Video games have been around for decades. They have brought countless hours of entertainment to many people. They have even doubled as an inexpensive babysitter for parents. However, video games have seen a number of changes since the 1980s.
The video games from the 1980s were very simple. They were all 2D games, and each was very basic in nature. A racing game, for example, might have a few tracks and that would be it. Platform or puzzle games would feature fairly simplistic designs, because let's face it: there isn't a whole lot that can be done in 2D. This was also back in a time when developers and publishers weren't hugely concerned with the bottom line. They were interested in producing a good video game, regardless if it sold extremely well or not. This inadvertently resulted in the video game crash of 1983, due to so many awful games being released. It wasn't until Nintendo released its Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) that the video game industry would rebound for good.
The 1990s ushered in the 3D era. Although initially starting out with 2D games in the early 1990s, the mid-1990s brought in new game consoles that were capable of 3D games. The graphics were awful by today's standards, but back then they were considered revolutionary. 3D worlds opened up so many new possibilities for virtually every video game genre. The 1990s also saw an increase in the portable gaming market, as Nintendo released new versions of its popular Game Boy, while other companies released their own portable gaming system to combat the Game Boy.
Finally, we arrive to the time period of the 2000s - Present. Several new game consoles were released that pushed graphics to be even more realistic, while also coming up with new peripherals -- such as the Playstation Eye, and the Xbox Kinect -- to further enhance gaming. Portable gaming systems had also drastically increased in popularity, as smartphones became mainstream and more people wanted to have everything all-in-one. This is a trend that will continue into the future, perhaps to the point of portable gaming systems becoming the new thing.
Nevertheless, video games had very much became mainstream, and as such, the quality of the games started to suffer. Because of such a wide audience, developers had to ensure that their customer base would not only enjoy the game, but also be able to complete it. Thus, games started to become a bit more neophyte-friendly, as puzzles were simplified, and several hints and alerts were built into games to help gamers out.
The reason for games becoming dumbed down, so to speak, is due to one major thing: developers and publishers now pay greater attention to their bottom line. As video games became more advanced in the graphics department, and also became mainstream, more money had to be devoted to the development of the game, and also to advertising the game as well. Developers and publishers soon saw that, as long as people enjoyed the actual game, consumers did not seem to care that sequels to a game had the same graphics, a short new single player campaign, and reused textures on multiplayer maps. As such, video game sequels to a successful game became a yearly thing -- Call of Duty and Guitar Hero come to mind -- rather than something that took years to come out.
Today, the video game industry is seen as a business. Sure, it has always been a business, even back in the 1980s. However, it is now seen as a very viable way to make money, and developers do not see much need in dumping in thousands of hours of time and effort in designing an entirely new game, when only a few things need to be tweaked. Will this trend continue? Perhaps. But this might end up leading to another video game industry crash, like the one in 1983. Only time will tell.
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