ONLINE GAMING
Welcome back!
Today, we'll be talking about Online Gaming.
In the modern world, there are new ways to enjoy and optimise your gaming experience. For instance, there's subscription gaming. This is when you pay a monthly fee to receive exclusive content from the gaming network. At times, you'll receive discount on monthly fees, free content and even free games. The modern networks are mainly coming from the biggest names today: PlayStation, Xbox & Nintendo.
In this level, we will try and understand what online subscription gaming has become today, and why it has led to a kind of lifestyle. I will also explain why online gaming became a source for a cohesive gathering between players, and how this developed into something bigger than just playing against others online.
Let's go through the big ones today:
PlayStation Plus
Monthly fee: £6.99
This gaming network allow gamers to play multiplayer games online, while receiving discounted and free content such as monthly released games; some you can even play offline; exclusive to PS Plus members (See video below). With PlayStation Plus, you can save your game using their online data space, so you can access the saved data from other consoles you log on to with your PS account.
Better be safe than sorry! (Trust me on that one).
This used to be free for their other consoles like the PS Vita and PS3, though it was recently discontinued (8th March 2019 to be exact!) to concentrate more towards PS4 exclusivity.
If you fancy a subscription network that goes a little higher in price: I'd recommend having PlayStation Now (£12.99 per month) as they offer hundreds of blockbusters, big game titles and you can even play hidden gems from older consoles such as PS2 & PS3 titles. It also targets other audiences because they enabled games to be played on PC!
Even though you pay a monthly fee for the deals and games, you pretty much (or just about) get your money's worth because of the big game titles they include within the year; such as For Honor & HITMAN: The Complete First Season.
XBOX LIVE GOLD
Monthly fee: £5.99
This is a cheaper offer compared to PlayStation, although I would say that this is because PlayStation has a bigger collection of games, in general, such as their games and watchable content. Like PlayStation, Xbox Live Gold members receive free games every month and gets access to members-only digital games e.g. Games with Gold service offers these exclusive games; some are even games that come from older consoles like the Xbox 360, and they also have a saving data could storage to save them.
In addition, they have offered the Xbox Game Pass which is an even more exclusive deal (for a great monthly fee of £7.99- that's much cheaper than PlayStation Now!): you get a whole library of both Xbox 360 & Xbox One games to play in your console, and of course- you can also keep them forever, as long as you're subscribed with them.
It's definitely not a bad deal because even some games they release are extremely popular and usually quite expensive, going from as high as £30.00 to £40.00! See the video for examples:
Nintendo Switch Online
Monthly fee: £3.49
Being the cheapest out of all the consoles we've talked about- Nintendo Switch online is definitely worth a try, as they offer classic NES games at your fingertips. Like PlayStation and Xbox, you also receive free saving data cloud for saving your games online. You can also enable online features within the NES games you receive, so that you can play with others either as two players using the Joy-Cons, or play globally! They do exclusive offers as well, but they differ because it's not usually just games. For example, one of their exclusive offers includes getting a classic pair of NES controllers you can use for playing the NES games!
The only disadvantage with Nintendo's online gaming is that you'd have to connect to a separate smartphone app to communicate with other players online. Unlike with Xbox or PlayStation, you can do so, directly from the console. Although, I'd still credit Nintendo merely because they've only just started using online features on their latest console!
We've talked about the consoles, now let's talk more about games...
One of the most popular online games today is:
FORTNITE (2017)
Fortnite is where players team up in an open-world environment, battling with other teams in order to survive. You can play single-player or co-operative mode, where you can also fight off zombie-like creatures!
Their most popular mode: Fortnite Battlefront Royale, is an online, free-to-play multiplayer platform: where 100 players battle each other (or in teams of four) to be the last player standing, staying within the battle zone, known as the Blue Circle.
Online gaming became more than what it originally stood for. It received a lot of admiration, up to the point where gamers would compete against each other while live-streaming online.
One example includes Twitch. This is an online platform where gamers could communicate, face-to-face, while gaming with each other. There are millions and millions of watchers that participate in live-stream gaming. One of the most popular live-stream gamers is Ninja: Watch him play Fortnite and other games!
Click here to watch Ninja play:
From Live-streaming to a Live competition.
Today, online gaming isn't just online anymore: it's become what's known as E-Sports (Electronic Sports). This is a live tournament based on video games, usually played by professional gamers or individually while representing a team. The earliest big tournament that occurred was when Atari hosted a Space Invaders competition in 1980: 10,000 people came to the event to see who could save our planet from aliens!
Now, there are professional players and/or teams that train to compete against each other in the same games for millions of fans to see.
This has become such a huge event because the gamers build their fandoms, getting people from all over the world to come together to watch their favourite gamers. There's a special feeling about having different teams that represent different countries, and how fans become so passionate about supporting their own flags, regardless of winning or losing.
Online gaming does not only bring friends closer to each other, but it also brought the world cohesively closer together. One way this clearly shows is through E-Sports.
Want to find out more? This video shows the tournament for the Overwatch League, interviewing people about the event and their views on it. I highly suggest watching the video to understand why people love it so much!
You just cleared Level 4. Time to celebrate!
(*Fortnite dance coming your way*)
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I'll see you in the final round tomorrow:
VR GAMING & BEYOND.
