To deal with the recent economical situation, video game companies have been cutting down the cost of their products. Allowing them to stay competitive in this holiday season, where everybody is trying to save. Not only releasing an amount of new derived product to use with the platform (steering wheel, golf club…), but also loading the market with new and different games relating to all ages. With the times getting harder and harder video games companies still need to do more effort to keep the people interested so that they can keep buying newer platforms and games coming out.
What do the video game industry needs to focus on and develop to stay interesting and keep people addicted to the gaming phenomenon. This topic sounded really interesting, being a Video game design student in my senior year I can clearly identify myself to the situation. Even though I haven’t graduated and haven’t set foot in the industry yet, I already need to be thinking of ways to be original and detach myself from the crowd. The current economic situation that presides over the video game industry could project some to believe they may be some glitches to overcome and a few hurdles
Effectively, the times being hard economically may induce into thinking that sales in the gaming industry would drop as people need to focus on other pecuniary priorities. An optimistic view of the situation could lead one to believe this is the beginning of the video game industry takeover of all mainstream entertainment. For years video games has had to compete with other forms of in-house entertainment such as cable, home video rental, and now the internet or online entertainment.
With the apparition of new generation platforms video games has becomes so well developed it can be visualized as the next major form of home entertainment. By combining all elements of in-house entertainment into one entertainment center, your game console. Video games has come a long way from the Atari VCS/2600 to xbox360 or Sony Blu-ray consoles. It now allows gamers to play more than just video games. The possibility of watching a movie, listening to music or even to go further download content from the internet and interact with millions of people online thru social networking communities.
The video game business needs to keep that momentum and work on more ways to make game or entertainment platforms the absolute must in home furnishing. Why purchase a whOle entertainment system (Blu-Ray player, HD DVD player, MP3 CD player, surround sound system, internet access, cable box, and more…) when you could purchase single top of the line video game platform, costing less than the entire set, offering the advantages of all those electronic equipment. Plus the possibility to store music and videos, send and receive e-mail and pictures, browse the internet.
The music business has already began the process of reducing the cost of CD production and retail music stores by giving more options to obtain the music online by downloading albums or single songs. Long ago you had to shell out $15 to $25 for an album. Now with ITUNES and such you can download the song of your choice for only 99 cents. If the video game industry was to imitate that strategy I could easily see it flourishing through this economic downfall by sensibly reducing the physical cost. Making these games today costs a lot in between the disc itself, the jacket, the graphical work on both, the shipping and handling etc.
Companies could fast forward this process by offering direct downloads that may offer savings for the consumer and company by cutting the cost of the physical product, its handling and display. The video game console is essential to bring people of different ages together as friends and families. As of the current situation people tend to try to make both ends meet, and exclude some leisure activities of their schedule. With the prices of gas being up people have to watch their fuel consumption and won’t get out of the house as much as before, spending also less time shopping or using recreational areas like fitness center.
At that point the market is open for the video game industry to just settle in the household as the main source of relaxation, activity and escape. Which is why to keep expanding, the game industry should follow in the steps of Nintendo and develop the motion capture sensors technology that allows people to move around, relax and have fun at the same time. Simulating outdoor activities but lowering the cost of it, to a game platform and two controllers that will last years. In that same train of thoughts, hologram technology should be developed.
It would add so much to the game combined with the motion capture technology. Video game companies are on a slight down fall at the moment but technology is at a level that allows a lot of creativity… so I think it wouldn’t take much for video game designers to put the stakes higher and really step up with a virtual reality platform that would recreate a space and submerge the player in the game. It is a really lucrative field that can not wither in a season, it has a lot of potential and is really addictive.
