The Video Games Revolution - Facts and Myths

Believe it or not, video games draw their roots all the way back to 1950s. The rest is history. Over the past 30 years, video games have evolved into a whole new level. It has become a part of American culture; not sure if that?s bad or good. Read on and you shall discover some facts and myths about video games that you probably didn?t know.

Video games industry has become a multi-billion dollar behemoth. Over 65% of US household play video games. Today I will discuss a few things related to video games (super Mario, duke nukem, PS3, OUYA), mobile games (app development) and my journey as a gamer to a game developer. Before I go about telling my story and how I got into gaming and development, I would like you to take a look at the infographic below that shows the some statistic on video games.

Video Games Statistic

While the huge revenue numbers will make the game developer?s happy, the growing numbers of gamers may give birth to obesity, unhappiness or family conflicts. Let me explain.

If you are not a gamer, you will probably see the negative impact of gaming before even thinking about the positive. It?s very obvious isn?t it? How the hell do video games even benefit you, right? Well my friend, it actually doesn?t. I know it?s sad but in terms of health, I don?t think video games benefit you at all. Instead, there are lot of debates on the relationship of video games with obesity and violence. However, before you draw your conclusion, check out the infographic below.

Video games are not healthy. If that is what you think then I will have to partly agree and disagree with you. Obesity is caused due to bad diet, bad food habits, lack of exercising and more. Whether you choose to be a hardcore gamer (lazy guy sitting on a couch gaming all day while munching on junk) or a passionate casual gamer (active, energetic guy gaming couple of hours a week while maintaining a good diet and other lifestyle), the choice is really yours at the end of the day. By the way, the definition for the terms ?hardcore gamer? and ?passionate gamer? posted above is my thought. I don?t think you have to be fat and ugly to be called a ?gamer?.

Video gaming actually helps you make quicker decisions, act faster, improve your focus on multitasking and be creative and imaginative. According to Discovery, spending a few hours fragging your friends in Call of Duty can have positive effects on the brain. Well of course, the result may vary But if you ask me, as a gamer, I would say that I approve of this statement. For example, the other day when I was playing Uncharted 3 co-op with one of my non-gamer friend (he is a noob non-gamer); he couldn?t even control his camera properly. Gaming is all about precision, accuracy, agility and quickness. If you are slow in getting your hands on Call of Duty, you will not get kills and your opponent will own your ass. When we play games, we keep an eye on our health bar, power bar, back and front camera, enemy movement and much more. This is multitasking at its finest

Always remember, anything within limitation is alright while too much of it may turn into addiction.

My Story

I started getting interested in games when I was about 10 years old. I had no console, I had no computers. Yes, you heard that right. One day, I saw my cousin playing Duke Nukem on his computer. I think it was running on Windows 95 . After he left, I got on and the rest is history my friend.

I visited him often and then discovered a few more games which I started playing; Doom, Prince of Persia, desert strike to name a few. Do you remember the days when you could play games in Windows DOS mode?

After a year or two, I managed to get my dad purchase a Nintendo. I was hooked on super Mario, battle city, donkey kong, duck hunt and road runner for a decade. I used to play couple of hours a day. This didn?t make my parents so happy so they decided to hide the console?s power adapter so I couldn?t play . Yes, they did this frequently so I could focus on something else. ?Guess what? I didn?t stop. I started visiting arcades and then got hooked up with Cadillacs and Dinosaurs. Come on guys, tell me you have played this. How about Samurai Showdown or King of fighters or even Alien VS Predator? They were sweet.

Later, I thought it was time to upgrade so I decided to steal some money from my dad (Mischievous face) to buy a Sega. Hell yes. I was finally getting a Sega guys, how cool. So after purchasing the Sega, I had to hide it for a couple of weeks because I didn?t want my parents to find out. Whenever they were asleep or were out of the house, I took it out, plugged and played . It was awesome for a while until they accused me of stealing. Besides, you couldn?t hide that big ass Sega for long could you? So they ended up seeing it and I had to explain bla bla. I was hooked with Sega for another decade until I saw some of my friends gaming with their new shiny PS1. I tried to compromise with my heart and waited and waited. PS2 was out and rocking the market. Now, it was really time to upgrade. This time I didn?t steal (of course, the option was still available). I got an Xbox instead of a ps1 or a ps2. I had about 500+ games on it and that?s when I really got into a whole new dimension.

