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Gaming

In recent years, gaming has transitioned from being a way to spend leisure time to being a substantial provider of media. Today, video games are used for more than just recreational purposes. The culture of gaming has created online communities where people can interact while playing in a variety of ways, whether they'd like to insult their opponent or simply talk strategy. Large corporations, such as Electronic Arts and Activison, regularly host large scale eSports events and draw in large crowds to spectate these events. The first video game, based on table tennis, was created by Willy Higinbotham, a Physicist at the Brook Haven National Laboratory in Upton, New York. It was first played on an oscilloscope. One of the first playable computer games was called Bertie the Brain

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Game Genres

Video games have a wide array of genres. As technologies advance and computers and home consoles evolve, developers are utilizing these technologies and fading the lines of yesterdays linear list of genres. With upcoming games such as Quantum Break blending movie viewing media with game play, those lines are further being crossed, faded and erased. Examples of current video game genres include: action adventure, platformer, racing, fighting, turn-based, text, simulators, shooter, horror, survival horror, sports, MMO, RPG, MMORPG and puzzles.


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Adventure Games

Notable Entries: Telltale's The Walking Dead Seasons 1 and 2, The Monkey Island Series, Full Throttle, The Sam and Max Series

This genre involves using a simple control method to guide one or multiple characters through a story based adventure that includes dealing with multiple puzzles, traps, and decisions that can all drastically alter how the story plays out. The genre initially grew to prominence on the PC in the 1990s, but the games eventually stopped selling in significant numbers to the point where the genre was declared extinct. It regained popularity with the rise of developer Telltale Games, who were initially known for remaking the classic Sam and Max and Monkey Island games, but their popularity reached new heights with Telltale's very successful take on The Walking Dead, where they worked closely with Robert Kirkman, the writer of the comic book, to create a new and unique story within the setting of the comics.


Fighting Games

Notable Entries: Street Fighter Series, Tekken Series, The King of Fighters Series, Mortal Kombat Series, Marvel vs Capcom Series

Fighting games usually involve two opponents squaring off 1 versus 1 in a battle arena and fighting it out until either the health of one of the participants is fully depleted, or the timer running out which leads to the person with the higher amount of health winning the round. There are variations that might involve more than 1 character, such as tag games like Marvel vs Capcom where the players get to choose 2 or 3 characters, but only one character can be fully controlled at a time. This is one of the more popular genres in competitive video game, or "e-sports", where the highest level of gameplay is aired on streaming websites like twitch.tv. The current most popular game is Street Fighter V which has had tournaments air on ESPN2 and TBS.


First Person Shooters

Notable Entries: Call of Duty Series, Battlefield Series, Doom Series, Overwatch, Half-Life Series, Quake Series, Counter-Strike

Commonly referred to as "FPS" and is one of the most well known genres today. Involves players controlling their character in the first person view, where you usually can only see the gun, or whatever other equipment that the character is holding in their hands. While this genre was first popularized by Doom, it has evolved far beyond what Doom started. It was one of the earliest video game genres to establish online multiplayer with Doom using an online platform known as DWANGO in 1994. The popularity of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare brought a whole new level of notoriety to both the FPS genre, and online multiplayer in general. This is another very popular genre for competitive video games, as games like Counter-Strike are still played for a lot of money all around the world.


Japanese Style Role Playing Games (JRPG)

Notable Entries: Final Fantasy Series, Dragon Quest Series, Shin Megami Tensei Series, "Tales Of..." Series

In Japan, the RPG genre evolved in a very different way than it did in other regions. While a lot of older RPG games on PC focused on mostly generic placeholder characters going on a grand adventure, Japanese developers saw it as a genre where they could tell grand stories while maintaining the stat sheet and dice roll gameplay mechanics that evolved from Pen and Paper games like Dungeons and Dragons. One major difference is that a lot of the RPGs coming out of Japan had a slow and methodical turn based system for battles where the player had to choose the actions of each individual character in their group and then watch the actions play out one at a time. The genre initially gained popularity with the first Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy games on the Nintendo Entertainment System. While the genre was relatively popular outside of Japan in the NES and Super Nintendo generations, it would reach peak popularity with the release of Final Fantasy 7 on the original Playstation. As the genre has evolved, Japanese developers experimented more with ways to either put a spin on turn based combat, or attempts to make the combat more active. While JRPGs are very far from being the most popular genre these days, there are still some occasional stand out releases that are relatively popular like Persona 5, Nier: Automata, and Final Fantasy XV.


