Past, Present and Future

         

         I am a 1970 kid. A lot has happened in the world in every area, but especially the technology arena in the last 51 years. Speaking of the video gaming industry that sits within the technology world, Atari would be getting ready to celebrate 50 years next year if they had not closed their operations in 1992.

        The video gaming industry has made leaps and bounds since Atari, but we bow to them for getting the ball rolling. And now look, that ball has snowballed into a huge mountain of a boulder. From a couple of pixels in the game Pong to two dimensional games from the people over at Nintendo to now incredibly realistic games. Sometimes I have to touch the screen to make sure I don't get my hand wet in a waterfall or stream.

        Leaders such as Sony and Microsoft seem to have been playing an eternal game of video gaming business tennis. One company will come out with a console or feature better or before the other and then the other company does the same not too long after. So, where does that leave us now?

        The virtual reality gaming is out there and I have seen the equipment and games pushed, especially for Christmas time, but I don't see a lot of friends or acquaintances using the technology. The most common VR game I see used at this point is Beat Saber. If the companies can find a way to incorporate the space the body has to move even more than the current equipment already does, I think that would help in the future development of games.

        I'm sure you also notice as I do the shift to digital gaming instead of playing with a physical disc. Some games you might have to subscribe to a server and all you do is log on when you desire to play and your character and all your stats are kept online, on their server in the cloud - so to speak. Right now we have digital downloads of games in addition to the cloud gaming and disc option.

        I'm an old school gamer, I like the physical disc in my hand coming out of the store. The transaction makes me feel like I have actually waited and finally acquired a game I have been holding out for, for a long time. Downloading it just zaps that experience right out the window.

        The PC world has been in the gaming scene also. I'm not much of a PC gamer, but I do have a few on my laptop I'll pull up every now and then like Roller Coaster Tycoon. 

        The technology field sees phones and other gadgets go obsolete pretty quick now-a-days. The gaming trade seems to have a little longer window of time, but not much. From pixels to two dimensions to in-depth, realistic three dimensional gaming to VR to the cloud based gaming experience - no matter what device you play on, the video gaming business has certainly come a long way in a short time.