming market. It has revolutionized it. Not only has it been selling like hot cakes, it has introduced innumerable new gamers to the world of video games. Three years ago, would any of you have thought your mom or sister would be sitting in front of a screen, playing video games? With all their heart in it? No. That is what the Wii did. And to those people who say Wii has ruined gaming- do any less good games get released ever since the release of Wii? No. We still get the Halos, or the Zeldas, or the Uncharteds. And if you notice, the Wii has been moving towards the hardcore market gradually. You know what it’s doing? It’s turning casuals into hardcores. Now THAT is a revolution.
Gaming on the move
Handheld gaming is probably one of the most innovative ideas the gaming industry could have come up with. Not only do we get to play awesome, deep, complex games whenever we want, wherever we want, the handheld market has also given us some of the greatest franchises we could ever have thought of- Pokemon and Professor Layton are just two prime examples. And seriously, most of the highest selling systems of all time are handhelds- the original Gameboy, Gameboy Advance, DS, PSP. There must be something about handheld games that appeals to so many gamers, right?
Rise of the Indie Games
I don’t know what my life as a gamer would be if I hadn’t played Braid, or Limbo, or Flower. Games don’t always have to be developed by the Bungie’s and BioWare’s to be good. All the indie games I have ever played have been wonderful experiences. They’re deep, complex, and I would even go as far as saying they’re works of art. Not just that- indie games have that creative spark these days that most of the other “commercial games” lack. That, and Deadly Premonition rocks.
Xbox Live
Xbox Live is a revolution. Not really the biggest revolution in gaming history, but a very important one. Some might even call Xbox Live the Facebook of gaming. XBL has brought all gamers together in more ways than one. The community and social features of Xbox Live are unmatched, and while imitators such as PSN do bring in a lot of new things to the mix, they can hardly compete with XBL. Yes, you have to pay for most of the services, but the extra content you get is astounding. Plus, Xbox Live has now become a major part of our social lives as gamers. And just imagine Halo without multiplayer. (shudder)
Console First Person Shooters
Imagine a console market without Halo, or Perfect Dark, or Goldeneye. Imagine if games like Battlefield, Call of Duty and Medal of Honor were just on PC. Imagine. Now, if that were the case, here’s what the situation would be. The console market would be less popular. The First Person Shooter genre is one of the most important, the most dominant genre in the industry right now, and mostly because of console shooters. I’m not undermining the greatness of games like Half Life or Counter Strike, but console shooters have done to shooters what the Wii has done to gaming in general- they have widened the horizons of the genre, made it more accessible, more popular, more commercial. I cannot even imagine our current gen consoles being as successful as they are, if they didn’t have Halo or Killzone or Resistance to grace their libraries.
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