Market Expansion

The video game market is doing a variety of things. It is shrinking, becoming more competitive and much more interactive. And this is how the economy works, when there is a market that has a high demand and profit can still be made more people will enter this market until it is saturated. It is becoming saturated as the market it losing people as they grow older and splitting the rest. The Wii is responding to this by offering a new way to play games. We're not just pressing buttons anymore but flicking our wrists and swinging our arms. But where will the systems go when this competitive advantage is used up. The answer could be education. The Wii also has began entering this field by putting a browser on the Wii that can link to educational games.
The concept of virtual learning is one that just makes sense in our society. Our educational system has become dry and strongly based in memorization and preparation for standardized tests. There is no creativity left in the system, a lack of problem solving and a general lack of spice in our learning. Students often wait in the classroom staring down the clock so that they can go home and play video games. Childhoods are spent trying to figure out how to solve a puzzle in a game that will allow them to get to the next boss. I'm a firm believer that this puzzle doesn't need to be violent or have super special effects it just has to present a challenge, it could even be educational. And this whole idea is being looked into. There are doubters that educational games can work because they have failed in the consumer market before. But that's not the market we should be shooting for. We need to go straight to the schools with games that can challenge our youth and mark their journey through education. The opportunity is already there, the demand for video games is certainly there and our education system needs some sort of reform. In my eyes it is really just a matter of time before someone connects the two, and makes a lot of money in the process. And as the article points out the government could soon be getting involved in doing research on what would work the best, what needs to be implemented in the games and how it would all actually work.
The video game market will continue to struggle with a lack of market expansion and continued market competition. They're simply aren't enough consumers buying systems and games for everyone to continue to make money. Something has to be done and the biggest possible market that hasn't been touched yet is the education industry.