How video games have grown up over the past 20 years

If he could describe today's video game industry in one word, Laurentian University professor Aaron Langille says that word would be "maturity."

Langille, CBC Morning North's video game columnist, said the industry has come a long way since its humble beginnings in the mid-twentieth century.

After an industry crash in 1983 was followed by the rise of Nintendo and its Mario franchise, Langille said retailers began to realize there was money to be made in video games.

The games themselves also started to get better.

"There was a lot more thought, a lot more effort," Langille explained. "Hardware manufacturers started making consoles and computers that could push games further than they had ever gone before."

"And then you had commercial and retail distribution wake up and say this was something they wanted to get involved in."

New graphics and new games

Langille said although Nintendo continued to remain on top of the market through the 1990s, a new challenger rose up: Playstation.

"They were very different. They had a CD drive, so all of a sudden things you couldn't do on a small limited cartridge, you had a lot more space on a CD drive."

The new technology led to an explosion of 3D games, with more advanced graphics. And PC games weren't far behind with titles like Doom, Unreal Tournament and Myst.

"I think what you're starting to see in the 90s is that game developers are breaking out of the mold of this 2D platformer, and they're starting to say, 'What can we really do? How can we push gaming to make people think and how can we start reflecting what's happening in the world in our games?'"

Gaming in a new century

That trend only continued into the new millennium, where Langille said gaming truly hit its stride.

Now a mature industry, there are consistent development cycles of four to six years, while the console have mostly settled down.

Developers are also started to do more with games.

"We're starting to see a lot more emphasis on story and character development," Langille said. "I would say that the 2000s are really the age of games as art."

Langille added that video games are now engaging with big issues and social commentary. There are also new genres, like therapeutic and educational games.

What's next?

But Langille said that doesn't mean the industry is running out of fresh new ideas just yet.

He predicts the future will see a growth in offshoot industries, like eSports, and continuing technological leaps with virtual reality and holographic images.

"Sometimes it feels like everything's been done before and yet, every year my students are coming up with new twists on the classics," he said.

"It's the little twists. It's a change in setting, it's a change in narrative, it's a change in mechanics and that can be enough to bring us back in for another round.