Video games are becoming huge
As sports are so popular worldwide it would be relevant to assume that everything connected to sports in some way or the other would also be very popular, but just how popular is the astounding part? Sports games, as in those games that are played online, or with games consoles, are some of the most popular forms of entertainment around today. From children to adults everyone it seems has gone crazy about online and console based sports games.
The online and console sports game phenomenon probably evolved through a process of our evolution as a society. In the past it was very natural to see people outside playing some version of a sport in their gardens or in a playground. Soon society as a whole moved indoors, moved around in their cars and turned to their televisions for salvation. With the general hold of laziness on society, online games and video game consoles emerged. People became addicted to them as never before and inadvertently the most popular games, which were once actually played outside, are now the most popular couch games available.
It seems to have started with Sony’s PS2. I know there were many consoles before that, I owned an old school Atari and also a Sega Mega drive but the sports games on those were pathetic. The PS2 revolution actually brought video game consoles into the mainstream and with it sports games came along for the ride. Some of the most popular games were Fifa football games, basketball games, American football games and racing games. Racing games are so popular it is unbelievable. The big sporting companies and associations got involved in the phenomenon as well sponsoring sports games with their brands splashed all over them.
It became a huge market for game makers and sports companies. Sports stars decided they didn’t want to be left out of the fun and endorsed games by giving permission to use their names and likenesses in the games. So now you could play an NBA basketball game with Shaq and Lebron James in it. Once that happened it became a way for people to control their favourite basketball, football or baseball teams in the comfort of their own living rooms.
Once this happened it signalled the end of outdoor physical sports being played in the park. Everyone now played the games in their homes and didn’t even bother to step foot outside. In a way it is sad that this happened because the most physical of activities suddenly became reduced to a treat for couch potatoes. Another way to look at it is that it helped to popularise sports amongst the younger generation and maybe a lot of them tried a new sport they didn’t think they liked and really started to enjoy it. As a whole society has become less bothered about going outside and most people spend all of their lives going to work and then sitting in front of the telly. Nations around the world are experiencing obesity problems and lack of physical activity is a major cause of this.
Next came online gaming, both on the Internet and through online gaming on video game consoles. Now people could play sports games at work or at school and against their friends or against complete strangers. It brought the level of competition from playing against the computer or console to playing against real people. People were hooked friends would play against each other while each was sitting in his or her house and they didn’t even have to get out of their chairs. Gaming on the Internet boomed as well and the best part about this was that it was free and people could play sports games whenever they had some time to kill or were bored. This brought sports games into the realm of accessibility by everyone.
A few years ago one of the biggest phenomenon’s to hit the video game console market was the Nintendo Wii. It was instantly extremely popular. It was aimed at many different age groups and those people who didn’t traditionally play video games. One of the things the company did was give people the game Wii Sports along with the console when it was bought. Wii Sports is one of the best and most fun experiences to be had on a console. Adults could be seen swinging the Wii controls around having the time of their lives. Sports games show no sign of losing their popularity and will be around for many years to come, they will just get more inventive and creative in the process.
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