Video games have been part of this generation’s whole life. From Atari to Mario, from the Nintendo SNES to the Nintendo Wii among other competing consoles, they have been part of entertaining children and adults alike. But in the past few decades, there has been a huge leap from what a video game was before and what it is right now. No longer is the video game a simple toy for kids, it is now a major form of media entertainment. It has grown so large that it rivals even the movie industry in income revenues. Because of the rapid growth of this industry, even movie and music giant Sony has joined the bandwagon in the gaming industry along with Microsoft. This can be accredited to two things; the advancement of technology that can be used for games is the first.
The three major players in this industry are Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft. They have raised the level of what a gaming console can do, and along with that they gave designers more freedom in creating games for their consoles. The current consoles for these media giants are Wii, Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360 respectively. From what was before and what the game consoles are now, the technology used has evolved by leaps. No longer do you play with simple moving shapes following glowing dots or a platform games in two dimension; what today’s consoles offer are more realistic than ever. Water flows in rivers just like in real rivers, hair from the characters move from the wind realistically; you can now even see facial expressions and distinguish one player from another in sports video games. The other reason for the evolution of these games is due to the designers themselves.
Before, if you wanted to become a video game programmer or designer, one would take up information technology courses or any computer related course. The problem with that is inadequacy of the tools needed by the aspiring programmer. Hence, the idea of a gaming college came true. Some of the gaming colleges available today were game developing companies who transformed into the former because of the lack of game developers available. These gaming colleges are the opening the aspiring designers need, this is their gateway to the gaming industry.
A good gaming college could land the student to one of the top companies in the industry and enjoy good financial benefits. A game designer could earn as much as $50,000 a year to $100,000 a year depending on what game they were involved in developing. But the biggest pay off for the student who graduates from a gaming college is the opportunity to work with what he or she loves. It is a matter of passion for what they do. That is why not everyone can be admitted to a gaming college because this requires great passion for their work to be able to get thru the rigors of their curriculum. But after all is said and done, these students can say that it was well worth it.
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