23 May 2002
Console games in the age of convergence
The history of the games console, its rise from the Commodore 64 in the 1980s to the Xbox and Playstation of today, is not an obvious subject for academic research.
However Dr Mark Finn, from Swinburne Univesity of Technology, believes that the history of the games console and particularly how key players such as Sega, Ninetendo, Sony and Microsoft have handled the issue of technology convergence are important areas to research.
Dr Finn said, "technology is fundamentally changing the way people entertain and inform themselves in the home. Previously disparate technologies such as computers, VCRs and games consoles are converging and it is important to understand how we arrived at this stage and to learn from the past."
Dr Finn will be delivering a seminar titled 'Console games in the age of convergence' on Friday 24 May. His paper will discuss the development of the games console and how converging and diverging technology has influenced the gaming market.
"Other media industries such as film and television have been studied and written about in depth but there has been comparatively little work done on the games industry, despite its increasing prominence and often staggering revenues," Dr Finn said.
Convergence of technology is not a new phenomenon says Dr Finn, "it is clear that the relationship between game consoles and convergence has undergone several transitions over the past 15 years. The technology seems to have come full circle, with the ability of games consoles to perform multiple functions again serving as a key selling point. This leads to the question - what does this mean for the console games market of the future?"
_______________________________________________________________________________________Contact: Heather Crosling, Media Liaison (03) 9214 5968 email: hcrosling@swin.edu.au
Dr Mark Finn 03 9214 5254 mfinn@swin.edu.au 23 May 2002Background
Console games in the age of convergence · Dr Mark Finn specialises in Internet and games culture, mobile technologies and public communications policy. His research into mobile technologies has been presented at conferences such as the prestigious Communications Research Forum in Canberra, and he will be presenting a paper on the use of convergent technologies in computer games at the Computer Games and Digital Cultures conference in Finland in June 2002. · Dr Finn is a Lecturer in Media in the School of Social and Behavioural Sciences at Swinburne and the Director of the Digital Culture Program in the newly-formed Centre for New Technologies and Society.
