History of video games/2000-2009

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  A typical game shop in 2005, showing a variety of games for sale.
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  A typical gaming scene in the December 2006. People hang out while two gamers play a Nintendo Wii with motion controls.
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  The living room of a gamer in 2007.
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  The line for GTAIV on launch in Las Vegas, 2008.

Trends

Internet Gaming matures

In late 1999 EverQuest was released, popularizing MMORPGs. The 2000's saw the release of popular MMORPG's such as World of Warcraft, and Runescape. These MMORPGs offered unique social experiences for their players and resulted in in game social institutions being formed.

New Economics of games

EVE Online in 2008.

The concept of free to play games primarily downloaded on the internet with small paid additions, microtransactions, is refined. This strategy begins to be seriously pursued by major game companies like EA by the end of the decade.

Companies begin seriously marketing small DLC, with incidents like Horse Armor DLC for Oblivion initially attracting an incredulous response for selling something that did not include story or other additional content, and becoming a common joke online by the end of the decade.

Virtual in-game currencies that can be officially exchanged for real currencies or to replace membership costs emerge in games like Second Life and EVE Online. In part due to concerns of inflation, EVE Online developer CCP Games hires an economist to manage the in-game economy. In games that prohibit trading in game currency for real currency like World of Warcraft, and to a lesser extent games that allow it like EVE Online, under the table deals and grey markets for in game currency obtained by techniques like gold farming arise. In game thefts for real world gain begin catching the public eye.

Games as Apps, Mobile gaming in the 2000's

Tetris running on an iPod music player in 2006.

Games for non-gaming mobile computer devices gained popularity, often running on mobile media players like iPods, or on basic feature phones.

Later the introduction of smartphones and application stores on them made mobile gaming more accessible.

Popular Genres

• Rhythm and Music games

Role Playing Games

Role Playing Games continued to evolve during this decade, and would incorporate technological features to enhance storytelling, such as increased use of voice acting, better CGI, and larger maps. 3D RPGs became quite common on PC and home console, while 2D RPGs remained common on handheld devices, typically reaching graphical parity with home RPGs of the 1990's while incorporating improved understanding of game design.

First Person Shooters

While First Person Shooters continued to be popular on PC, innovations in controllers and console capabilities lead to a boom in console first person shooters. These console shooters were typically slower paced then their PC counterparts, but found massive popularity and adoption among gamers.

Massively multiplayer online role-playing games

While Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG) emerged before the 2000's, this decade was when they achieved mass popularity. Most notably World of Warcraft was released this decade.

Open World

As hardware increasingly became more powerful, game developers soon were able to craft comprehensive, vast 3D environments much more easily than before. Open World games blur the line between a subgenre, a design choice, and a game mechanic. Open world mechanics often were mixed with other genres for interesting results.

Constructive

One of the most notable video games to be released in the 2000s, despite the fact that it was only a paid public alpha, is Markus "Notch" Persson's 2009 masterpiece Minecraft, which was an instant success since the time of its release and has since become an ever-evolving video game running on various different platforms - eventually becoming one of the most popular games of all time. The 2009 version evolved in what was later known as the "Java Edition", due to the fact that it was completely written in Java, although this will be explored in later chapters. Earlier in the decade, similar games attempted to capture this idea of an open world where the player could do anything, though far less popularity. Minecraft was influenced by the earlier 2009 voxel building game Infiniminer. 2002 saw the beginnings of the game Dwarf Fortress.

GTA and clones

Other, earlier, games that had enormous success in the 2000s were Rockstar Games's Grand Theft Auto III (2001), IV (2008) and the intermediate chapters Vice City (2002) and San Andreas (2004). They have spawned the GTA clone video game genre, which also encompasses many other video games, all characterized by being a hybrid of third-person shooters and driving simulators and often focusing on organized crime and mafia storylines.

There was a large demand for GTA-style games on the go, which included the well-received, but controversial, 2006 video game adaptation of The Godfather and its 2009 sequel, leading to innovative attempts to replicate the gameplay on very underpowered handheld hardware. This resulted in the release of acclaimed titles such as Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars in 2009 or the Payback clone duology (2001-2012).

2000

Handheld Era

Samples of Tantalum, a key element in handheld electronics of the early 2000s.

High demand for handheld electronics of all kinds causes a severe shortage of the chemical element Tantalum.