Multiplayer Online Battle Arena

Notable Entries: League of Legends, DotA2, Heroes of the Storm, Smite

Typically known as "MOBA" for short. While this genre has existed long before this term, it was not until Riot Games created League of Legends that they themselves labeled this genre. It originated as a custom Warcraft 3 map that was known as Defense of the Ancients, or DotA for short. Eventually some of the people that worked on updating that map formed their own small independent studio named Riot Games and used the DotA template to make League of Legends, which is currently one of the most popular video games in the world. The gameplay typically involves either a 5 vs 5 or a 3 vs 3 team match where players pick a hero to fulfill a specific role in the match, much like with any other team sport. As the match progresses, players earn experience points to level up their characters and, in most of the games of this genre, money to purchase equipment that improves their characters in some way. The goal is for one team to push their way toward the enemy team's home base and destroy their main building. The match ups can go anywhere from 20 minutes to well over an hour, and during the match ups, various things can come into play to influence how the match progresses, like hindering an opposing player's ability to gain experience and money, or capturing side objectives in the map to give your team a boost of some sort. This is currently the most popular genre for competitive video games. League of Legends tournaments in particular have pulled over 1 million viewers and that number is constantly growing.


Western Style Role Playing Games (WRPG)

Notable Entries: Fallout Series (Post-Bethesda), Mass Effect Series, Dragon Age Series, Diablo Series, Neverwinter Nights Series

Unlike JRPGs, WRPGs tend to embrace the customization of the Dungeons and Dragons Pen and Paper games. They usually allow for you to fully create a character from scratch, but even when they don't do that, they at the very least allow for you to customize your character's abilities. WRPGs also tend to have more action elements built into them, which is to say that even if the combat has some sort of turn based element to it, you still will have more control over your characters mobility than you would in a typical JRPG. Another big part of most WRPGs today is giving the player choice on how to approach the story. Similar to the adventure game genre, a lot of WRPGs will give the player the ability to choose what they say to any characters within the story, which can change how events play out.

Recently Released Games [May 2016 - October 2016]

Below are a few examples of recently released games.

BattleBorn - From the creators of the critically acclaimed Borderlands series is a New IP that was released May 3, 2016. The game details as described on Gamestop's webpage state: "A tremendous band of badass heroes fight to protect the universe's very last star from a mysterious evil in this next-gen shooter by the creators of Borderlands. To defend it, you'll need to utilize every type of character and weapon you've ever imagined -- from cyborg hawkmen to samurai vampires to mini-gun wielding man-mountains. Slash and parry, run and gun, cast and dash, or simply obliterate foes all while building and growing your personal team of heroes. Choose your hero and fight alone or co-operatively alongside friends in story missions, or battle against them in fast-paced competitive multiplayer matches".

Quick review so far: So I have played a few hours of Battleborn as of today, May 4th. The Game released yesterday. The action is fast and fluid and the RPG elements of the game are clean, yet deep. I can see myself playing this for a few months.


Uncharted 4: A Thief's End - Released on May 10, 2016 from developer Naughty Dog Software, makers of The Last of Us and Crash Bandicoot, the PlayStation exclusive series is set to release another highly anticipated addition to the Nathan Drake story. As described on GameStop's website "Several years after his last adventure, retired fortune hunter, Nathan Drake, is forced back into the world of thieves. With the stakes much more personal, Drake embarks on a globe-trotting journey in pursuit of a historical conspiracy behind a fabled pirate treasure. His greatest adventure will test his physical limits, his resolve, and ultimately what he's willing to sacrifice to save the ones he loves."


