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Release of Steam Question 1
What were the details of the
event?
Valve Corporation releases Steam
Steam is a platform that promotes social gaming
Allows easy installation and management of games (including updates) -
Release of Steam Question 2 Part 1
Why was the event so important to the industry?
Steam really allowed the indie game community to grow.
Steam promotes a lot of indie games and smaller third-party publishers.
Steam promoted digital distribution of games, and in fact is now 50%-70% of digital distribution shares in the market.
Helped the gaming community grow -
Release of Steam Question 2 Part 2
Why was the event so important to the industry?
Started out as a social platform that allowed friends to see who was playing what and when.
Allowed people to get together and also leave reviews on the games they owned.
Steam also provides a lot of sales and its achievement systems tend to generate hype around games. -
Release of Steam Question 3
How would this event affect you as a game designer or game developer?
Like the app store and apple SDK, Steam allows newer game developers and designers to get a chance to shine
Being able to throw your game into the steam store allows for feedbacks, reviews, which you can use to improve your game or to take into your next game.
You can now focus on creating indie games, because the Steam platform gives them a place to shine -
Release of Apple SDK Question 1
What were the details of the
event?
Apple releases its software development kit
This was a highly anticipated event that people had been waiting for.
Allows anyone who pays the licensing fee to develop apps for the iOS -
Release of Apple SDK Question 2
Why was the event so important to the industry?
This really set off the mobile apps boom.
A huge community of third-party developers were set free
People everywhere could, with basic knowledge, create the apps they’ve always dreamed of
The power behind the app store.
Without the SDK being distributed to the world, the app store would be nothing like it is today -
Release of Apple SDK Question 3
How would this event affect you as a game designer or game developer?
Opened up a whole new path for designers and developers.
Mobile gaming and app development became bigger and bigger after this event.
App development is a new career path that people can look into.
People like me are able to throw their ideas around and test the waters with apps.
Since the mobile app community is so large, it allows designers to get a lot of feedback on their games quickly. -
PSN Hacked Question 1
What were the details of the
event?
The Sony Playstation Network was hacked into, resulting in:
The online network being shutdown.
Players couldn’t play online for more than a week
Backend data and customer information of over 77 million players exposed to the hackers -
PSN Hacked Question2
Why was the event so important to the industry?
This is one of the largest ever malicious attacks on a commercial industry.
International outrage at Sony
A loss in confidence from the public against Sony.
Creates hesitation in people, who are now worried and unsure about online gaming.
Caused anger and fear amongst customers and consumers because credit card information and other personal data could possibly have been stolen. -
PSN Hacked Question 3 Part 1
How would this event affect you as a game designer or game developer?
After this incident, paid online gaming might take a hit, as people are nervous about their credit card and personal information.
Thus, developing subscription games could be a bad idea for the time being.
Then again, the gaming community loves its games, and after a short recovery period, it’s likely they’ll bounce back stronger than before. -
PSN Hacked Question 3 Part 2
How would this event affect you as a game designer or game developer?
When developing online games that require personal information, encode and encrypt the information you get.
I would hesitate to request too much information from people playing my games -
Rise of esports Question 2 Part 1
Why was the event so important to the industry?
eSports always existed, especially in Korea.
However, with the arrival of League of Legends into the scene, most notably its astounding Season 2 World Championships last October, it has really skyrocketed
League of Legends has broken record after record.
Season 2 Championships is the largest eSports prize pool to date. -
Rise of esports Question 2 Part 2
Importance?
$1,000,000 to the winners with another $1,000,000 to 2nd-12th place, making a $2,000,000 prize pool. Just for the Championships
Throughout Season 2, Riot had $5,000,000 in prizes
Over 1.1 million concurrent viewers, and 8.2 million unique views over the course of the event.
These numbers don’t take into account Korean fans watching on their TV.
These numbers double the previous records
Paved the way for Season 3 and increased recognition of eSports as a legitimate sport -
Rise of esports Question 3 Part 1
How would this event affect you as a game designer or game developer?
Competitive gaming was always a thing.
Now it’s a really, really, big thing.
With that in mind, it’s completely possible to develop a game with the thought of worldwide competition in mind.
RPGs and single player games are still fun and important, but now focus can be shifted to online gaming -
Rise of esports Question 3 Part 2
How would this event affect you as a game designer or game developer?
With online gaming, there is a whole new level of competitiveness and more and more people are becoming attracted to the eSports scene.
Previously, eSports have been sponsored strictly by electronics companies who develop their gaming peripherals.
Now, television networks like CBS are involved, and sports companies like Adidas are picking up their very own League of Legends teams. -
Rise is esports Question 1
What were the details of the
event?
One of the largest esports events up to date, the League of Legends Season 2 World Championships broke records and set the pace for esports to follow
Fighting through a tournament that had 12 teams from around the world, the Taipei Assassins won in an underdog Cinderella story to take home to $1,000,000 first place prize along with the title of Season 2 Champions. -
The Occulus Rift Question 1
What were the details of the
event?
The Oculus Rift, which began as a Kickstarter Project for a virtual reality headset, begins shipping out along with a development kit.
While not yet ready for consumer use OculusVR has begun shipping them out to developers who wanted to test it out and use the technology in their games and almost all reactions so far have been positive. -
Oculus Rift Question 2 Part 1
Why was the event so important to the industry?
This is a step towards the next level of gaming – Virtual Reality.
It’s not a completely immersive experience as you still use a controller to play, but it’s a giant step in the right direction
The Oculus Rift headset puts your vision completely into the game and the head tracking allows for people to move their heads to look around.
Virtual Reality has always been said to be the way of the future. -
Oculus Rift Question 2 Part 2
Why was the event so important to the industry?
The future looks to be knocking at our door with the Oculus Rift already here.
It is unknown when the consumer version will be out, but there have been people modding it to games such as Skyrim and giving it great reviews.
Team Fortress 2 is another game that is integrating Oculus Rift into its gameplay as an option -
Oculus Rift Question 3 Part 1
How would this event affect you as a game designer or game developer?
When designing games in the future, this technology must be kept in mind
How you use this technology can make or break your game
Making sure your graphics syncs up well with the Rift’s technology -
Oculus Rift Question 3 Part 2
How would this event affect you as a game designer or game developer?
This can open up new design options because no longer do people have to control the camera with their hands
Connecting the Rift with possibly the Kinect can lead to a whole new experience as the Kinect doesn’t require a controller (or rather the Kinect makes your body the controller).
Similarly, even adapting the Oculus Rift to Wii games or Playstation Move could grant incredible new experiences to gamers.
