It’s funny how the internet is pretty much a needed necessity these days. Almost anything you need is on the internet. Shopping, Banking, friends, hell if they came up with some way of creating an internet version of the toilet and a well stocked fridge, most gamers these days won’t need to leave their rooms.
Let's face it. You would, wouldn't you?
This week for me has been internet-less, and will be for a little while. Real life has decided to kick in and I have been moving into a flat in London. With moving home comes sacrifice, and this week and maybe even next week, our beloved Plus XP won’t be having as much input from its Chief Editor than it has done in the past.
But all real-life things aside now, I have been thinking. There were games journalists back in the day who did not have Internet at all. They could not scout out the latest sites for news, or get the low-down on the next big gaming expo by just clicking a button. But then, were there big gaming expos before the Internet was around? Basically, what I am trying to ask here is: Has the Internet boosted the games industry?
The more I think about this question the more I am going to say hell yes. This is for a three reasons.
1) Game Advertising
You’re probably scouting out things on YouTube like kittens looking surprised or just re-playing the same clip of a guy getting a football to the face over and over. But then you suddenly see an advertisement for Modern Warfare 2 or GTAIV: Episodes From Liberty City and you think ‘Ooooo I must take a gander at that.’ Back before the Internet, what did game advertisement have? OK, so maybe TV advertising and possibly the occasional poster, but nothing else really. Ever since the Internet has spawned, you have the tubes of London covered in the latest game, or your TV screens suddenly littered with pretty graphics of the next new release. All because of the Internet and its powerful way of adverting, meaning that more games are sold, and PR can splash out on shiny TV ads and billboards the size of the Isle of Wight.
2) News as soon as it hits
Journalists back in the day got some game news, typed it out and then waited about a week before it could get published in their new gaming magazine. That was fine for the gamers back then, but today the Internet is our friend; as soon as journalists see or hear anything, ‘BAM!’ it’s up on your favorite gaming site. No need to leave your house/cave to go out and get the latest on gaming news, because quite frankly you can find it whilst getting your screen tan. This in turn then makes gamers hunger for the game more, and if they hunger more they will tell their friends until you have about seventy thousand pre-orders on Play.com - which brings me to my next point.
3) Internet Shopping
Play.com, Amazon, CD WOW. These are the shops out there on the fast plains of the internet that sell games, and believe me that’s is not all of them. If I were to list each site that sells games on the net, I would have to write a new post to list them all. Net shopping has boosted gaming sales because gamers hear about the game from their favorite gaming site, then suddenly zoom off to one of these online stores and click BUY NOW in a manner probably reminiscent of Andy from Little Britain, seriously I wouldn’t be surprised if some gamers out there do actually say ‘I Want That One’ when they click BUY NOW.
There are probably more reasons out there, but these are the main three that spring to mind. The internet is a vast cyberspace that covers the whole planet. So here is something for you to ponder. If the Internet wasn’t invented, would we be gaming like we are today? Would games be so popular?
This game wouldn't even exist...
0 Responses to “Gaming and the Internet”