Each genre had an interesting history of its own and has some unique characteristics that everyone interested in games (computer or not) should know. Do you know all these types of games?
Types of games in the computer gaming industry
Over the years, video games have evolved to include many different media, accessories, and tools. New technologies have made consoles more sophisticated, PC games more complex and the entire mobile gaming system more intricate.
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Electronic games: Some games were created even before computers were a thing – analog electronic games. In 1974, the first rocket simulator was created, and in 1958, the famous game Tennis for Two was born.
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Arcades: Once upon a time, arcade games were very popular. They often looked like stands with displays, control panels, and coin drawers mounted on top of them. Avid gamers could use them in bars and specialized gaming clubs. After the advent of computer games, the arcade game’s popularity decreased significantly.
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Gaming consoles: In the 1970s, gaming consoles started to gain momentum and are still very popular today. Today ‘s players represent already the 8th generation of console gamers. The consoles history began with models like Magnavox or Odyssey. Today, the pack is lead mainly by Nintendo, PlayStation or Xbox. And all carry one potential gaming console with us - mobile phones! Small gamepads, joysticks or other gadgets can remake any smartphone into a full-featured gaming console.
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Computer games: When personal computers became a reality for more people than just the top 1 %, many popular games have been remade to suit them, too. Today, most games are made for Windows and OS X or for mobile platforms.
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Internet and online games: With widespread access to the Internet, there was an enormous potential for games in which more people would communicate through the network. This has prompted the creation of online games that have thousands of players, such as those from the Warcraft series or World of Tanks. The advantage of these games is that they can often be played only in web browsers – so there’s no need to install the game on your computer.
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Mobile games: Today, smartphones are a (perceived) necessity for most people. That's why developers began to make games for them, too. In the mobile games offer you can find all game genres - from shooter games to strategy and puzzle games. Game creators have transferred some existing and well-known game worlds to these new promising devices, and at the same time, they began to create new ones, specifically designed for phones.
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AR and VR: Augmented and Virtual Reality technologies are involved in many areas of our life, ranging from advertising and entertainment to scientific research or medicine. Unsurprisingly, they have a place in the gaming industry, too. One of the most popular Augmented Reality games, Pokémon Go, has captured the attention, minds, and hearts of over 100 million players around the world.
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Artificial Intelligence: Ever since the first one player computer games were created, there was the question of how to transform a computer into an opponent that can play at the same level as a human. Naturally, one of the first games, that needed to solve this conundrum, was chess. Over the decades, the chess-playing AI became more and more advanced, until one day it managed something almost unthinkable - it managed to beat the best players in the world. Today, programmers can build AI algorithms that can learn by themselves based on large data sets.
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Blockchain: This is not a game type, but blockchain has played an important role in the development of the gaming industry because it showed the possibility of creating a system of rewards and payments in the game.
What is the future of the gaming industry?
The gaming industry is still growing, and it is quite likely that it will integrate even more into the real world. There will be more AR and VR games and gadgets that will allow us to completely immerse ourselves in virtual worlds.