Final Blog of the Video Game Console

My topic is on the future of video gaming console. Throughout the semester, I have posted blogs as it relates to the video gaming industry. The reason why I picked this topic because I am a video game enthusiasts. Video games have been part of my entire life. It's amazing to see the evolution of video games from the days of Super Mario to Metal Gear Solid IV. I was amazed to learn that over 71 consoles have been developed since the 1970s. I have owned and played about 10-15% of the consoles built. And hopefully more advanced ones to come in the future.

In my blog, I began with introducing the history of video game consoles. I found a website that shows all the consoles that were built since the 1970s. It gave description of each console, sort of a historical biography about them. There was over 71 consoles that I counted. You may see Playstation 2 counted two or three times because they released different version of the consoles during its 10-year period that Sony supported the system.

The next blog was a video on the evolution of video gaming. I thought the video provided an visual illustration of what games in the past look like to how they are today. Dr. Weisband actually played the one i posted on the blog in class. However, I have a new video that is very similar that I will present to you in my presentation.



I also went over the Video Game Industry Outlook for this time period. This was done by PriceWaterhouseCooper and is a little bit outdated. Their study found that the gaming industry will expand by a compound annual rate of 9.1% over the next five years. It also had a chart depicting the growth in gaming revenues from 2002-2006 which was compared alongside the music and movie industry. It shows that gaming revenues have grown by 5.7 percent while music industry suffered declines of 11.6% of revenue growth. The final chart that I posted was the U.S. gaming media consumption that showed how many hours per person an individual played games. As you know, some games may take several hours to complete and others more than double digits. On average, the consumption of video games per person in the U.S. is around 75 hours per year.

The next blog was about Project Natal. I posted a video demonstration that was presented at the E3 or Electronic Entertainment Expo. The video shows how controllers may be irrelevant. In my opinion, I rather play with a control than without one. But it appears the next generation consoles that Microsoft and even Sony will feature this option. I believe the attempt of this feature is to compete with the Wii and their hold on the casual gaming market.

I posted an article on my blog about the U.S. Air Force investing into 2,200 Sony Playstation 3 consoles. This is for research on a cost-effective technology for modernizing the military's high-performance computer system. It described that they already have 336 PS3s hooked up in what is described as a Linux-Based cluster. USAF has found that it is cheaper to purchase 2,200 Playstation 3 than it is to purchase from vendors such as IBM and Intel Corp. It mentions the chip technology and how a single 1U server configured with two 3.2-Ghz cell processors can cost up to $8k while two Sony PS3s cost approximately $600. The difference between the PS3 and another vendor chip technology are similar: A single 3.2-GHz cell processor is capable of delivering 200 GLOPS, where as the Sony PS3 configuration delivers approximately 150 GFLOPS.

Next blog was about cloud computing and how Valve Inc. Steam Cloud along with newcomers are going to change gaming on the PC. This technology allows gamers to play PC games on multiple computers. In the past, games were exclusive to one PC. The Steam Cloud takes your saved games, keyboard configuration, and others onto their servers. This will make it convenient for gamers as well as making it safer to upgrade your computer without the fear of losing the games you have. This could be the business model that change the industry. We will wait and see.
The last blog was an interview with the founder of Video Game giant Electronic Arts, Trip Hawkins. He described how the i-Pad has a market potential of 1 billion people because people are adopting computing formats that are simpler, more convenient and portable. He has very good viewpoints and it is important that we learn what the founders of companies have to say.

The interesting part that I've learned is that video games, like computers and social networking, are evolving to newer and better things. Consoles today have expanded on their features becoming an entertainment device where you can play games, watch movies, listen to your music, chat with friends, and even buy things like DLC (downloadable content). Wii already has motion controls and PS3 and Xbox 360 are going to follow that up with their motion control-less schemas.

My future outlook of video games is that we are heading towards a more social networking platform and electronic commerce. We can connect a gaming profile from Xbox 360 to our Facebook. We can also download video games from Xbox Live Marketplace instead of going to the outlet stores like EBGames. I foresee digital distribution to be featured heavily in the future as we leave physical product for the digital form we call bits.