The advergaming industry in India

Abstract

New media can best be described as the intersection of traditional media with computer and communication technology. However, the point of intersection is not the power of digitization but the ability to interact with the consumer, brought about by technology. The field of new media runs across various industries: software, video games, TV/Radio, movies, advertizing, public relations etc. Advergaming is a special form of new media, and as the name suggests, is a combination of video games and advertizing. To understand the history of advergaming in the broad context of new media, we need to look at the evolution of both over the years. A detailed chronology is provided in Appendix “Chronology: New Media Evolution”. The second half of the last century has seen an unprecedented rise of New Media. Development in the computing technology, both hardware and software, has resulted in faster data processing, bigger data storage, and secure and free flowing data transmission. The advent of Internet has been the single most significant impetus to New Media. From text only media to rich multimedia, the technology has come a long way in improving interaction capabilities. The news industry has benefitted immensely from the digitization wave and today’s situation is such that traditional media is looking keenly at new media like social networks and blogs to keep abreast with the latest happenings. The world of entertainment has also been touched by this phenomenon. From the basic versions of Atari games to the most advanced and sophisticated Nintendo’s Wii systems, the simultaneous improvements in electronics and software has changes the entire gaming experience. Another example is the music industry which has changed forever with the advent of MP3 and Ipods. In the new world of publishing, we have online news feeds, blogs, and ebooks. In the world of communication and networking we have email, chatting tools, social networking websites, and professional networking websites. As we have moved from dial up connections to high speed broadband connections, the richness of communication has improved from text only messages to video conferences. E-Commerce has become the buzzword with secure and convenience rendered by the New Media in the financial industry. Last but not the least, information search and availability is at one’s finger tips, irrespective of whether one is using cell phones, PDA’s or full-fledged computers.