DOOM - Released on May 13, 2016. The game will be available for PC, PS4, and XBOX One. The game has a rating of M due to blood and gore, strong language, and intense violence. The game is developed by id Software and falls under the genre of first-person shooter. The game will feature a single-player mode and a multiplayer mode. The single-player mode will have more than 13 hours of game play and the multiplayer mode will have 9 maps. The executive producer of id Software, Marty Stratton, describes the key principles of the game to be "badass demons, big effing guns, and moving really fast."[1] The game is part of the Doom series, Doom will be the fourth game in the series.


Homefront: The Revolution - From Dambuster studios, the follow up to the successful "Homefront" is not expected to disappoint. With a May 17th, 2016 release date, this shooter game was described on GameStop's website as "Homefront: The Revolution drops you into a world where the United States has been occupied for four years. Immerse yourself in highstakes game play where you must lead the resistance movement in tactical guerrilla warfare against a superior North Korean military force. A living, breathing, and visually striking open world responds to your actions - you and your resistance cell can inspire a rebellion on the streets and be the force that makes the critical difference in the war, turning occupation into revolution as oppressed civilians take up the fight."


No Man's Sky - Released on August 9, 2016, No Man's Sky is an action-adventure survival video game from Hello Games and Sony Computer Entertainment that offers an infinite universe (over 18 quintillion planets) to explore and the ability the player may choose how the game unfolds based on their choices. From GameStop's website "No Man's Sky is an epic science fiction adventure set across an infinite universe, in which every star is the light of a distant sun, orbited by planets filled with life - each yours to visit. Explore never before seen worlds, discover unique lifeforms and trade, fight and survive on a galactic scale."

Madden 17' - Released on August 23, 2016, one of the biggest games in professional sports, Madden advances and improves its' gaming capabilities year after year. Besides for updating the leagues rosters and sports facilities year after year they still find ways to bring new cool features like "Madden Moments" which allows gamers to play in a real game scenario. EA Sports puts all of its pride into this game and it surpasses expectations year after year.

Battlefield 1 - Released on October 21, 2016, one of the year's most anticipated shooters, had over 500,000 live stream viewers for the announcement trailer of the game alone. Battlefield 1 will be 5th installment to the Battlefield franchise not including any other secondary releases such as the popular Battlefield: Hardline. This game is set to take place during World War 1 with a twist to it.

"Mafia III" - An action-adventure video game developed by Hangar 13 and published by 2K Games, was released for Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, on October 7, 2016. This is the 3rd installment of this series and will take place in this Big Easy. The game will be played in a 3rd person view point, with the open world design allowing players to freely explore the game's world. Players can complete objectives using a variety of approaches.

Upcoming Games [November 2016 - ]

The Last Guardian - an action-adventure game developed by genDESIGN and SIE Japan Studio, and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, set to release exclusively for PlayStation 4 on December 6, 2016. The Last Guardian is long-in-development title that was thought by many to never be released. The game features a mythical creature and a child as the protagonist. Players will maneuver across platforms and solve puzzles while taking part in the set narrative.

Persona 5 - a JRPG (Japanese Role-Playing Game) developed and published by Atlus, set to release for PlayStation 3 and 4. Persona 5 is a long-awaited continuation (not a sequel) to the popular Persona franchise, being the sixth installment (despite its name). Players will be met with a wide cast of characters, a great story, and a stylish user interface.

South Park: The Fractured but Whole - an RPG developed by Ubisoft San Fransisco, and published by Ubisoft, set to release for all three major platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in 2017. A sequel to the first South Park game, players will find themselves in the familiar, and often obscene world of South Park.

Dead Rising 4 - An open world action role play survival game developed by Capcom. This fourth installment of the series shows the perspective of a well known character to the franchise, Frank West, a journalist bent on uncovering the truth behind the impending zombie apocalypse, yet again.

