BENGALURU: For the rest of this column I am going to assume that correlation implies causation and then prove that I am a video game influencer. I recently discredited the flooding of PUBG/Fortnite wannabes in the mobile market for diluting the concept of the Battle Arena. 300 words and a week later I find that PUBG has now released a ‘Mobile Lite’ version in some countries with less graphic heavy and memory demanding specs. Coincidence? I think not. I have scoured the gaming world updates to understand that there were more real world solutions implemented in answer to my other rants.
#1: Samsung Note 9 — in addition to having Fortnite Beta for the Android as an added accessory — has also, by being a flagship device, brought mobile gaming needs to the mainstream. The water carbon cooling technology aims at achieving the smooth gaming experience. Seamless mobile gaming might be the non-utopian future of gaming!
#2: The dream of a non-sexualised female lead in a series, with a character and survival oriented story is slowly reaching fruition. The last two Tomb Raider games have come close to fulfilling the goals of the renegade female explorer, and the Shadow of Tomb Raider has come closest yet. The few minutes of gameplay released last week promises an immersive, aesthetically pleasing historical survival adventure.
#3: There are too many ‘online’ games, but the sudden surge in cooperative game forms with VR is changing the dynamic from a virtual to a more physical real audience. Take Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes for example — people crowd around each other and give instructions to the VR holder to diffuse a bomb. Real people interactions + nice virtual induced tension + arguments and fun!
#4: My key dispute has been with the perception of video games as a whole — and recent market reports are encouraging as there is a huge anticipated growth in the ‘serious game’ sector. Serious games are those not primarily made for entertainment. Most of these are simulation oriented — not the funny ones like Goat, but more realistic, like the flight simulator, war-gaming, and medical simulators.
I’ll add to this list occasionally to check if causality continues to be in my favour. Keep faith and win some chicken dinners!