When you hear about gaming or the gaming industry, it is easy for you to assume it is nothing serious. However, the scene of the gaming world is changing – and it is happening faster than you may think. If young children now are requesting for the latest virtual reality glasses, then chances are high that you have no idea what they are talking about (PlayStation was the order of the day some years back, but they are not anywhere on the list of best gifts to buy for gamers anymore).
The same applies to the entrepreneurs who set off to deal in gaming material. Hundreds of them are fully operational today, and each of them has a distinct mission to leave their mark in the world of gaming. That stiff competition has led to some interesting innovations such as gesture recognition, mixed reality gaming, virtual reality, augmented realities, and the list goes on. As an entrepreneur, it is important to know these changes, because they can lead you to some intriguing ideas that can help you stand out of the crowd.
Every innovation you see is an upgrade of a previous one, and this has led to the increase in a highly loyal gaming culture for people who are enthusiastic and willing to follow tech innovations closely.
In the same way various internet companies have continuously improved their safety standards by bringing out the latest list of the 10 best VPN services, you need to step up and see the amazing innovations in the world of gaming, and the evolution within the industry itself. Read on for some of them.
Augmented realities
The designers of smartphones today, especially the premium ones, do not just want a phone that performs the basic functions alone – it needs to have the highest processing power you can get, and the camera needs to be as sharp as possible within a small form factor.
Thanks to the increasing availability of such equipment, we are now noticing the increase of augmented reality utilities and games. This is because they will utilize unique software that superimposes the interactive content on the ‘actual world’ you live in. think of it as a highly advanced video game that takes your reality and combines it with the reality of the game itself. That also means a user, through their device, can see the world in a different way through this lens.
The resulting popularity increase of this phenomenon has led to numerous developers trying their best to create games that give the player a highly interactive gaming experience, all in an attempt to close the gap between virtual reality and real life.
Virtual reality
This is among the most popular forms of gaming innovations today, and many companies are now implementing it in various ways. Large companies will find a way to put customers ‘within’ their simulations that they have created, through a tool called the VR headset (which also includes virtual reality glasses). The user will then interact with various simulations, and companies will then try to find various ways for the users to get even better experiences.
Major industry titans such as HTC and Sony have also entered the field, and they are doing their part to make greater virtual reality experiences for their customers. The major problem though, is that the user needs to have the correct gaming equipment, and that does not come cheap either.
Other companies investing in this include Google through their Cardboard initiative, and Samsung through their Gear VR, all at lower prices. If you have a Smartphone or any other smart device that is capable of accessing this feature, it will help you to do so without spending too much money buying extra equipment.
Gaming through cloud
If you ask any hardcore gamer what the most important thing to them is, they will probably tell you it is getting the highest frame rates, which means the game never lags while they play. That will also mean they will require computers or devices with the largest resolutions and very high rates of refresh. The problem here is the ever-increasing costs of GPUs, mainly due to the increases of blockchain and cryptocurrency mining.
The goal of getting a premium GPU is therefore not an easy one, in addition to the factor of the increasing number of games today that are becoming more hardware intensive.
The compromise to all these issues is cloud based games. This is a method of online gaming, which allows the player to do two things – either streaming games or streaming files to specific devices to allow them to play the games on whatever device they select.
An instance would be the gaming company NVidia, which provides the service known as GeForce NOW, allowing its subscribers to play any highly demanding video game through any tablet, as long as it is enabled – in addition to allowing cross platform gaming. It also allows Mac users to access its games, otherwise they cannot play on Apple machines because of the incompatibility of the software.
The rise of artificial intelligence within games
There are numerous industries that are seeing the potential of artificial intelligence and want to dip their toes into it. In fact, you will be hard pressed to find products today that do not have AI features, even in minor ways – from email categories to ride sharing apps such as Uber.
The rise of artificial intelligence has also gone into the gaming world as well. For instance, the highest form of AI within video games was through the introduction of computer opponents, such as opposing players in a game of ‘Need for Speed’ or ‘checkers’, and even armed assailants such as in ‘Prince of Persia’.
The programmer will seek out various methods that the ‘opponent’ will learn, which helps make your gaming skills sharp.
Final thoughts
The world of gaming is a fast-moving one, and changes are numerous. For an entrepreneur, they offer lessons into the benefits of quick adaptation to changes in the business environment; while for a gaming entrepreneur, they can give ideas of what to improve on in your next innovation.
