Proposal

The main reason I would like to research the active motion video gaming industry is because I am a gamer myself. I usually stick to the more controller pad consoles but with the recent rise in availability of the new active motion games I have found myself starting to play more games that forces gamers, like myself, to get off the couch and into the game. I have been playing video games since I was really young around the age of 2. I started with the gaming systems of the 80s dating back to the Atari Video System Console and the 8 inch floppy drives which would be played on the computers of that time period. I now have a XBOX 360 gaming console and a gaming computer I built myself the graphics are a huge step up from what I grew up on and the controls are immensely more complex. I also currently work at GameStop which is the world’s largest video game retailer. The company’s slogan is “power to the players” which is my view on gaming as well because I have been part of the Major League Gaming association since 2004. I have been a part of the association since they started a team based solely around the game “Need for Speed Underground 2” since I was ranked 8th in the nation on “Need for Speed Underground”. I am now part of beta testing team for the new generation racing games that hit market at a later date. I will learn a great deal about the up and coming new technology that is estimated to revolution the gaming industry. I don’t expect my instructor or classmates to know anything about gaming and video games systems which means I will have to do a lot explanation and description so they can better understand or get a general idea of what I am talking about.

I do not plan to go over all the new technologies in the gaming industry instead I plan to limit how much I am actually able to talk about by sticking with only a small section of the gaming world. I also plan to focus my paper around only one video game system and the items that compliment and combined with the gaming system which will limit my discussion even more and narrows down exactly what video game technology I describe. I plan to discuss only a company that is established in the U.S. or plans to release exclusively to the U.S. even though technology is so globalized today it will limit the amount of content that I can discuss. The main limitation is that some of the future products have not reached the mass production level of productivity making information scarce and usually based upon a prototype or earlier version of the new product meaning the final production could change some in information or characteristics of the product. The main importance to this new technology is the entertainment benefit that it will proved to young people as well as the health benefits it could provide for the elderly and the rehabilitation centers. I hope to answer the questions of what’s to come in the gaming world and how is it going to affect the rest of society. I also hope to answer the questions of what the same new technology that we find in video games can also help the rest of the modern world through safety and other aspects of human concerns dealing with weight issues and staying in shape.

Most of my sources come from technology magazine articles because they are the only ones that currently have an interest in the new developments. Most gaming publications will not take a concern with the future technology till it becomes available to the public but are currently involved with the one system that is out. I have found that some investment and money publications such as The Wall Street Journal have started to take an interest mainly due to the fact that the gaming industry is one of the only industries to produce a profit and growing during this time of national economic recession. Some of my other sources come from Game Informer magazine that talks more about the gaming system that is currently out as well as the games and accessories that are available for it. It also comes some of the new technology that is planned to be released in the near future as well as the goals of the company for future plans in gaming.