"Games have the potential to subsume almost all other forms of entertainment media. They can tell us stories, offer us music, give us challenges, allow us to communicate and interact with others, encourage us to make things, connect us to new communities, and let us play." - Will Wright, game designer and creator of the Sims franchise
It is increasingly clear that games and interactive technology will be driving the way people consume content in the future. Each year the medium is taking a rising share of consumer time and wallet from traditional media. Games are becoming an engine for creating new global entertainment franchises with crossover properties in film, TV, and the Internet. In short, games are redefining the boundaries of entertainment.
Some facts:
PWC projects the worldwide video game market is projected to become a $46 billion market in 2010, with the overall fastest growth in the US of all entertainment markets
More than 8 million people around the world are paying $10-15 per month to play World of Warcraft. The average player spends more than 20 hours a week in the game world
More than 100 million PlayStation 2 consoles have been sold worldwide
Over 5 million subscribers can access 1000 hours of video content from CBS, MTV, Warner Bros, TBS, Lions Gate, and Paramount on Xbox Live
Current and future leaders in the entertainment industry will need to be familiar with this ascendant medium. Our panelists will help us understand the following key issues:
Entrepreneurial opportunities in games
Convergence of games, animation, film/TV
Managing creative teams
New forms of gameplay
THe key thing to take into account here, ina holistic sense is that with the more technology we have available, then more mediums will become available for use. Gaming systems, and cell phone do many of the same thing. You can play video games on a phone, right? And you can have conversation via video game systems, with as good, or better quality than actual phones & may invlove numerous people--puts the 3-way connection to shame.
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Video game systems surely have a huge influence on the lives of Americans, especially children. I saw presentation in one of my classes earlier this week, that some schools are using Nintendo Wii as an activity in gym class. I would not be suprised to see more of this virtual gaming in school systems of the future.
ReplyDeletehave we gone too far with the games?
ReplyDeletei think at one point you have to draw the line.
@ Marian.
ReplyDeleteNo.
It's a new medium and it's scary and its a pain to listen to your kids whine for a new game.
Learn to accept it.
At each successive leap in game technology there is a return to technology and its underlying nature.
Even if two or three years without innovation, the games can only develop so far on a particular platform.
The style and content of the games is based on the specific qualities of the new machines as they become available.
In one sense, the games don't change at all. Gaming can be boiled down to three particular archtypes: The Duel, the Quest, and Point of View.
But, like modern plays that follow the principles developed by the ancient Greeks, they still hold the essential mythic structure of almost every further-developed scenario.