Education Feature: 'In the Beginning...'

Author: by Beth A.

Today's Gamasutra educational feature, part of the Gamasutra Education section, describes the background of the video game industry and its current state from a career perspective, as seen by author Marc Mencher. Mencher fills us in on the console wars in the following excerpt: "When Sony entered the scene, the 32-bit console wars began. Initially, Sony and Nintendo collaborated on the development of a CD player to work with the SNES. While this development project failed, it gave Sony an idea. The company chose to develop a 32-bit game machine known as PlayStation (PSX) to compete directly with Nintendo. Among other notable competitors who jumped on the 32-bit bandwagon was The 3DO Company, started by Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins, who announced his new 32-bit gaming console in association with Panasonic. However, Panasonic eventually acquired the 3DO technology for use in other devices. Trying to reclaim lost marketshare, Atari then came out with its doomed 64-bit system known as Jaguar. By the late-‘90s, the market was totally confused as evidenced by alarmingly sluggish sales. The SEGA 32X and Saturn came and went, and Nintendo bombed with a few platform releases as well. Eventually, Atari was forced out of the hardware business. Currently, the industry’s popular development platforms are the personal computer (PC), Sony’s PlayStation 2, Microsoft’s Xbox 360, and Nintendo’s GameCube and Game Boy Advance (GBA). The market for PDAs and mobile phones is also gaining momentum and promises to be the next growth focus." You can read the full Gamasutra educational feature on the topic to get insight on the beginning steps of game industry and its current state (no registration required, please feel free to link to this feature from external websites).