subject: How The Internet Changed The Way Gaming Was Conducted [print this page] With the increase in terms of what technology can do has inevitably come an increase in the amount of options available to gamers, whether they're playing on an internet website or on a console it's a far cry from the early days of the arcade games like Space Invaders which dominated the 1970s.
One of the innovations that has made gaming almost an obsession among some people is the addition of online services to consoles. Whereas previous consoles such as the Super Nintendo and Playstation 2 could only allow people to play against others in the same room who were connected to the same console via another controller, newer consoles such as the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 enable them to play against people they've never met who live in other countries.
As well as this, there is now a large amount of downloadable content that can be used to enhance the gaming experience this downloadable content can range from new weapons sets for a shoot-'em-up to short demos that whet your appetite for upcoming releases. While much of this content is free, a lot of it does cost varying amounts of money, and the method of payment varies from console to console.
While Sony's Playstation Network requires users to register a credit or debit card onto their account when they first try to buy something so that it can be automatically charged in the case of any future purchases, the Xbox 360, which is produced and operated by Microsoft, works slightly differently. It requires points to be purchased which can then in turn be used to buy things in the Xbox Live Marketplace. Although they can be bought from certain shops on the high street, websites such as GamesBite also sell these points to customers the more points you want, the more money you need to be prepared to spend.
Since starting, this young company has served 150,000 happy customers each year, and prides itself on delivering instant Xbox Live points as soon as your payment has been received, the codes needed to access the points will be sent to you via email. This is what it believes has made the difference to customers, who don't necessarily want to wait to get the latest TV shows and films from the service's Video Store. Although instant Microsoft points have proven to be a valuable addition to the company's business as a whole, there is no indication that Sony will follow suit with its Playstation Network although there are prepaid cards available that deal in points, credit and debit cards can still be used if the user wishes to do so.
The fact that the internet has been able to transform gaming to this extent makes you wonder if it can do any more within that medium. Only time will tell, but the innovations it has been the catalyst for have changed so much within the gaming world that it wouldn't make any difference if this was as far as it went.
