Streaming: A New Way to Identify Games

Today I wanted to introduce a new topic of discussion in the gaming world. There has quietly been a large movement in the video game industry which has not gotten the attention that I feel it deserves. One of the newest ways people have been branching out in the gaming community is streaming. Now to begin, streaming is a relatively new way for people to interact in the gaming world. The origin of streaming and broadcasting originated in the old speedrunning days. Think Quake and Half Life:

Yep,this was the type of game your parents were obsessed with (unless your in your 30's then probably not). But either way, these were the game being utilized by the speed running community. The idea behind speed-running is to post the fastest time possible completing a game. During the 90's this was considered difficult. Uploading these video online on forums were ways for people to see what to do and how to perfect their own run through the game. Now fast forward to the turn of the 21st century and the rise of Youtube. Gamers took the opportunity of the growth of Youtube and began to upload their videos showcasing play throughs of popular gaming titles. The video sharing site has been dominate in the online entertainment world. Here is a link to the top paid Youtube up-loader. In the link around 13 out of the 20 are video game uploaders. The number one spot also belongs to a video game up-loader. Youtube was also able to bring gaming to a mainstream audience with its ability to upload to gaming content to a central portal of information that people were able to access.

Evolution 2004

This video above features the one of the defining moments of competitive sports gaming history. The tournament Evolution featured two of the future's greatest fighting game players. On the left is Daigo who is playing the male character, while Justin is playing the female. The reason why this moment vaulted gaming history into a category previously only reserved for the likes of Superbowl or NBA Playoffs is the reaction from the crowd. In the past, during tournaments, when a "hyped" play was being executed, the audience would clap or maybe echo a few expletives, nothing that would be considered extraordinary. This reaction to the parry however rivals the euphoric reaction a sports fan would follow after a miraculous play, which the play above was. The parry, the block that is executed after the the woman character starts her kick motion, requires precise timing of a few frames (for reference each frame is 1/60 of a second, depending on whether the game is being played at 60 fps etc) so 3/60 of a second for each repeated block. Also the pressure to do this when your tournament life is on the line requires the ubiquitous calm nature that only a skilled individual like Daigo could possess.


Youtube and the video sharing juggernaut has dominated one sector of the online entertainment world. However another giant is slowing emerging from the shadows. Online streaming has been popular for some time, however it was relatively unknown. A new phenomenon has though has been created. Its name is Twitch. For those that do not know Twitch is an online broadcasting website that features exclusively video game content. The website features professional gaming and entertaining gaming. The beauty of online streaming and video games is that anyone can participate in this platform. Ordinary people are able to share their experiences with other people, sort of like Youtube, Now though, this experience is real time. People are able to ascend from ordinary people into a sort of entertainment personality within a community. While most people initially used this service to upload their breakthroughs people now are making serous money from it.

The Future of Gaming Looks Better Than Ever

Lately I have been focusing on the present situation regarding video games. However I feel as though focusing on the future is just as important as focusing on the present. The future of video games is optimistic to put it lightly. Video games have seen a substantial growth in the past 5 years. Before the year 2000, video games were seen more as a hobby rather than a job or anything serious. Now you can play video games and make a substantial amount of money doing so. I wish that gaming was this popular when I was a child. I would have had a lot more enjoyment during my youth, but then again too much video games can be a bad thing. Gaming has turned into a sport, where people can gather and share the same interest.

One aspect of gaming that has contributed to the growth of gaming and will continue to do so is streaming. Streaming is essentially where you set up your gaming console and showcase your gameplay to an audience online. This is usually done through a streaming website such as Twitch or Hitbox. Hitbox is relatively new compared to Twitch. Twitch is the main streaming website for video games across the world. The growth of Twitch has lead me to believe that the state of gaming in the future is positive. When I first heard of this website, there were maybe 100 streaming channels available. This was done in 2009 or 2010, I am not sure. Most of the streamers on the website were male and there was little diversity in the content provided on the website. Most of the people streamed their game, with no webcam or overlays. Donation buttons were rare because most people didn't know if they could actually get money for showcasing their game play to the world. Fast forward 5 years, and the landscape has completely changed. You can find thousands of streams available on a daily basis and most streams have an average of a few viewers. Before Twitch grew popularity, it was rare to see a stream with 100 viewers. Now you can find streams with 20 thousands viewers. The growth of streaming is contributing to the overall growth of video games.

Along with streaming, the rapid growth of technology has contributed to the overall growth and why the future is bright for gaming. Before 2000, there was Sony PlayStation and Nintendo 64 dominating the gaming sphere. Now there has been a shift in gaming towards more consoles that push the limits of gaming. We now have consoles such as Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, and Nintendo Wii. With more demand for games and companies using the technology to it's advantage, gaming has a bright future ahead of itself/ PC computers are also becoming powerful machinery, capable of replicating games that look more real than ever. Video cards now carry 3 or 4 GB of on board memory compared to old video cards of the early 2000's which maxed at 1GB. New ram (DDR4) has made it possible to stream, work on Photoshop, play games and download a movie all at the same time. The new processor s being created have made it possible for computers to run graphically demanding games that weren't as stable on older PCs.

A lot of things have changed since gaming first got big and some of them I agree with and some of them I disagree with. I never really got into the televised gaming shows or the gaming conventions that are thrown all across the world. such as Blizzcon or Pax Prime. I do though enjoy the coverage that gaming is getting from networks such as ESPN, even though the people watching the shows on those networks do not agree with games being televised. With time this may change ( Heroes of the Storm tournament was televised on ESPN 2). The networks enjoy having games being televised, because it brings in a new audience that ESPN may not have the capabilities of reaching beforehand.  Another new phenomenon in the gaming world that I haven't touched on is the gambling website such as CS:GO Bets, and Vulcan which has gained a massive amount of popularity in recent months. These two betting sites allow video game enthusiast to bet money or in game items, with the chance of receiving a profit.Whether this will become successful, and whether there are any sort of illegal activities remains to be seen. This aspect of the gaming community is contributing to the overall growth of gaming. The future looks bright for gaming.