History of Video Games Part 3: 2000s - Present

The Three Giants
This is the last part in the series and it will cover the recent generations of video games. I left of just after the turn of the millennium and we are now in the 2000s. Sega has been outsold and left the video game console market to the last 3 major companies: Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft.

While both Sony and Microsoft were aiming at the same audience with their consoles, Nintendo was taking a different approach and continued to focus mainly on family friendly games. In late 2005 Nintendo took innovative gaming to the next step by releasing the Nintendo Wii which featured motion controls. At the same time Sony and Microsoft were focusing more on hardcore gaming and released their consoles, the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. While all 3 consoles standardized online gaming, the feature was more prominent on the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360. Both of these consoles also offered to run on HDTVs for the first time in video game history.

Nintendo Wii
(source: wikipedia.org)

PlayStation 3
(source: wikipedia.org)

Xbox 360
(source: wikipedia.org)

Although both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 were much more capable consoles, the Nintendo Wii managed to rank up the majority of sales due to a cheaper price as well as innovative controls and exclusive games. Following up from Nintendo's success, Sony and Microsoft started working on their own set of motion controls and 5 years later released the PlayStation Move and Kinect, which both also proved to be a success.

PlayStation Move
(source: wikipedia.org)

Kinect
(source: wikipedia.org)

Mobile Gaming
Meanwhile, the handheld consoles were catching up with technology as well. While the 90s were being dominated by Nintendo's Game Boy Advance, Sony decided to join the handheld console market and released the PlayStation Portable (PSP) which was the main competitor for Nintendo's DS (DualScreen). Both handhelds were popular with consumers and at the same time we saw another market rise up.

Nintendo DS
(source: wikipedia.org)

Sony PSP
(source: wikipedia.org)

With the continues development on mobile phones and the standardization of smart phones, video games became increasingly popular on those devices, with Apple running their AppStore on iPhones and Google running the Google Play Store on Android Devices. Popular mobile games included Angry Birds (2009), Fruit Ninja (2010) and Temple Run (2011).

Angry Birds Icon
(source: wikipedia.org)

Current Generation
The current generation of video game consoles started with Nintendo's release of the 3DS in 2011 which features an inbuilt Autostereoscopic 3D screen as well as faster hardware than the previous DS. This was followed up by Sony releasing their PlayStation Vita which is an upgraded version of their previously released PlayStation Portable.

PS Vita
(source: wikipedia.org)

Nintendo 3DS
(source: wikipedia.org)

A year later in 2012, Nintendo released their next generation console, the Wii U, which besides being an upgraded Wii also features a new gamepad, which is incorporating a touchscreen; a trait from increasingly popular tablet devices. Sony and Microsoft quickly joined in and released the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One a year later. Both consoles are using newest technology to enable them to run high-end games.

Wii U
(source: wikipedia.org)

PlayStation 4
(source: wikipedia.org)

Xbox One
(source: wikipedia.org)

The Future of Gaming (and References)
As with the current generation of consoles, it seems to me that the future of gaming moves more and more towards online compatibility. While online gaming has been around for more than a decade now, buying downloadable games is becoming increasingly popular, as well as the ability to record gameplay and share it with friends on social media websites. We can also see a rise in innovative controls with touch controls currently dominating the market and virtual reality slowly being developed.

Now that I have finished my series on the history of video games I will go back to my planned post about Easter Eggs and Cheat Codes that I have managed to postpone for so long. Until then, stay tuned~

WIKIPEDIA. (2014) Most popular Android apps by number of downloads. [Online]. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Most_popular_Android_apps_by_number_of_downloads [Accessed 04/2014]

WIKIPEDIA. (2014) Angry Birds (video game). [Online]. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angry_Birds_(video_game) [Accessed 04/2014]
WIKIPEDIA. (2014) Fruit Ninja. [Online]. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit_Ninja [Accessed 04/2014]
WIKIPEDIA. (2014) Temple Run. [Online]. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_Run [Accessed 04/2014]

WIKIPEDIA. (2014) Seventh generation of video game consoles. [Online]. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventh_generation_of_video_games_consoles [Accessed 04/2014]
WIKIPEDIA. (2014) Eighth generation of video game consoles. [Online]. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eighth_generation_of_video_games_consoles [Accessed 04/2014]

WIKIPEDIA. (2014) PlayStation Move. [Online]. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_Move [Accessed 04/2014]
WIKIPEDIA. (2014) Kinect. [Online]. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinect [Accessed 04/2014]
WIKIPEDIA. (2014) Wii U GamePad. [Online]. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii_U_GamePad [Accessed 04/2014]