Gaming is a pastime that has developed from something enjoyed by a hardcore few to something that people of all ages and sexes are embracing, over the past three decades. It has been a complex journey to that point for the industry, but here we will look at a few of the major turning points that led to it.
NES and the Console Wars
Home gaming on consoles as we know it today really started in late 1985, with the release of Nintendo’s NES console. Launched at a time when most people in the west thought gaming was declining, Nintendo even had to set up their own store displays to get stores in New York to stock it. It wasn’t an immediate smash, but sold enough to secure a national launch the next year – by which time Super Mario Bros was ready for worldwide release. Nintendo had no real rival until the Sega Genesis hit shelves, although it staved off this challenge, before the Sony PlayStation saw that company become the biggest console manufacturer. PlayStation 2 saw it retain that crown, but Nintendo finally bit back with the Wii – which won the most recent console war by attracting casual gamers.
Mobile Gaming
The fact that casual gamers existed to attract in the first place was in large part down to mobile technology developing to the point where games could be played on tablets and smartphones. This made them accessible to people who would never have bought consoles, with simple, bright mobile games like Angry Birds also helping to bring in casual gamers. Linking games to social media sites also helped make gaming seem like fun, sociable activity for a more mainstream audience, while online casino games available at sites like casinoonline.co.nz saw men and women who wouldn’t consider themselves games geeks embrace mobile betting games.
Virtual Reality
With a far bigger audience now in place, the challenge for the games industry is to hang on to them – and virtual reality gaming is the next advance in games tech. Nintendo released Virtual Boy back in the 1990s, but the tech did not exist to convincingly create an immersive virtual world back then. However in 2016, VR gaming headsets like the Oculus Rift. Nonetheless, however good the tech is, it will be the ability to develop VR games with broad appeal that its success will hinge on, and the development of tie-in games like Star Wars: Trials on Tatooine suggests the industry realises that.
While you might find the prospect of virtual reality gaming dizzying, the industry is already moving forward with augmented reality devices like the HoloLens, so the upcoming years are set to be seismic for gaming.
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