Alright, I was hoping to avoid a long post cause I get confused when writing them. I do know a few things about video games and the industry so this is my theory.

With less consumer spending on anything but neccessities video games will have to fight to stay relevant. Video game consoles will either have to lower their prices drastically or go extinct. This may lead to a winner go the spoils contest or one video game console that tries to combine all three.

What's more likely to happen is an underground is more likely to form and emulation will get bigger with many old consoles and games getting revived attention because they're cheap. Handhelds may rise from their secondary positions because most people won't have the time to stay in one place to play games for hours.

Online and party games will become the behemoth of the industry as something everyone can play will be what will sale though this depends on internet access being cheap. We won't be seeing many new releases from the mainstream thanks to cost concerns; the underground and independents will lead in making new original games.

Video game development will have to become more streamlined and have to show tangible results that it can be a hit before publishers will invest as one bad game can now sink a company. This leads to less innovation until the 1T comes around because with a combined streamlined video game industry and the underground developers now in positions of power or as recognizable companies will allow the video game industry to push itself in new directions.

So video games will survive the 4T but don't expect anything fantastic until the next 1T when independent and underground milles take over.

Oh, yeah Ricecar71 I wouldn't know about the Wii because I don't have one but it sounds great.

You kids do realize there are other kinds of games besides video?

Originally Posted by Arkham '80

You kids do realize there are other kinds of games besides video?

Like Chutes & Ladders, Monopoly, Spades, and jumping in front of a car and jumping away just before you get run over? Just doesn't have the same appeal to me.

Originally Posted by Mr. Reed

Like Chutes & Ladders, Monopoly, Spades, and jumping in front of a car and jumping away just before you get run over? Just doesn't have the same appeal to me.

Yeah, there are those. There's also the whole pen-&-paper RPG industry.

Originally Posted by Arkham '80

Yeah, there are those. There's also the whole pen-&-paper RPG industry.

Pen & paper RPGs were definitely interesting, but I've only played D&D and some western RPG.

Originally Posted by Flyingeye76

Actaully my thoughts are the opposite.

If we take the depression, we see the begining of the "Golden Age of Hollywood", not only in movies themselves but the grand movie palaces that showed them. That's because people wanted an escape from the gritty life they found themselves in.

The same could be said for video games as well. I for instance would never pay 50 dollars for a meal at a resteraunt, haircut, or even a pair of shoes. However I will scape together 50 dollars for the latest Final Fantasy because it has a lot more economic value than most other things it's price. Why because for the 2 months it takes for an average runthrough I can escape from the BS of life. Not just escape when I'm playing, but also during real life when I have a strategy to plan out while I'm having to deal with BS. And of course I do mor than just one through. In fact I still have my copy of FF5&6 from 1994

There was is an article saying that video games might be recession proof.

Cut back on games? Readers say no way

You'd sooner cut back on eating out, travel before giving up the games
By Kristin Kalning
Games editor


updated 7:49 a.m. CT, Tues., March. 18, 2008

Will the video-game industry weather the recession? Most readers think so. And that’s because most of you have no plans to change your game-buying pace. You might cut back on traveling or shopping for clothes. But not your gaming.

Michael A. Ratajczyk, an economist (and gamer) from Winona, Minn. says that he’d sooner cut back on other things. “During a recession, I’d probably buy more games and go out to the bar or dinner less for my entertainment.”
In a recent column, I pondered whether games are recession-proof. I’m still not sure of the answer, but one thing’s clear: Video games continue to defy the rest of the retail economy.

Last week, the Commerce Department reported that retail sales fell by 0.6 percent last month, which was worse than analysts had expected. But video games posted much sunnier number, with hardware and software hitting $1.33 billion in February, according to the NPD Group. That’s a 34 percent jump over January — and those numbers don’t include PC-game sales, just consoles and console games.


Why are games booming when everything else is a bust? Many readers pointed out that games are a great way to escape from the relentless march of depressing economic news.

“If people don't want to face reality when times are good (at least for the overall economy) then I don't see them wanting to face reality as things get worse,” wrote Matt Ellington, a gamer and law student.

