Portable machines that are primarily designed for game play.
Nintendo DS / Nintendo 3DS
PlayStation Portable / Play-Station Vita
Sales have plummeted in recent years
Competition from multipurpose mobile devices
Interactive Television (iTV)
Cable, satellite, and telco operators are charging customers beyond basic fees to access playing areas with their remote-control devices.
Much of the iTV gaming is done via the set-top box
Satellite companies—whose technologies do not allow for two-way interactions with customers—can get in on the action
Mobile Devices
Multipurpose handheld computing device that can be used as a portable gaming platform
Increasingly popular
Phone and tablet owners purchase games through the app store of the device’s manufacturer or the creator of its operating system
Post-Console Hardware
Cloud computing games
Controllers
Dance pads
Light guns
Virtual reality
Screens
3D games
Augmented reality
Rules
Continuously changing games
Artificial intelligence
Video Game Software
Video Game Publishers
Companies that coordinate the production of video games.
Large video game companies arrange for the marketing and distribution of their games to their intended audiences.
Smaller publishers will partner with special distribution firms (sometimes the larger video game firms) to help them get the material out to the marketplace.
Major Hardware Makers have Publishing Divisions
Exclusive Titles
Nintendo: Super Mario and Pokémon
Sony: Gran Turismo
Xbox: Halo
Third-Party Publishers
Companies that are unaffiliated with hardware companies.
Electronic Arts
Activision Blizzard
Ubisoft
Take-Two Interactive
Video Game Genres
Action Games
present challenges that emphasize combat or involve attempts to escape being captured or killed
Shooter games
Involve a character going through a dangerous environment hunting for bad guys
First-person: show the environment from the perspective of the character with the weapon; that character (whose full body you don’t see) is controlled by the player
Third-person: the player does see his or her character moving through the environment as the players uses the controls
Examples:
Halo
Call of Duty
Resident Evil
Competitive fighting games
Emphasizes one-on-one combat between two or more characters, one or more of whom may be controlled by the computer
Mortal Kombat
Virtua Fighter
SoulCalibur
Platform games
involve traveling by running and then jumping between levels and over obstacles in order to avoid being eliminated and to reach a goal
Super Mario Brothers
Temple Run 2
Mighty No. 9
Adventure Games
Characterized by their focus on exploration and a story rather than on challenges that require the quick use of reflexes
Myst
Legend of Zelda series
Casual Games
challenges with fairly straightforward rules that make them easy to learn and play
Puzzle
Card
Board
Word
Simulation Games
Involve players in the creation and cultivation of certain worlds that are designed to be realistic
Building urban environments
SimCity
FarmVille
related to particular industries (Stock Exchange, Roller Coaster Tycoon)
Stock Exchange
Roller Coaster Tycoon
narrower simulations
Raising pets: Neopets
Flying jets MS Flight Simulator
Strategy Games
Require a careful assessment of a situation and wise actions in order to win a competition or war.
Sports Games
Focus on playing the sport or focus on the strategy behind the sport
Madden NFL series
Football Manager
Education Games
specifically designed to teach people about a certain subject, expand concepts, reinforce development, understand an historical event or culture, or assist them in learning a skill as they play
edutainment: teaching-oriented video games that are designed to have educational outcomes for specific groups of learners
Reader Rabbit
Zoombinis
Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing
The Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree
Casual Gamers
Women and men who are older than the hard-core types and/or who like to play less intense (though not necessarily less difficult) games than the hard-core types; these games include puzzle, card, board, and word games
Popular category supposedly preferred by women aged 25 years and older
Includes puzzle, card, board, and word games, sometimes with fictional characters.
Hard-core Gamers
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game
Popular among hard-core gamers
a player uses a client to connect to a server, usually run by the publisher of the game, which hosts the virtual world and stores information about the player
User controls a character represented by an avatar—a character that represents the user and that can be directed to fight villains, interact with other characters, acquire items, and so on.
World of Warcraft is the number-one subscription-based MMORPG in the world, despite sharp decreases in the number of players from around 11.5 million in 2009 to about 7.1 million at the start of 2015.
Guild Wars 2
Star Wars: The Old Republic
Final Fantasy XIV.
Video Game Revenue
Transaction between Publisher and Player
Cash
Advertising
Personal Data
Advertising
Custom Games
Embedded Ads
Dynamic In-Game Advertising
Mobile Game Revenue
Pay to Pay
Freemium
Basic versions of freemium games are free to download
Users pay to…
eliminate advertisements
access additional levels of the game
purchase in-game items
Social Games
Games played through social networks
Among the world’s most popular
Linking to Facebook Accounts
Players serve as promotional agents for the game, advertising their in-game activities to their friends.