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Gaming used to be such a bright place for the European and American developers. Having home brewed consoles ranging from the Spectrum to the Atari Jaguar as well as little input from the Japanese market, the Western game industry was set for great things.
Inevitably, things had to change. First came the wave of Japanese consoles- well supported with original games, these had no problem in undoing the Western manufacturers’ consoles. Companies like Atari- once the jewel of gamers all over America and Europe- died slowly into the night. So unimaginable was this collapse that Atari logos were seen all over futuristic films- most notably in the suburban wasteland of Los Angeles in Blade Runner.
And it was not only the manufacturers that were hit- developers were faced with tough opposition. Nintendo and Sega refused to grant many publishing right to Western developers, meaning that they couldn’t produce games on their consoles. It looked like the days of Western game development were numbered.
However, things were soon to change…
In a small development house, two brothers were hard at work on producing games for Japanese consoles, but printing them on their own carts. These two brothers were, of course, the Darling brothers- creators and owners of Codemasters. Of course, Nintendo and Sega didn’t like this- no longer could they control who made games for their consoles. So, they tried to sue the company on the basis that it was their hardware, and they should be allowed to control who made games for it. Both cases failed and Codemasters continued to make their own game carts.
This once again opened the game market to scores of Western developers. Massive publishers like EA grew and flourished, and began to dominate certain genres- like Sports games. Other developers led to huge innovations- inventing genres like First Person Shooters. Western game development was back at the top.
And it doesn’t just stop there. Now we see a complete circle with, for the first time in decades, a Western-made console being a serious contender to the dominant Japanese platforms. No doubt the Xbox will lead to yet more rejuvenation and interest in gaming in the West, and could well have Microsoft dominating the console market in the next generation.
For Western gaming the future is a very bright place indeed. Along with the strength of Western publishers and the massive amounts of Western gamers, we can now boast to be a serious contender in the console scene too… let’s just hope it stays that way!
neilc
Inevitably, things had to change. First came the wave of Japanese consoles- well supported with original games, these had no problem in undoing the Western manufacturers’ consoles. Companies like Atari- once the jewel of gamers all over America and Europe- died slowly into the night. So unimaginable was this collapse that Atari logos were seen all over futuristic films- most notably in the suburban wasteland of Los Angeles in Blade Runner.
And it was not only the manufacturers that were hit- developers were faced with tough opposition. Nintendo and Sega refused to grant many publishing right to Western developers, meaning that they couldn’t produce games on their consoles. It looked like the days of Western game development were numbered.
However, things were soon to change…
In a small development house, two brothers were hard at work on producing games for Japanese consoles, but printing them on their own carts. These two brothers were, of course, the Darling brothers- creators and owners of Codemasters. Of course, Nintendo and Sega didn’t like this- no longer could they control who made games for their consoles. So, they tried to sue the company on the basis that it was their hardware, and they should be allowed to control who made games for it. Both cases failed and Codemasters continued to make their own game carts.
This once again opened the game market to scores of Western developers. Massive publishers like EA grew and flourished, and began to dominate certain genres- like Sports games. Other developers led to huge innovations- inventing genres like First Person Shooters. Western game development was back at the top.
And it doesn’t just stop there. Now we see a complete circle with, for the first time in decades, a Western-made console being a serious contender to the dominant Japanese platforms. No doubt the Xbox will lead to yet more rejuvenation and interest in gaming in the West, and could well have Microsoft dominating the console market in the next generation.
For Western gaming the future is a very bright place indeed. Along with the strength of Western publishers and the massive amounts of Western gamers, we can now boast to be a serious contender in the console scene too… let’s just hope it stays that way!
neilc
Oh yer, forgot about the ban on newbie posts in Prime :(
Tell you what, I'll post it there for you (with your name embezelled on it of course!), and after that you'll be able to reply to the post (I hope)
Sonic
Tell you what, I'll post it there for you (with your name embezelled on it of course!), and after that you'll be able to reply to the post (I hope)
Sonic
===SONICRAV---> wrote:
> Hey neilc- great to see some intelligent newbies for once!
Anyway, great
> topic- I would reply to it now, but I'm at school and the bell just went. Might
> I suggest that you post this in the "Future of Gaming: Prime" room-
> that's made for longer topics like this.
Well, best go. Good topic.
Sonic
Cheers for the advice sonic, but I've just tried posting the message in Prime but they have told me I can't post in there because I am a newbie.
> Hey neilc- great to see some intelligent newbies for once!
Anyway, great
> topic- I would reply to it now, but I'm at school and the bell just went. Might
> I suggest that you post this in the "Future of Gaming: Prime" room-
> that's made for longer topics like this.
Well, best go. Good topic.
Sonic
Cheers for the advice sonic, but I've just tried posting the message in Prime but they have told me I can't post in there because I am a newbie.
RM18 wrote:
> Xbox could revitalise western gaming but Bill Gates' wallet doesn't guarantee
> success
But the thing is that it is already successful! Sony, MS and independant analysts all predict that Sony will have 45% of the console market, and MS will have 35% of it in 5 years time.