The People's Republic of China bans video game consoles

As a measure intended to protect the mental health of youth in China, game consoles are banned in the People's Republic of China. This ban did not apply in Hong Kong or Macau, and consoles were often openly sold to wealthy gamers in grey market storefronts despite the ban during its later years. There were also a few exceptions made, allowing Sony and Nintendo to make limited sanctioned attempts to enter the Chinese market. Still, this restriction lead to computer and mobile games becoming the dominant mode of play in the country.

2001

War on Terror

The horrific attacks on September 11th, 2001 had huge repercussions on both culture and the global economy. In response to the attacks, many games are delayed and edited out of respect to the victims of the tragedy.

2002

In the 2000's, gaming web comics became an important part of gamer culture. Pictured is a panel from the webcomic Ctrl+Alt+Del.

Game Jams

In early 2002 Game Jams begin taking off with developers. In Oakland, California the 0th Indie Game Jam is held from March 15th, to March 18th. The first Ludum Dare follows shortly in April.

2003

Graham a 2003 oil painting by artist Kristoffer Zetterstrand inspired by Pixel Art in games.

Strategy Guides Peak

By 2003 the rush to write official strategy guides that release either on or before the launch of a game lead to poor quality writing in such guides. Furthermore some strategy guides for Square Enix games required use of a non-free website in conjunction with the guide, which was problematic in an era before laptops and mobile devices were common, and when desktop computers were often kept in separate rooms from a television and console. Meanwhile a popular unofficial strategy guide website GameFAQs is acquired by CNET.

2005

World of Warcraft goes Viral

2005 was a landmark year for World of Warcraft, including a number of events which would have broader influence outside the game.

In 2005 a bug in the popular MMORPG World of Warcraft leads to the player transmissible status effect Corrupted Blood not always disappearing after a specific encounter, thus spreading across the game world and infecting over a million player characters in a virtual epidemic.

The event became a subject of academic research by medical professionals, as the event was essentially a model of a real life epidemic. In particular observations from the Corrupted Blood incident would later be used in 2020 by researchers looking to understand decision making during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A video of the infamous total party wipe in the Leeroy Jenkins World of Warcraft raid gained enormous online popularity following its posting on the 10th of May 2005, though in 2017 the video was confirmed to have been staged. The name Leeroy Jenkins became somewhat of an icon, and was used to refer to players who charged into dangerous situations with blind enthusiasm.

2005 Gallery

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  Japanese arcade in 2005, featuring Purikura booths.
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  PSP Demo Bubbles at E3 2005.

2007

Great Recession

The Great Recession hits the economy in 2007, wiping out savings and deeply hurting the stock market. Sales of video games and gaming hardware subsequently drop. Compared to other industries, the gaming industry was relatively resilient.

2008

Tabula Rasa in Space

The creator of Ultima, Richard Garriott, flies to the International Space Station as a tourist. He attempts to play the game Tabula Rasa into space, but this is denied for security reasons, bringing the code of Tabula Rasa with him and broadcasting a message to players instead.

2008 Gallery

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  S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky, a game released in 2008.
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  Richard Garriot (Right) on the International Space Station with Greg Chamitoff, Michael Fincke, and experimental satellites free floating.
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  Fallout 3 at PAX 2008
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  Simple games gained popularity on mobile phones such as this Sony Ericsson running Edge in 2008.
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  The original iPhone, next to an iPhone 3G compared in 2008, both popular smartphones of the late 2000's.

2000's Gallery

Screenshots

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  PeaceMaker, a strategy game from 2007.
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  Symphony featuring music from Oblivion in 2007.
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  S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, a game from 2007.
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  Combat in EVE Online in 2007.
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  Trine, a game released in 2009.
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  Zeno Clash in 2009.
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  King Arthur: The Role-playing Wargame, a game released in 2009.
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  And Yet It Moves, a game released in 2009.
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  The 2009 release of Killing Floor.
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  Crusaders, a 2009 video game.
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  S.T.A.L.K.E.R.- Call of Pripyat in 2009.
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  The Whispered World in 2009.
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  Menu from the game Cricket Revolution, a fairly typical interface from 2009.

Events

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  Ion Storm employees at E3 2000.
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  Ralph Baer of Magnavox Odyssey fame receives the National Medal of Technology from President George W Bush in 2006.
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  Allan "Al" Alcorn (of Pong fame) and Ralph Baer with a Brown Box prototype at GDC 2008.
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  Bayonetta promotion at E3 2009
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  Promotion of Metal Gear Solid Touch for iOS at E3 2009.