After a couple of years when the Xbox broke, my former girlfriend bought me an Xbox 360 which was a sweet thing for her to do . You know, girlfriends don?t do this usually. I am glad that she didn?t ask it back when we split (smh). To cut the story short, I was an Xbox guy for years until it finally gave up on me 2 years ago; that?s when I decided to get a PS3 baby. I was never a fan of PS because I was so used to the Xbox controller. However, when I played around for a week or two, I was totally hooked.

Play station 3 games are awesome and the controller is smooth. I haven?t experienced much with Xbox Live but Play station multiplayer is pretty sweet. Btw, if you are a PS gamer then you may want to add me to your network. My PSN ID: neoragex7

My journey as a gamer has been an awesome experience so far. If you look at my gaming timeline, you can see how things have evolved into a whole new level. You can see how consoles have changed shape and form. You can see how the industry is growing into a billion dollar behemoth.

The New Video Game Revolution

Let me introduce you to the next gen video game console called OUYA. Yes, after PS3, my hands will be on OUYA.

OUYA is a new game console for the TV and is powered by Android. Best of all, OUYA?s world-class controller, console, and interface come in one beautiful, inexpensive package which is much cheaper than most popular consoles in the market. All the games on it will be free, at least to try. OUYA has raised almost $7 Million dollars within 30days on Kickstarter. I am proud to be a backer and I have already reserved my username as well as a special limited edition of OUYA console. I am seriously excited about its release in March 2013. Unlike the major popular consoles such as Xbox and PS3, OUYA welcomes hackers. It?s easy to root (and rooting won?t void your warranty). Hardware hackers can create their own peripherals, and connect via USB or Bluetooth. They are also willing to give you their hardware design. I feel that this is the beginning of a new gaming era. Because OUYA is based on Android, any app developer could publish their Android app to OUYA. The possibilities are limitless. You can get more details on this on their Kickstarter page. If you like gaming then you should back them up.

The Money is in the Video Games

Like I said earlier, the video game industry is a billion dollar industry. By now you should know how much I love games and how much I am involved with the gaming industry and history. Although I am a passionate gamer, I like to think stuff from an entrepreneurial point of view. Let me explain.

I am a gamer but at the same time, I am an online money maker. I have been talking about mobile gaming and apps in my past several blog posts. If you have been following me then you should know that I am also an IOS developer and currently working on creating some new mobile games and apps for both IOS and android platform. What could be better than to monetize your passion . Mobile App is another billion dollar industry. $8 billion estimated in-app purchases in 2016? That?s huge. Check out the infographic below.

This is a great motivation for game developers. Another good news is OUYA being powered by android. How does that help? Anyone can make a game: every OUYA console is a dev kit. No need to purchase a license or an expensive SDK. It?s built on Android, so developers already know how it works. This is another potential market for game developers and I am really excited to get my hands on it. I will always love games and I hope that I can leverage my creativity and give back to the community by developing some awesome mobile games and apps in the future.

Verdict

Whether you like gaming or hate it, it?s going to stay anyway. Not all gamers are money makers, entrepreneurs or think alike. There are some serious gamers who kick my ass in Uncharted 3. When they beat me, I just say one thing in my mind and that is, ?I am going to make money making games and get my six pack while you sit back on your couch all day munching on junk food, getting fat and ugly and killing things that are not live?

As a gamer, I have learned to be creative and innovative. I do not let school or even games interrupt my lifestyle or personal education. For example, I know I will be gaming tonight. I know it because I love to game and I have set time for it. However, it might not happen if I get a call from my client or get involved with some important chores. The choice is really mine. Whether I decide to write this blog post right now or just get my hands on Uncharted 3 multiplayer, the choice is mine, really. If you know and do the stuff when they need to be done, you will be a happy man. If you are a gamer then enjoy gaming but don?t waste your entire day on it. Sometimes you can learn a lot from video games which you can implement in real life. I will talk about this in another post but for now, I hope you enjoyed this post and see the good side of gaming. What?s your gaming story? Are you a gamer, a game lover or a hater? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

PS: I hope my mom gets to read this blog post

Source: http://www.salmanahsan.com/the-video-games-revolution-facts-and-myths/

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