And it's not because of Gates' wallet- it's because it's a great console that's easy to develop for, has great financial offers for exclusive developers, and has some good second party developers. Exactly what Sony did with the PSX!
Sonic
> Xbox could revitalise western gaming but Bill Gates' wallet doesn't guarantee
> success
But the thing is that it is already successful! Sony, MS and independant analysts all predict that Sony will have 45% of the console market, and MS will have 35% of it in 5 years time.
And it's not because of Gates' wallet- it's because it's a great console that's easy to develop for, has great financial offers for exclusive developers, and has some good second party developers. Exactly what Sony did with the PSX!
Sonic
Xbox could revitalise western gaming but Bill Gates' wallet doesn't guarantee success
Hey neilc- great to see some intelligent newbies for once!
Anyway, great topic- I would reply to it now, but I'm at school and the bell just went. Might I suggest that you post this in the "Future of Gaming: Prime" room- that's made for longer topics like this.
Well, best go. Good topic.
Sonic
Anyway, great topic- I would reply to it now, but I'm at school and the bell just went. Might I suggest that you post this in the "Future of Gaming: Prime" room- that's made for longer topics like this.
Well, best go. Good topic.
Sonic
Gaming used to be such a bright place for the European and American developers. Having home brewed consoles ranging from the Spectrum to the Atari Jaguar as well as little input from the Japanese market, the Western game industry was set for great things.
Inevitably, things had to change. First came the wave of Japanese consoles- well supported with original games, these had no problem in undoing the Western manufacturers’ consoles. Companies like Atari- once the jewel of gamers all over America and Europe- died slowly into the night. So unimaginable was this collapse that Atari logos were seen all over futuristic films- most notably in the suburban wasteland of Los Angeles in Blade Runner.
And it was not only the manufacturers that were hit- developers were faced with tough opposition. Nintendo and Sega refused to grant many publishing right to Western developers, meaning that they couldn’t produce games on their consoles. It looked like the days of Western game development were numbered.
However, things were soon to change…
In a small development house, two brothers were hard at work on producing games for Japanese consoles, but printing them on their own carts. These two brothers were, of course, the Darling brothers- creators and owners of Codemasters. Of course, Nintendo and Sega didn’t like this- no longer could they control who made games for their consoles. So, they tried to sue the company on the basis that it was their hardware, and they should be allowed to control who made games for it. Both cases failed and Codemasters continued to make their own game carts.
This once again opened the game market to scores of Western developers. Massive publishers like EA grew and flourished, and began to dominate certain genres- like Sports games. Other developers led to huge innovations- inventing genres like First Person Shooters. Western game development was back at the top.
And it doesn’t just stop there. Now we see a complete circle with, for the first time in decades, a Western-made console being a serious contender to the dominant Japanese platforms. No doubt the Xbox will lead to yet more rejuvenation and interest in gaming in the West, and could well have Microsoft dominating the console market in the next generation.
For Western gaming the future is a very bright place indeed. Along with the strength of Western publishers and the massive amounts of Western gamers, we can now boast to be a serious contender in the console scene too… let’s just hope it stays that way!
neilc
Inevitably, things had to change. First came the wave of Japanese consoles- well supported with original games, these had no problem in undoing the Western manufacturers’ consoles. Companies like Atari- once the jewel of gamers all over America and Europe- died slowly into the night. So unimaginable was this collapse that Atari logos were seen all over futuristic films- most notably in the suburban wasteland of Los Angeles in Blade Runner.
And it was not only the manufacturers that were hit- developers were faced with tough opposition. Nintendo and Sega refused to grant many publishing right to Western developers, meaning that they couldn’t produce games on their consoles. It looked like the days of Western game development were numbered.
However, things were soon to change…
In a small development house, two brothers were hard at work on producing games for Japanese consoles, but printing them on their own carts. These two brothers were, of course, the Darling brothers- creators and owners of Codemasters. Of course, Nintendo and Sega didn’t like this- no longer could they control who made games for their consoles. So, they tried to sue the company on the basis that it was their hardware, and they should be allowed to control who made games for it. Both cases failed and Codemasters continued to make their own game carts.
This once again opened the game market to scores of Western developers. Massive publishers like EA grew and flourished, and began to dominate certain genres- like Sports games. Other developers led to huge innovations- inventing genres like First Person Shooters. Western game development was back at the top.
And it doesn’t just stop there. Now we see a complete circle with, for the first time in decades, a Western-made console being a serious contender to the dominant Japanese platforms. No doubt the Xbox will lead to yet more rejuvenation and interest in gaming in the West, and could well have Microsoft dominating the console market in the next generation.
For Western gaming the future is a very bright place indeed. Along with the strength of Western publishers and the massive amounts of Western gamers, we can now boast to be a serious contender in the console scene too… let’s just hope it stays that way!
neilc