Andrew Cardin agrees. “As long as all my bills are paid for, and I don’t feel too pressured by the economy, I will continue to purchase video games,” he wrote in an e-mail. “Not only have they been a way to escape my stress from day to day, but they have also been an instrument in bringing my friends and me together.”

In my column, I compared the game industry with movies, a form of entertainment that’s traditionally fared quite well during bleak economic times. But plenty of readers wrote to tell me that a $50 game is a better deal than a $10 movie.

“Yes, you may spend $50 on one game, but it provides hours and hours of entertainment,” wrote Erin Isaacs, of Baltimore. “It's more cost-effective than renting a movie or going anywhere — whether it's to the movie theater down the block, or the amusement park four hours away.”

Reader Sheryl Cooley said in an e-mail that once you become immune to the sticker shock of a game, you don’t think twice about paying the price. “It’s no more of a sticker shock than the now-$10 cost of a movie at the theater.”

But can the industry withstand a serious recession? Most readers thought so, including Shea Douglas of Jeffersonville, Vt., who works at a local GameStop. He said that in the last week, his store had increased sales from the previous year.

“However, I think that it’s not due to people getting more into games, but a bigger selection of games that you can choose from,” he wrote. “But, I still see this industry as a leather-skinned creature that can survive just about anything. “

Still, some of you are doing more browsing than buying at your local GameStop. “At a cost of $60 per game, I see no choice but to cut back on triple-A (big-budget) games, relying on an increasingly diverse range of free casual games,” wrote Daniel Lau, of Lexington, Ky.

Renting before buying is a good way to try before you buy, said Jeanne Burch in an e-mail. She wrote that she’s being a lot more cautious about purchasing new games “since $50 is a lot of money for me right now and I don’t want to throw money away on a dud.”

Self-described avid gamer Scott McCall, of Kansas City, Mo. is also more careful these days. “I will still buy a game that I really want, but I will rent games more often now and decide if it is one with good replay value. “
On a related note, several readers said that the sputtering economy had prompted them to buy more used games.


Dave Wesner, of Albuquerque, N.M. wrote that this subsector of the larger industry “stands to weather a downturn very well, as buyers look for cheaper alternatives to the latest and greatest, and as tightening budgets lead to increased selling (and) trading of games that aren’t being played.”

Elizabeth Alley is one of those buyers. She wrote in an e-mail that once she’s beaten a game, she’ll sell it back to earn credit for the next cool title.

“I buy games a lot and I’ll keep on buying them and playing them and looking for the next thing, as will many gamers — despite what the rest of the economy does.”

I think entertainment media of all sorts will become the domain of gifted amateurs with access to (pirated) high-end software, cheap digital equipment, and plenty of free time (due to underemployment) to express previously frustrated creative energy.

Somehow, I think that late wave Xers and early wave Millies (at least those who are more than casual gamers) will debate this topic for as long as we live. It is 2008, more than a decade since the end of the 16-bit era, and this topic can still cause a passionate and nasty flame war.

Top 10 Reasons That Super Nintendo Dominated the Sega Genesis

I remember that EVERYBODY had a side back in the early 1990s.

Sega Fanboy: Sega is better because Sonic will kick Mario's ass.
Nintendo Fanboy: Nintendo IS gaming.
PC Fanboy: The computer will whip both systems.

Originally Posted by Mr. Reed

Somehow, I think that late wave Xers and early wave Millies (at least those who are more than casual gamers) will debate this topic for as long as we live. It is 2008, more than a decade since the end of the 16-bit era, and this topic can still cause a passionate and nasty flame war.

Top 10 Reasons That Super Nintendo Dominated the Sega Genesis

I remember that EVERYBODY had a side back in the early 1990s.

Sega Fanboy: Sega is better because Sonic will kick Mario's ass.
Nintendo Fanboy: Nintendo IS gaming.
PC Fanboy: The computer will whip both systems.

As someone who owned both systems, I can say now that I liked both. At the time however, I preferred Sega Genesis because Sega had more of an "edge" to it. At least that's how they tried to portray it. SNES, while it had some fun games, seemed like it was more for little kids. This notion was driven further when Mortal Kombat was released on the home systems and the SNES version was cleaned of all the blood and gore that had made the arcade game so notorious and popular. The Sega version, on the other hand, had a secret code that activated all the blood and fatalities. Looking back, I would have to say SNES had the most fun games. While Sega had Sonic, there were few other video games they made that today stand out. SNES, on the other hand, had Mario, Donkey Kong, F-Zero, Starfox, etc. But that's just my opinion.

