Free-to-play and the browser-based revolution

One of my favorite topics is how new technology is changing the gaming landscape. I’ve already talked a bit about how the current generation of consoles has given birth to the idea of adding functionality to a gaming platform in an effective way. Today, I want to touch on how the internet is changing the way we distribute games.
For the longest time, PC gaming was the top dog, elite market in our industry. Machines like the commodore 64 were way more powerful and functional than gaming consoles, along with being easier to develop and distribute games for. Soon after the inception of the graphics card, gamers were given the ability to upgrade and optimize their machines to ensure that they got the best results when playing games. PCs had the best looking games, the best first person shooters, the best casual games, internet play, you name it. And building the fastest, most up-to-date computers became a hobby for the hardcore PC gamers. And then something happened. PC gaming began to slow down. Golden Eye and then Halo showed people that first person shooters, long a staple of PC gamers, could be done well on a console. The playstation brought gaming to the mainstream arena in a way no gaming platform (other than the PC) ever had. The Dreamcast showed the world that a console game could go online and look just as pretty as a PC game. These were all just tiny cracks and are not by themselves responsible for the losses in the PC market, but statistically the PC market as we knew it is in a down-swing. The call to upgrade and spend tons of money on a gaming computer seems to have died down a bit. Fewer games requiring the highest-level specs are being released every year, and the sales statistics for these games are dropping (based on NPD numbers, which doesn’t count digital downloads. But based on developer support, this assertion can be assumed). The highest-selling games coming out support lower-end PCs (spore, the sims 3, team fortress).
But the PC market is not dying, as some claim, but changing. With high-speed internet spreading throughout our society, it is becoming much easier for a game to be sent through the browser. Sites like instant action and battlefield heroes, which support ad-based gaming, are providing high-quality yet simple games that do all the processing through your browser. This opens up the games to any internet-ready computer, regardless of specs (unless your computer is made of vacuum tubes or accepts punch-cards). Free-to-play online games like “Kart Rider” and “Maple Story” are blowing up world-wide. Internet access is spreading and becoming faster all over America, and every year the potential of these browser-based games increases.
The casual gaming market is constantly being tapped in new ways, and free-to-play and browser-based (most fit both categories) are leading the way on the PC front. Companies like Pop Cap and sites like Instant Action are providing quality experiences that both casual and hard-core gamers can enjoy on any PC, regardless of specs. Big name companies are coming in like EA and Id, and cloud-computing through services like OnLive promises to revolutionize what we can do on a lower-spec computer. PC gaming is not dead, it’s changing, and I’m very excited to see where it goes.

Console is evolving! How MotionPlus, NXE, and Project Natal are changing the way we view our gaming machines

The past decade has brought an exciting number of new trends to the gaming industry. Budget games (XBLA, WiiWare, PSN, etc.) are letting small-time developers make a big splash. Downloadable content is letting us expand our games past their expected life-time. And game-specific peripherals are allowing us to experience a new level of immersive gameplay. But one of the most important ideas to hit the console arena is the ability to expand the features of a console after its release. Console manufacturers have experimented with the idea of adding more power to their machines down the line to earn some extra money and bragging rights. Sega released a number of add-ons such as the 32x to the genesis, and Nintendo released a “disk drive” for the n64. But none of these were able to really catch on in a significant way. Most of these products were not well supported by wary developers, which made consumers skeptical: a nice catch-22.
But things might be changing on that front. Game-specific peripherals have been around for years, but it took a game called guitar hero to make them truly main-stream. The game took off like a rocket, and since then it has become one of the highest selling franchises in gaming. Consumers were willing to part with the extra cash for a reasonably priced peripheral with a great game. With the release of the Wii, Nintendo promised a slew of cheaper peripherals utilizing the Wii remote’s technology. And since then we have seen 5 peripherals (WiiSpeak, wheel, zapper, balance board, and motionplus) for the wii, all of which were packed in with a game and all of which sold through the roof. But these peripherals are merely the tip of the iceberg. Last year, Microsoft announced the launch of NXE, the new Xbox 360 dashboard, which it promised would re-define the way we look at Xbox. Many laughed at this, but since its launch Microsoft has added or promised in support for Netflix, facebook, avatars, twitter, streaming movies and games, Primetime channel (I could do a while feature on this one alone), etc. The xbox has transformed from a gaming-focused machine to a livingroom-dominating powerhouse. And with the release of project Natal, we can expect an incredible amount of new features.
The point I’m trying to make with this is that we can no longer judge a console based on its specs and launch games. Now more than ever, the attitude of the company calling the shots is the real deciding factor in how a console progresses throughout its life. We’ve seen the Xbox evolve from a hard-core only console to an incredible social machine, and Sony and Nintendo are not letting this slip past them. Sony is constantly tweaking its Home service, adding in features to its PSN, and is introducing its wand motion controller soon. And Nintendo has given japan a Wii streaming video channel and the Dsi a facebook app. Natal has been proclaimed to be treated to a launch event that “will be as huge as a new console”, and Sony and Nintendo have both claimed to have more tricks up their sleeves. It’s likely that things are going to heat up pretty soon, and I can’t wait to see how everything goes down.