Task 4

History of Gaming, the 2000s.

From 1997 onward the cost of game development skyrockets into the new millennium.  Designers who remade Pac-Man and remakes of Pong which were often made by one or two people, changed to high profit organisations of hundreds.  This was no only due to the growing market, but other factors like Moore’s law, which allowed the creation to faster computers and better technology.

Beyond the 90s arcades had mostly died out, only being found in cinemas and carnival fair frounds. This was because the console war had begun from the 2000s. The beginning of this generations consoles (the sixth generation) started with the Dreamcast in 1998. The Dream cast was the first internet capable games console, however due to miss-haps with piracy among other problems, the Dreamcast was discontinued in 2002.

The Sony Playstation 2 was the next Sixth generation console and went onto be one of the best selling consoles for its generation. Released in the year 2000, the demand for the console sky rocketed, putting a delay on manufacture rates, it sold almost 1,000,000 consoles on the first day of sale in Japan on the 5^th of May 2000. There were few manufacture problems with the console, such as the adaptor catching on fire, if I remember correcty.

Cross-platform gaming also became popular during the 2000s and has continued to become a selling point for game companies. Games such as Grand Theft Auto 3, which was heavily popular from its release in 2001 on the Ps2 and 2002 on the Xbox, allowing the player to buy one console instead of having to buy another to play a game set for that console.

Microsoft entered the gaming market at the end of 2001 with the Xbox, its sale were not great, however it matched that of the Nintendo Gamecube. Its highest selling point was with the game Halo, which went on to become one of the most successful FPS games of all time.

Nintendo released their Nintendo DS and Sony with their PsP in 2004, which began the Seventh Generation of consoles. Nintendo constantly has remade the DS since its creation: The Ds Lite (2006), DSi (2008) and the DSi XL (2009). Where as Sony remade the Psp, to Psp Go in 2009, it being smaller, lighter and fucking expansive.

In 2006 the Xbox360 was released, due to its fast release, it couldn’t meet retail demands. The Xbox 360 has upgraded its model several times since than, each time boosting performance speed and memory. A month after the Xbox 360’s launch, Sony released their Ps3, which its main seeling point was its online gameplay, blu-ray and various multimedia capabilities. It was also the most expansive system for its time.  Around this time the Nintendo Wii was also on the market, its main telling point being its unique method of gameplay and its use of its Wii-mote and motion controle.

Around this time is when the social game archetypes were evolving, which have not been fully analysed, but are well known among the gaming community.  The types of gamers are as follows; Casual, Professional, Hardcore, Newbie, Importer, Retrogamer. Girl gamer is also considered to be a type of gamer, but this is simply an inside joke. Before the 2000s female gamers were unpopular, but since games have been marketed towards a female or genderless audience, it has risen to about equal with male gamers.

This tree of gamers is important, it now means that the publishers can target their games towards how gamers play their games, aswell as the genre of game. So games are becoming more specific to their audience. Nintendo capitalised on this by targeting the casual gamer audience, by creating gimmick games, where theres no real compition and its all a spot of harmless fun.

From 2009, Sony and Microsoft embarrassed themselves by trying to mimic Nintendo’s motion controllers.