Console Wars: Past and Future

Video gaming consoles are a great way of socializing with others and relaxing after a hard day's work. Although they are fun experience video gaming consoles cost can be quite costly and can average between $300-$600 depending on the offer. That's not even including access to online,additional games and equipment.With all these options selecting the correct one for you can be challenging.

This fierce competition to be the best has created a unique microcosm of conflict among the player bases of the top 3 companies; Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft. Each company provides its customers with their own unique IP's (Intellectual Properties) and gaming experiences that reflect what the consumer is looking for. For example the Nintendo Wii is marketed around a family focused target market and promote games such as the Mario franchise and the Wii Sports games. Consoles such as Sony and Microsoft however are targeted towards the more "hardcore" gamers and promote IP's such as Halo on the Xbox One and Killzone for the Playstation. What's interesting about these two consoles are the fact that despite being identical technically the amount of passion and support from their respective fans is intense.

The "Console Wars" is a term which refers to the conflict between which console is superior. Weather it is technologically superior, better game IP's, better frame rate and even larger console sales, the player bases of each console are determined to express their opinions everywhere online. Examples include gaming discussion boards, YouTube comments and social media are just a few locations of where people will ignite a debate over which is better.

This phenomenon was even parodied in a 3 part mini series on South Park where Kyle, Cartman, Kenny and Stan must choose between their friendship and which console to choose.The series ends in a literal physical fight between Bill Gates and the president of Sony which personifies the conflict and leads the children to come to a realization.

But is this conflict really negative or is it a win-win situation?. Personally I think this console war is the best thing that could happen to these companies. When 80% of your profits come from 20% of your loyal customers base, having consumers who will go out of their way to promote your brand can only help benefit your company. Consumers advertise and promote all over social media and defend their console choice as If it was their own country they were defending.

Even though the console wars are seen as primarily between the Sony Playstation 4 and the Microsoft Xbox One, Nintendo has also seen it's fair share of competition in the late 80's - early 90's between Sega. Similar to today where graphics and processing are used as support in arguments, in the 90's it was all about bits and blast processing. A great example includes this Sega Jaguar advertisement which solely focuses on the graphics of the console making the product superior. Despite heavy advertising on the amount of bits compared to it's competition, the Jaguar provided little in entertaining game play or audio which lead to it's slow decline.

In conclusion the console wars have been happening since gaming was invented and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight. As long as there are options people will fight in order to prove that their decision was the best one. This conflict can be harnessed in order advertise each console and providing your consumer base with USP's allows them to micro market your console all over the internet. It's interesting to see how much passion individuals will have when promoting their plastic boxes and it's interesting to see the psychology behind it. Lets just hope we don't let this jingoism impede research and development of new consoles and technologies and that future tech is determined by consumers and capitalism.

Virtual Reality and the future of Advertising.

  The advancement in recent virtual reality technology has brought us the ability to view the world around us from a different perspective. A prime example includes the Oculus Rift which released it's first developer kit in late 2012. Since it's inception the company was purchased by Facebook for $2 Billion dollars and has released more advanced developer kits for individuals to develop software for the headset. Facebook's purchase ignited a fire storm of competition between large technology companies to develop the best VR tech. A few examples include Windows, Razr and Sony which are among the few racing to develop the next generation of technology entertainment.

  For those who may not know what it's like to experience VR (Virtual Reality), here is an example of customers trying the product for the first time. As you can see the immersion truly fools people  into thinking they have actually entered a new setting and that the danger is real. The technology works by having two small screens imbedded in the headset that render a wide field of view at a low latency allowing for the best possible immersion. For consumers this means that instead of just watching your favourite character on a screen...you become the character. The Oculus Rift is projected to be released sometime in 2015 for consumers and will most likely cost around $100-$350 based on the developer kit costs.

 Other companies however such as Windows are taking a different approach and have recently announced transparent glasses which augment the reality around you instead of viewing the game from inside the program. Here is footage from their preview video being shown. The headset allows the user to interact with 3d projected objects on surfaces including using calendars, answering calls and also creating in Minecraft with a 3d perspective similar to wooden building blocks. Personally I think this would be AMAZING for a zombie simulator.

 So, what does this mean for advertising? Personally I think these advancements in technology will completely change traditional advertising completely. When the technology inevitably advances and becomes cheaper, stronger and lighter, I personally think it will expand as fast as cell phones did. The possibilities are almost endless with the ability to project and augment the reality before an individual. An example I could see being used effectively includes have white billboards and posters with QR codes that are automatically registered into the glasses allowing for personalized ads targeted to individuals. A few examples include

• Customized ads which are linked with Google Adsense data that provides the customers with ads they would be interested in. An example would include viewing a series of tuner videos on youtube and seeing aftermarket car advertising close the business location. 

• Frequently updated advertising which can offer deals and services quickly and efficiently. This would be excellent for airports and travel agencies which rely on cookies and demand to adjust their rates.

• Restaurants which offer large menu selection and the advertisement can show an augmented version of a food they may be craving. I know If I walked by a place to eat and saw a 3d projected steak I would definitely be more inclined to purchase rather than just seeing a picture of it. 

  Honestly the possibilities are endless and with this emerging technology being released within the next year or two, I personally will be expanding my knowledge the best I can in order to have adapt into this emerging market. With aspirations of becoming a lead advertising designer, I want to be among the few that will harness this new technology and bring ads that people have NEVER seen before and will better engage them then traditional methods of advertising/marketing.