====== Gaming of Today ======

Today, the video game industry is a juggernaut of development and profit drives technological advancement. Video games now touch all corners of the earth and is one of the largest entertainment businesses of this generation. With such a large audience and large profits, the gaming industry has created a very competitive market for itself. With any competitive market, rivals will strive to advance quicker than each other; this makes a very favorable market for consumers. Video games of today are available on numerous different platforms

^   Computers ^   Consoles    ^   Handheld  ^
| PC        | Microsoft XBox 360| Nintendo DS | 
| Macintosh | Nintendo Wii        | Sony PSP    |
| Unix      | Sony PlayStation 3    | IPod Touch  | 

Of course these are only a few platform which video games are made for today. 

===== Cross-platform Development ===== 
{{ :ci2010:team5:gamesforwindows.jpg?100|Games for Windows}}
In computing, **cross-platform**, or **multi-platform**, is an attribute conferred to computer software or computing methods and concepts that are implemented and inter-operate on multiple computer platforms.

Video game manufacturers today have developed game engines which can be run on which ever platform they please, allowing the manufacturers to focus more on game content than on coding to play the game on a specific platform. This also gives the manufacturers the chance to market their games to a much greater audience, resulting in greater profit.

===== Game Communities =====
**Game communities** are groups of people all over the world that share same interests in games. A game community can include just players of one certain game or a community can contain people with interests in a specific genre. Here's a list of the top five most popular gaming communities as of March, 2010.

|              ^   Gaming Communties ^
^ 1st|Counter-Strike | 
^ 2nd| RuneScape | 
^ 3rd| World of Warcraft |
^ 4th| The Sims |
^ 5th| Halo |

===== Game Tournaments =====
Gaming is taken so seriously today it has essentially reserved itself as a sport. Everyday there are different 
{{ http://www.pcgameshardware.com/screenshots/250x375/2008/05/Johnathan_Wendel.png?100|Johnathan Wendel}}competitions and tournaments held around the world. Prizes for winning these tournaments can include money, trophies, and prize items. Some professional gamers can make a living off of gaming. **Johnathan Wendel** aka [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal1ty|Fatal1ty]] has become a multimillionaire from simply being good at video games. He has won approximately $500,000 from competitions and millions from promotions and as a partner in his brand name products.

Korea is currently the world leader in hosting game competitions and gives away millions of dollars at these competitions each year.

===== See Also =====
  *[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game|Video Game Wiki]]
  *[[http://www.actiontrip.com/features/fivemostpopulargamecommunities.phtml|Five Most Popular Game Communities]]
  *[[http://www.ign.com/|IGN]]

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