Telltale's The Walking Dead: Season 3 - A point-and-click, decision based narrative game. In this genre, the user follows the characters and decides the fate of any involved situations, based on actions or choice of words in the world of The Walking Dead. This is the 3rd seasonal installment of the award winning franchise based in the dark and intense setting of the zombie apocalypse of The Walking Dead, following the the reoccurring, now grown up, character Clementine.

Sony Interactive Entertainment

PlayStation

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PlayStation is a Sony owned console and game publishing company. The first PlayStation was released in Japan in 1994, and in the United States in 1995. History of the PlayStation - IGN. PlayStation's newest generation of consoles include the PlayStation 4 Slim and Pro models. The PlayStation slim retails for $299.99, while the PlayStation Pro (releasing November 10, 2016) will cost $399.99. [2] Sony Interactive Entertainment is the company that owns PlayStation [3], they also own game developing companies such as:


Evolution Studios

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Located: Cheshire, United Kingdom
Founded: 1999
Purchased by Sony: 2007
Sold by Sony: 2016 to Codemasters
What They've Done: WRC Series (2001-2005), MotorStorm Series (2007-2012)
What They're Doing: Drive Club update patch for the PlayStation 4 Pro[4]. Unfortunatly the sale of Evolution Studios marks the end of, their latest racing franchise, Drive Club. However, Sony has recently published Drive Club VR as an exclusive title for its PlayStation VR system [5]. It is worth noting that the sale of Evolution Studios does not spell the end of the famed racing games that emerged from them. In fact over the last thirty years Codemasters has worked closely with Evolution Studios to create Drive Club as well as Grid and Dirt, which are successful franchises within their own right [6]. Furthermore, Mick Hocking, former studio director of Evolution Studios, will now be VP of product development in Codemasters.Hocking said in a statement. "We have a shared passion for racing, a desire to innovate and a determination to create the best racing games and build the biggest racing community in the market. I'm very much looking forward to working with so many of the world's greatest racing developers, on new IP as well as exciting franchises including DiRT, GRID, Micro Machines and the Formula One games."[7]


Guerrilla Games

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Located: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Founded: 2000 (as Lost Boys Games)
Purchased by Sony: 2005
What They've Done: Killzone Series (2004-2011) [8]
What They're Doing: Horizon Zero Dawn [9]. Horizon Zero Dawn is an exhilarating new action role playing game exclusively for the PlayStation® 4 System [10]. Guerrilla Games employees over 200 professionals form 25 different nationalities [11]. Guerrilla also developed RIGS Mechanized Combat League which is an exclusive for PlayStation VR[12].RIGS Mechanized Combat League is a FPS (first person shooter) in PlayStation VR. Two teams battle for points by shooting and killing one another. The team with the most points wins[13]. Currently Guerrilla Games has revealed Patch 1.06 for RIGS, the patch includes reduced loading times, an option to mute the moderator, and the ability to see the next match type you will play[14]. Furthermore, RIGS Mechanized Combat League will include PS4 Pro-exclusive enhancements[15].


Media Molecule

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Located: Surrey, United Kingdom
Founded: 2006
Purchased by Sony: 2010
What They've Done: LittleBigPlanet Series (2008-2011)[16]
What They're Doing: Dreams[17]. At the moment it is not Clear what the game Dreams entails, however, from the video Sony has released it looks as if you create the game's characters and world. You can grab objects and put together a new world in a few moments, and then you get to animate your characters[18].


Naughty Dog

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Located: California, USA
Founded: 1986 (as Jam Software)
Purchased by Sony: 2001
What They've Done: Crash Bandicoot Series (1996-1999), Jak and Daxter Series (2001-2005), Uncharted Series (2007-2016), The Last of Us[19]
What They're Doing: Uncharted 4 DLC (downloaded content) is still being developed by Naughty Dog. It is also rumored that Naughty Dog is working on The Last of Us two. The rumors are especially gaining traction due to the relative closeness of PSX. Which is PlayStation's big press release where we expect to see many of Sony's game developers present to demo the new games they have been working on[20].


