NEXT-GEN GAMING
Not only are the games more sophisticated, the computing power behind them is revolutionary in itself, writes Conall Ferguson.
Not only are the games more sophisticated, the computing power behind them is revolutionary.
Gaming isn’t just big business. It’s the biggest. The video games industry generated approximately $US134.9 billion in 2018. That’s over three times the estimated value of global box office sales for the same year, which came in at $US41.1 billion.
Whether on PC, consoles or, increasingly, our mobile phones, the world’s appetite for gaming is not letting up. And now, one of tech’s biggest names wants in on the action.
Enter, Google Stadia.
The easiest way to explain Stadia? Think Netflix but for gamers. Instead of individually purchasing single games, users will pay a recurring monthly subscription, granting them access to a myriad of top titles. Similar, you might say, to Sony’s Playstation NOW platform only in this case, you don’t have to download the games. You steam them instantly. No storage? No problem!
The true key to Stadia’s power lies in what comes in the box: a single controller. Gone are the days of bulky consoles or disputes about hogging the TV. Using your wireless controller and a little Google magic you can start playing on one screen and quickly switch over to another. Start a game on your laptop, then move it over to the TV to get a better view of the action, or take the fun with you and play on your phone as you commute to work.
As if all that wasn’t enough, the computing power that allows Google to stream high definition games to us in an instant will also allow for MMOGs (or, massively multiplayer online games) to get truly massive.
The current limits around gaming technology mean that within online games it’s too much of a strain on the system for every single player to exist and interact on the same level. Instead, they are split into groups across multiple servers in their own separate (but identical) versions of the game.
However, with the computing power behind Stadia we may soon start to see games where thousands of players can all co-exist on screen simultaneously, playing, racing or battling together – and you thought Fortnite was challenging enough already!
Just as streaming services turned the music industry on its head several years ago, Google Stadia could very well spark a revolution in the way we all access the titles we love.
As for up-coming games, we can’t wait to get our hands on Tell Me Why, the latest offering from the studio that brought us the critically acclaimed Life Is Strange.
The game follows the story of identical twins Alyson and Tyler, who share a supernatural bond, as they retrace the events that drove them apart ten years prior. With all the adventure, depth and humanity that we have come to expect from the French Dontnod Studios, this game will be unique in that it will be the first to feature a leading trans character.
When creating the character of Tyler (who will be voiced by trans actor August Aiden Black) the team were determined that he would be truly multifaceted and rooted in real-world experiences, so they consulted members of the LGBTQ+ community as well as US non-profit GLAAD during the development process.
“We did a lot of research, we reached out to the community, we wanted to understand their journeys,” says Game Director, Florent Guillaume. “We were very naive at first and they enlightened us a lot, they helped us review the script and the characters and to reach out to people.”
And it seems their efforts were a success. In the words of Nick Adams, director of Transgender Representation for GLAAD, “Tyler is a fully realised, endearing character, whose story is not reduced to simplistic trans tropes… creating a playable lead trans character – and taking such care to get it right – raises the bar for future LGBTQ inclusion in gaming.”
Tell Me Why [pictured] is the first game to feature a leading trans character.