CONVERGING MEDIA

Case Study

Consoles, Portables, and Entertainment Centers

In the earlier days of video games, their most prominent media crossovers came when a movie or perhaps a TV cartoon was derived from a popular game. Increasingly, though, games can be consumed the same way so much music, television, and film are consumed: just about anywhere, in a number of shapes, sizes, and styles. Video game consoles, once used exclusively for games, now work as part computer, part cable box. They've become powerful entertainment centers, with multiple forms of media converging in a single device. For example, Xbox 360 and PS3 can function as DVD players and digital video recorders (with hard drives of up to 250 gigabytes) and offer access to Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and video chat. PS3 can also play Blu-ray discs, and all three console systems offer connections to stream Netflix movies. Portable players like the top-selling Nintendo DS, released in 2004, and PlayStation Portable (PSP), released in 2005, are additional examples of converged gaming devices. Both are Wi-Fi capable, so players can interface with other DS or PSP users to play games or even browse the Internet.

Portable players remain immensely popular; Nintendo DS sold more than 130 million units through 2010. However, they face competition from the widespread use of smartphones and touchscreen tablets like iPads. These devices are not typically designed principally for games, but their capabilities bring casual gaming to customers interested in the handheld consoles of the past. Manufacturers of these devices are catching on to their gaming potential: After years of relatively little interest in video games, Apple introduced Game Center in 2010. This social gaming network allows users to invite friends or find others for multiplayer gaming, track their scores, and view high scores on a leader board-which the DS and PSP do as well. With more than 86 million iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad devices in circulation, plus more than 50,000 games (like Bejeweled and Angry Birds) available in its App Store, Apple has all the elements in place to transform the portable video game business.Gaming on smartphones will gather steam as well, especially with Xbox Live access on Microsoft's Windows Phone 7.

This convergence is changing the way people look at video games and their systems. The games themselves are no longer confined to arcades or home television sets, while the latter have gained power as entertainment tools, reaching a wider and more diverse audience. Many phones and PDAs operate as de facto handheld consoles, and many home consoles serve as comprehensive entertainment centers. Thus gaming has become an everyday form of entertainment, rather than the niche pursuit of hard-core enthusiasts.

With its increased profile and flexibility across platforms, the gaming industry has achieved a mass medium status on par with film or television. This rise in status has come with stiffer and more complex competition, not just within the gaming industry but across media. Rather than Sony competing with Nintendo, or TV networks competing among themselves for viewers, or new movies facing off at the box office, media must now compete against other media for an audience's attention.