Polyphony Digital

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Located: Tokyo, Japan
Founded: 1998
Purchased by Sony: Founded by Sony
What They've Done: Gran Turismo Series (1997-2010), Tourist Trophy (2006).
What They're Doing: Gran Turismo Sport [21]. Polyphony Digital is currently trying to update Gran Turismo 6 to be compatible with PlayStation Pro's advanced graphics. The Fran Turismo franchise is as old as the PlayStation brand itself[22]. Meanwhile Polyphony Digital is also rumored to be in the middle of the production of Fran Turismo Sport which is said to release sometime in 2017.Gran Tarismo Sport is rumored to support full 4K display, HDR, and 60 FPS display output. The game will also support PlayStation VR, it will be one of the first titles to become cross platform for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation VR.[23].


SCE Bend Studio

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Located: Oregon, USA
Founded: 1994 (as Eidetic)
Purchased by Sony: 2000
What They've Done: Syphon Filter Series (1999-2007), Resistance: Retribution (2009), Uncharted: Golden Abyss (2012)
What They're Doing: Unknown[24]. SCE Bend Studio is said to have a large Playstation 4 title in the works, however, it is too early to advertise it. Bend studios is skipping this years PSX. Scott Rohde, PlayStation Game Development Head for Sony Worldwide Studios America said, with respect to SCE Bend Studios absence at PSX "I'm really excited about the progress (of the game). It is really looking great. I love it, but the timing has to be right".


SCE Cambridge Studio

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Located: Cambridge, UK
Founded: 1990 (as Millennium Interactive)
Purchased by Sony: 1997
What They've Done: MediEvil Series (1998-2005), LittleBigPlanet PSP (2009), TV Superstars (2010)
What They're Doing: Killzone (Vita, 2012)[25]. This studio is related to Guerrilla Cambridge and you should look above for further details[26].


SCE Japan Studio

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Located: Tokyo, Japan
Founded: 1998
Purchased by Sony: Founded by Sony
What They've Done: Ape Escape Series (1999-2010), LocoRoco Series (2006-2008), Patapon Series (2007-2011), Team ICO Games (2001-2005), Gravity Rush (Vita, 2012)
What They're Doing: The Last Guardian [27]The Last Guardian is set to release December 6, 2016 in the USA and later internationally. The game started development in 2007 and was soon after cancelled , however, SCE Japan Studios has brought back the game and completed it[28].


SCE London Studio

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Located: London, UK
Founded: 1993
Purchased by Sony: Founded by Sony
What They've Done: The Getaway (2003), SingStar Series (2004-2010), PlayStation Home (2008)
What They're Doing: They have just finished development on PlayStation VR Worlds which is meant to be a showcase for PlayStation VR[29]. PlayStation VR Worlds is a collection of five experiences on PlayStation VR, London Heist, Danger Ball, VR Luge, Scavengers Odyssey and Ocean Descent[30].


SCE San Diego Studio

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Located: California, USA
Founded: 2001
Purchased by Sony: Founded by Sony
What They've Done: NBA Series (2005-2009), MLB: The Show Series (2006-2012), ModNation Racers: Road Trip (2012)
What They're Doing: Warrior's Lair (Vita, 2012), MLB 13: The Show 16[31]. As of late SCE San Diego Studio has experienced lay offs and the discontinuation of MLB The Show franchise. About 50-60 employees have been laid off from the studio[32].


BigBig Studios

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Located: Warwickshire, United Kingdom
Founded: 2001
Purchased by Sony: 2007
Closed by Sony: 2012
What They've Done: Pursuit Force Series (2006-2008), MotorStorm: Arctic Edge (2009), Little Deviants (2012)[33]


Incognito Entertainment

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Located: Utah, USA
Founded: 1999
Purchased by Sony: 2002
Closed by Sony: 2009
What They've Done: Twisted Metal: Black (2001), Calling All Cars! (2007), Warhawk (2007)[34]


