Week 2 EOC: Boston Consulting Group - Video Games

We have come a long way from the first gaming system created back in 1967 by the Germans to the latest Nintendo or Sony console. As a culture of gamers has emerged, we have had to keep leaps and bounds ahead of what they expect and what they want. With the history starting back in 1967 and continuing with a new console almost every five years, we have gone above and beyond what I am sure Ralph Baer every expected.  The first mass marketed console was the Magnavox Odyssey console. “The system is marketed to Magnavox TV dealerships beginning in 1972 and uses six cartridges to play up to twelve games featuring dots and lines on the screen.” A History of Video Game Consoles

When Nintendo presented it’s first hand held gaming device, The Game Boy, in 1989, they had a huge smash hit. It was four colors of gray and has been the most successful of all gaming systems sold by Nintendo. The fact that in a short twenty years we went from a huge box with up to twelve games to a hand held, on the go gaming system with the ability to play many games is phenomenal and points to how inventive our society is. Game Boy was able to play with 4 ‘AA’ batteries and a 2.6” screen. This was originally put up against the Sega Game Gear and the Atari Lynx, both with bigger screens and better quality. “The second part of the puzzle was simplicity. The Game Boy could be picked up by a six year old or a sixty year old and its five front panel controls were easily understood - a d-pad, A and B buttons and smaller Select and Start buttons.” Retro Thing

 With all of this said, the future of gaming is without limits. Unfortunately, it looks like the future of consoles is. “Zeschuk, whose company has created major console hits like Mass Effect 2, said that going forward, the video game industry won't rely so heavily on the console market. In fact, he believes consoles could be a relic of the past as more players turn to portable devices to get their game on. "The future isn't necessarily on console," Zeschuk said at the Develop Conference, an event for European game developers. "That's the past. It's going to be a strong thing going forward, but the future is in all of these new businesses that are starting up."” Developer: Game consoles aren't the future The more you look at where technology is taking us, it is to our handheld devices with applications that can be purchased to be played right on it. I know that I have heard of Netflix now selling video games for purchase that you don’t need to have a gaming console to play. I love my Nintendo Wii and don’t think I am ready to give it up. After all, I do need that to have my streaming Netflix.