Yeah, Genesis had a few games that were really great, Sonic, Echo, MK w/ the blood...

But for the most part it seemed like SNES just lasted longer developing games. The SNES was definitely the last console I actually got a few years of use out of.

But it was the early adaptation of online gaming that turned me into a PC junkie. Whether text-based MUDs or even Doom2 & WC2, it seems like the PC has always been a few steps ahead of the console wars. Doom2 was available online by like... '96... how long did it take for an online console FPS to come out?

There's still some cool board games too, like Axis & Allies, Shogun, War!, any of the updated Risk adaptations, Civilization... Seems like, even despite that, we're more likely to play our strategy games online or on a LAN. Its so much more fun to conquer the world when you don't have to manually fiddle with hundreds of small plastic figurines.

Originally Posted by independent

Yeah, Genesis had a few games that were really great, Sonic, Echo, MK w/ the blood...

But for the most part it seemed like SNES just lasted longer developing games. The SNES was definitely the last console I actually got a few years of use out of.

But it was the early adaptation of online gaming that turned me into a PC junkie. Whether text-based MUDs or even Doom2 & WC2, it seems like the PC has always been a few steps ahead of the console wars. Doom2 was available online by like... '96... how long did it take for an online console FPS to come out?

There's still some cool board games too, like Axis & Allies, Shogun, War!, any of the updated Risk adaptations, Civilization... Seems like, even despite that, we're more likely to play our strategy games online or on a LAN. Its so much more fun to conquer the world when you don't have to manually fiddle with hundreds of small plastic figurines.

The Civilization and Total War series are completely addicting. Europa Universalis is also an addicting strategy classic. I'm currently playing a Civilization-like sci-fi TBS game called Galactic Civilizations II. Civilization and Europa Universalis, are notable for being easily modified for gamers.

Will virtual reality games rise to prominence during the next 1T?

It depends if Xers & Millies will allow them to after knowing how they could be used from having seen The Matrix. I could see the next Nomad generation however using it as a means of escape.

~Chas'88

I realize that by "gaming" most of you mean video games and computer-animated games. However, has anyone noticed the increased popularity of Scrabble? There is a version of it on Facebook, although I swear by www.isc.ro, where besides playing on-line Scrabble with random other Scrabblers, you can also observe a game by the type of experts who play in high-ranked tournaments.

Also, tonight, I am attending a Meet Up at a local Mexican restaurant, where we all come, boards in hand, for an evening of Scrabbling. Play is informal, unlike the official clubs; there are no time limits and people bring their dictionaries (and not just for settling challenges).

This smells 4T to me; going back to ones roots, but with a modern twist (one finds out about Meet ups through the Web, right? or one plays Scrabble on-line).

Originally Posted by The Wonkette

I realize that by "gaming" most of you mean video games and computer-animated games. However, has anyone noticed the increased popularity of Scrabble?

...

This smells 4T to me; going back to ones roots, but with a modern twist (one finds out about Meet ups through the Web, right? or one plays Scrabble on-line).

I think Scrabble, just like many other classic board games such as Risk and Monopoly, has been consistently popular since its invention. As well as chess, for that matter....

I've always played those games with friends, from my childhood in the 80's through today, and everyone knew not only how to play, but how to play competitively. And yeah, these are Atari- and Nintendo-wavers, who were pretty much written off as idiots in our youth.

------

Scrabble's actually a pretty cosmopolitan game. In the last couple decades it (or a bootleg variation) has been introduced into pretty much every market with a phonetic alphabet. Coolest of all is that the letter scores are calibrated to the frequency of incidence in each particular language. For example, in English Q is a 10-point tile, but in French it is only an 8-point tile (while the French W and Y -- 4 points in English -- are 10-pointers).

We picked up a Russian set pretty much right after we got here, and then a Finnish set on one of our drives across the border (I only know a dozen or so words, but it's cool to have).