This leaves the final period in Game Art history – the one I
can actually remember, the noughties!
So, a lot has changed from the 1950’s to today. The move
from the arcade to the home entertainment systems, more recently the innovation
that is the internet, has changed everything. A once purely scientific and
mathematical process is now wide spread and has so many creative elements. Most
recent changes have even been encouraging
the players to get so involved with the games that they have started to
create their own ‘modifications’ (mods) of the games. This trend began in the Wolfenstein 3D and Doom-era and has
proceeded to grow in popularity spawning forum based websites purely for
modifications for specific games.
More notable cases of this were in Unreal
Tournament, which allowed players to import 3dsmax scenes to use as character
models, and where I first came across modding in Maxis’ The Sims, where players
were able to design and create their own objects and clothing for the 3D human
simulations. As game designers realized the potentials of mods and custom
content they started to encourage its creation, a great example of this is when
games started to include mod managers and for example when The Sims 2 was
released a specific side program calls ‘The Body Shop’ was included with the
program to make custom content creation even easier! The one thing they didn't anticipate is the amount of peculiar mod's that are now in cirulation, a few of my favourites being the swearing mudcrabs on Elder Scrolls: Skyrim and the numerous naked, over sized breasted women that now walk around every modable game.
The main change in console gaming in the noughies was the
start of the ‘console war.’ The now sixth generation of consoles consisted of
the Nintendo GameCube, Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s Playstation 2, with SEGA’s
final console being the Dreamcast which went out of production in 2002. Now
with the market left down to the ‘big three’ the competition began. The
GameCube was initially criticised for being too ‘childish’ that it lacked the
adult content that was now more desired. With the release of Halo on the Xbox
it drove its success and offered that more mature gaming style that the
consumers wanted. Other titles like Grand Theft Auto III and Resident Evil 4
released across all platforms pushed the industry ahead. This established the
trend towards complex, sophisticated and adult-orientated game play. 
Another important aspect of computer gaming development in
this period is with the availability of affordable Internet connectivity, a lot
of publishers turned to online gaming. The rise of the Massively multiplayer
online role playing game (MMORPGs) was inevitable. Already touched on in the
1990’s with games like Runescape and EverQuest, these games were now
developing, the graphics improving and game play and connectivity becoming
better and easier. Other titles being
World of Warcraft (stemming from the PC title Warcraft) and Ultima Online. 
Another advancement of the MMORPG is that now there are whole websites devoted
purely to the various different games out there, a lot now are free to download
and play for a limited amount, then draw you in with introduction fees. The
recent rise of free to play MMORPGs with titles like Guild Wars/Guild Wars 2
and the highly anticipated release of Elder Scrolls Online is likely
endangering the sales on monthly payment based games.
The next step in the noughties was moving to the seventh
generation consoles. Hand held consoles being the Nintendo DS and the
PlayStation Portable, the PSP boasted better graphics and power whilst the DS
stuck to more basic graphics but with a novel interface which included touch
sensitive screen. Each aimed s slightly different audiences kept both in the
market. The major consoles, which are still in use today, are the Wii, the
Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360. Both the Xbox 360 and PS3 featuring the
high-end graphics and large hard disk based storage, on-line game playing and
integrated networks. The Wii was
shortly released after the PS3’s launch and it’s appeal wasn’t through graphics
or online capability, but again Nintendo were trying to be innovative about in,
incorporating motion control, which got the gamers out of their seats and
jumping about (even Grandma wanted to get involved, after seeing the whole
games console development herself, she finally found one she was interested
in.)
As for today we are still anticipating the arrival of some eighth generation consoles. The introduction of 3D technologies spurred the
release of the Nintendo 3Ds which has 3D graphics using parallax barrier
technology rather than the traditional glasses based technologies.
Sony also have release the PlayStation Vita which has a 5
inch OLED
screen, rear touch pad, two analog sticks, 3G and WiFi connection.
The current anticipation is for the Nintendo Wii U which
will be released on the 30th November 2012. The console features a
6-inch touch screen controller that allows some games to be played without a TV
set or to add extra details to the game to help immerse the player within the
game.
The challenges that the industry now faces is to keep up with the consumers high expectation, the games industry need to keep innovating, coming up with fresh ideas. Gamers have seen nearly everything already, the development of technology is what keeps the industry going, science is still there in the background, spurring out the new directions that the industry can take, who knows what’s next, life may become the game, completely immersing ourselves in these escapism realms. Potentially I might be one of the people taking the games industry to that next level. Exciting stuff really.
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