Video Data

The video industry is a complicated one. Almost more complicated than processors. But one thing is sure : before the Voodoo 1, there was no 3D in gaming, there was only 2D visuals of simulated 3D environments.

Once specialized 3D graphic chips started to make their way into games, everything changed. Games were no longer developed from a game engine point of view only. The graphics engine - more importantly its limitations - became the yardstick from which games were made and judged.

This tendancy has obviously been pushed to the point of emptying all value from the game. As long as it looks nice, it's a good game. Innovation and originality have all but disappeared from the game industry. Any new element that makes its way to public recognition is immediately copied and transformed ad nauseam. Of course, the gaming industry is a harsh one, where reputation and hard work do not always add up to success (Daikatana, anyone ?).

Hopefully, although 3D brought innovation in gaming to its knees, 3D might also be the medium from which new innovation will spark. Indeed, with the constant progress being made in this area, soon game programmers will not be able to market a game on its looks. More and more people come to expect good looks in a game, meaning that looking good is becoming a given, not a reward. That, in turn, means that players are becoming more demanding on quality, duration and reusability of a game. Future games will have to cater to players who wish to tweak the visuals, invent new scenarios, include their own characters and have fun differently. The most successful games will undoubtably be those that have satisfied both the player wanting an interesting/exciting experience and the player wanting to explore the possibilities of what the game can technically do.

But I am wandering. Although 3D has brought a new way to look at games - in every sense of the word - my goal is to simply lay down the path that brought us to the present. And that path starts with this company.

But, before clicking, it might be good to have a clear idea of the actual market shares :

This chart taken from Tom's Hardware for reference. Data based on 4th quarter 2003 sales.