Zipper Interactive

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Located: Washington, USA
Founded: 1995
Purchased by Sony: 2006
Closed by Sony: 2012
What They've Done: SOCOM Series (2002-2011), MAG (2010), Unit 13 (2012)[35]

Microsoft Studios

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Microsoft Studios is a branch of Microsoft[36] that is responsible for video game production. They are well known for producing games for the Xbox[37], Xbox 360[38], Xbox One[39], Steam[40], Games for Windows[41], Windows Store[42], and Windows Phone[43] platforms which range between home consoles, PC, and mobile devices. Microsoft Studios was founded in 2002 as Microsoft Game Studios, but was re-branded to its current name in 2011. Microsoft studio contains several studios for game devolopment. Some of those studios are:


Rare

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Located: Leicestershire, UK.
Founded: 1985, and acquired by Microsoft in 2002.
Franchises had included: Battletoads (1991), Donkey Kong Country (1994), Banjo-Kazooie (1998-2008), Conker (1999-2005), Golden Eye (1997), Perfect Dark (2000-2005), Viva Piñata (2007), Killer Instinct (2013) [44]



The Coalition

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Located: British Columbia, Canada.
Founded: in 2010, under the original names Zipline Studios (2010-2011), then Microsoft Games Studios Vancouver (2011-2012), then Black Tusk Studios (2012-2015) before finally reaching the final state of The Coalition Studios.
Franchises now include: Microsoft Flight (2012), and the Gears of War series(2008-2016), acquired by Epic Games in 2014.[45]


Lionhead Studios

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Located: London, England.
Founded: 1996, and acquired by Microsoft in 2006.
Franchises include: Black & White series (2001-2006), the Movies Series (2004-2006), the Fable series (2004-2014). Microsoft had cancelled their last Fable project in March of 2016, then ordered the closure of Lionhead Studios in April of 2016.[46]


Turn 10 Studios

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Located: Redmond, Washington.
Founded: 2001.
Franchises include: Forza Motorsport series (2005-2015), Forza Horizon series (2012-2016).[47]


Lift London

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Located: London, England.
Founded: 2012 as part of Microsoft Studios EMEA division.


Mojang

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Located: Stockholm, Sweden.
Founded: 2009 as an independent game studio, and was later acquired by Microsoft in 2009.
Franchises include: Minecraft (2011), Scrolls (2014), and Cobalt (2016). [48]


343 Industries

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Located: Washington, US.
Founded: 2007 as a separated studio of the originally Microsoft based studio Bungie.
Franchises include: Bungie had been well known for their creation and continuation of the Halo franchise, which was sold exclusively to Microsoft before separating the brand of the studio name, leading to the formation of 343 industries. Bungie had created Halo in 2001, and had ceased its ties with the introduction of 343 industries, which oversees all upcoming additions to the franchise as of 2007[49] for titles such as: Halo 4 (2012), Halo 5: Guardians (2015), and Halo Wars 2 (2017).

Future of Gaming

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Gaming has long been known as a PC and console field of focus. However, recent technological advancements have brought a new focus of virtual gaming. The most popular and heard of company that has been the front runner of this revolution is Oculus VR. This company has created a new device known as the Oculus Rift headset which is essentially a headset that is worn by the player, providing the player with a more realistic and immersed feeling into the gaming universe. The direction this company is trying to take the headset is attempting to provide gamers with an entirely new gaming experience that will provide a fresh and innovative way to game.

Playstation VR- It is designed to be fully functional with the PlayStation 4 home video game console. In certain games and demos for the VR, the player wearing the headset acts separately from other players without the headset. The video output projects differently for the headset and the console, and sometimes requires the PlayStation Move controllers. This will be the first ever counsel to include VR gaming to its platform. The games that are going to be compatible with Playstation VR are " Ace Combat 7", "Battle Zone" and more.

References

http://trendintech.com/2016/01/23/top-20-most-popular-upcoming-video-games-in-2016/ http://www.g4tv.com/games/publishers/microsoft-game-studios/3979/ http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/04/03/a-complete-list-of-sony-owned-playstation-devs?page=1