Game Design

The video game industry has been one of the fastest growing industries since it was created. It doesn’t matter if you look at Pong or Pac Man or Sonic or Halo, there have always been thousands upon thousands of gaming fanatics and casual gamers that are willing to spend thousands of dollars every year on video games. Video games appeal to people because they are fun, competitive, and they are easy learn but often hard to master. Also, most video games make themselves very clear on the screen. Unlike books or board games, there is little to no reading involved in video games; only sight and reflexes are involved. This combination of television and rockem-sockem robots-like movement of the hands make video games that much more accessible and compelling.

Of course, some people would argue that, eventually, gamers would grow bored of the same old two-handed bent-potato shaped controllers that are updated routinely merely by adding new buttons every time a new system comes out. Fortunately, the gaming industry knows of this weakness in design repetitiveness, and they can easily work around it. For, while the classic two-handed controller has served companies and customers well over the years, creative companies have always been trying to push the envelope in controller design. The most recent and obvious example of this would be the Nintendo Wii. The Wii turns video gaming into a whole new way to play for three reasons. Firstly, instead of staying put throughout an entire play session, the Wii player must make at least some movement throughout the game, because their Wiimote directly controls their character on screen. Secondly, the Wii takes full advantage of WiFi technology, meaning that millions of players can meet each other online and set up games with people who they’ve never even met or seen before. No one will ever have to call up their busy friends again if they just want a quick multiplayer game. Lastly, the Wii has been made completely backwards compatible. It cannot only play all the old Gamecube games, but it can also play whatever other games from past generation consoles customers choose to download to their Wii using Wii points.

Nintendo has been around since the early days of video games and has been a big proponent of the industry. But the added competition of Sony and Microsoft make the industry grow that much more. Because of this three-headed rivalry, there will never be a shortage of ideas and work flowing through the major companies, because they will always be trying to out-do each other. For customers, this is a dream come true. Not only do they have a huge amount of choices when deciding which video games and systems to buy, but they also have three major corporations competing directly for their attention. With the added information of gaming magazines and sites, customers can make educated choices and pick the best games to buy. The companies then learn which games their customers like, and can make even better games based on that data. In this way, the industry not only grows, but becomes better and better.

As technology evolves, game designers have even more options and ways to be more and more creative. Video game design is an art form, and the great thing about an art form is that it is only limited in terms of technology and the human imagination. The video game industry will continue to grow and grow because of its massive fan base and competitive market. There is no other business like the video game business. No other moves as quickly, and no other has so much room for improvement and creativity. And that is why the ever-exciting video game industry will never fail to not only reach new heights, but look to even greater ones.