The history of computer games, part 3 2000 - Now

Like most subjects studied going back to the origins of its subject is always a good idea. So for studying game-art where did this start off ? When did the first video game emerge and how did they evolve ?

By now were in the 3rd and last part of the history of games. 2000 till now.
This is the time where sega stops developing consoles and only focuses on games.
Sony releases the playstation 2 and a year later microsoft comes with the Xbox while nintendo releases the gamecube.  The playstation 2 was an instant hit and to date the best selling console (150 million playstation 2's are sold)

2000 the sims
In 2000 Maxes released the Sims 6.3 copies and became best selling game for that time. It was a casual simulator of the daily life targetted for the casual gamer. Giving the freedome of playing the game, designing your own house and family.

2002 Warcraft III and Age of mythology

Warcraft III made by Blizzard and Age of Mythology made by Ensemble Studio's set the standard for 3D graphics in RTS games.

2004 world of warcraft

Blizzard releases World of Warcraft. The first and only MMO to date with such a huge amount of subscribers. World of Warcraft had 10.3 million subscribers.

2004 Half-life 2.

Half-life 2 Released by Valve revolutionizes the physics engine called havoc with things like the gravity gun that allows the player to pick up object and throw them away. and puzzle's involving gravity.

In 2005 Microsoft launches  the Xbox 360, also  age of empires III brings physics in RTS pretty much setting an example for its genre. Due to all these changes in games with physics the games became a lot more interactive and destructible.

2006, Sony launches the PS3 and Nintendo Launches the wii.

With all these new consoles Microsoft and Sony discover their making a loss on every sold console while Wii makes about 6 dollar profit per sold unit while microsoft loses about 125 Dollar per sold Xbox360 and playstation 3 307 Dollar.

Because by this time most gamers were asking for better and better graphics most developers couldn't keep up. Because the ps3 Sold so poorly at the beginning Sony ended up losing a lot of their exclusive titles making it harder and harder for sony to compete.

the rise of MMO'S


Even though MMO's werent new in this time they became a lot more popular.
Games like Final Fantasy XI (2002) World of Warcraft (2004) Warhammer Online (2008) Age of Conan
got more gamers addicted to the genre. And due to it time since MMO's proven themselves to be a steady income
for developers. However the demand for new content increased as well stressing big MMO developers like Blizzard, NCsoft and CCP Games to come up with more and more content patches.