History of Gaming

Early video game consoles attracted mainstream interest for several reasons: Firstly, the simple novelty of playing interactive games through the television was an irresistible draw for many people. Beyond that however, the simple, intuitive nature of many early games ensured that they appealed a wide audience. With many of the early game consoles being limited in the amount of buttons offered to players, as well as processing power, designers compensated by coming up with games that were on one hand easy to play, but on the other, difficult to master. This is evidenced in many early arcade hits such as Space Invaders and Pac Man, which were incredibly addictive for those who got into them.

Though interest in games has risen and fallen a few times, they were for the most part an activity that offered at least something for most into the 1990s. I believe that the fifth generation of video game consoles, defined as 1993-2002 is where video games really started to appeal to a more narrow market. With the introduction of 3d graphics, games with increasingly complex and difficult gameplay, and controllers with upwards of 10 different buttons to learn, the game industry beagn to shut out the casual gamer, making video games a sort of closed world that appealed to only a certain percentage of the population (predominantly males under 40ish). Fortunately for the industry, this market has been groomed and grown up to be rabid about their games, willing to shell out about $500 every few years for the latest systems, and over $50 for many hit games. For every spectacular failure during this time period (Atari Jaguar), there were spectacular successes (Sony PlayStation).

With the introduction of the Nintendo Wii in 2007, we see one company trying to get back to the casual gamer. I still haven't tried it, but many people that I know who aren't gamers have told me that they love playing it. Owing very much to the pick-up-and-play mechanics of the motion based system, Nintendo has capitalized on the re-introduction of the casual gamer after faltering with their sixth generation GameCube. Their strategy seems to be paying off--As of January, they had overtaken XBox 360, Microsoft's far more complex next-gen console, as the current generation's sales leader.

Perhaps Nintendo's success will encourage a back-to-basics approach for the entire industry. Alternatively, we could see an increasing split within it, with one faction pandering to the casual crowd as the other tries to keep the hardcore fanbase happy.

We'll likely have to wait for the 8th generation of gaming to find out how it all goes down.