Introduction
To achieve a distinction, I will be exploring the future of the gaming industry on each of the various platforms.
Consoles
Next Gen
It has only been a matter of time since the next gen consoles were released. In 2007 the Xbox360 and the ps3 were announced. Since then we have come a long way. Then the memory pool was 512 MB. But as the years go new things are developed. And thus with the next gen consoles inbound they have their pool of a shocking of 8 GB which allows developers to expand their Imagination and pour it into the game. Consoles have always been very popular. They are one of the reasons gaming really became popular and they have improved a lot over the last few years, in terms of graphics mainly.
Oculus Rift
The Oculus Rift is an upcoming virtual reality head-mounted display. It is being developed by Oculus Virtual Reality, who have raised $16 million, of which $2.4 million was raised with crowd funding. Due to be released in 2016, it will be one of the first VR (Virtual Reality) headsets, with a 1080x1200 resolution per eye. Existing games with a first person or fixed-camera perspective can be ported to VR with some development effort, however Oculus has stated that the best virtual reality games will be those that are designed for the Rift from the start. This has definitely changed the way we will play games in future, allowing for much more immersion and interaction with the games we are playing. It also changes the types of games that will be published in future as well, now games will have to have better quality graphics to accommodate the OVR. This will obviously not happen right away because even though it has a big market, it will take some time for it to rank up higher in the industry.
Turtle Beach
Turtle Beach headsets are used in tournaments across the world. Turtle Beach transforms your gaming world with a revolutionary selection of cutting edge technologies. Surround sound audio, pristine fidelity, wireless functionality, and precision customization come together to create a product that completes your high definition gaming experience and puts you a step up on the standard headset competition.
Frostbite (Frostbite Engine)
Frostbite is the next gen game developing team. They make probably the best Triple-A games in the market, including Battlefield 4, Mirrors Edge, Dragon Age Inquisition and many others. Their games are indulging. With stunning graphics to destructible environments, they surely did it first. Their most recent game, Battlefield 4, was predicted to get the highest amount of day 1 sales at launch. They stated that they will break Rockstar’s recent recording in which they got $800 Million on the first day launch of GTA V on console. However, it could only generate more than 7 million sales, and to this day only 2% are still playing it.

PC
I think that in the future, PC gaming will become very popular. This is because with the next generation of consoles being released people may find that with PC it’s a lot cheaper than buying the new upgrade which is released usually only a year after the first model. At the moment, PC’s are not given half as much attention compared to handheld or consoles which may be why they’re not always the first option. But since the prices of these are going up, PC gaming looks like a much more appealing choice. Also most AAA games like Batman Arkham Knight, were sold at £45 for PS4 and the Xbox One but for PC it was only £35, which means you get the same graphics as you would on console but for a cheaper price which in my opinion is a great deal, even though it has such high maintenance costs.
Television
Televisions through time went from bulky, low resolution models to elegant High Definition (HD), Ultra HD displays. As they got slimmer, the resolution went higher as well, allowing for sharper images when gaming or watching movies and shows. It has been made possible by the addition of more and more pixels to increase the visual quality of the images displayed through it. Audio has improved as well, by being able to connect wireless speakers to the TV for surround sound, through Bluetooth.
Handheld consoles
I believe that hand held consoles such as the PS Vita and PSP (PlayStation Portable) are decreasing in popularity. In the future I do not think they will increase in popularity. This is because they are expensive considering the hardware they currently use is very limited and not many developers are making games for these platforms, for example, the vita only has four games published this year so far. However, the new Nintendo 3DS has been growing in popularity because popular game franchises like Pokémon and Super Mario keep it alive.
Arcade
I believe that in the future the arcade industry won’t develop at all. Even though the technology used on arcade machines is not as advanced as the other platforms more popular nowadays and most, if not all of the games played on arcade machines can now be played on other platforms, they are still fun and give the player an experience that they can’t get from these other platforms. Although it won’t reach the level of popularity of consoles because of the level of technology used in both the machines they will certainly be cherished by most people as one the best gaming platforms that was ever created, as it is where gaming evolved. I personally don’t think this will improve gaming experience, instead bring back the feel of games from the older generations. These days there are new technology allowing arcade gaming to become more evolved, for example, new Eye-controlled arcade games (Eye Asteroids), which allows the player to control and move a planet using sensors on the machine. Even though it’s not new tech and has been used before, it has never before been used in arcade games.