Technical Trends and Social Movements in gaming history

Indie Game Development (Social movement) :

In the present day, Indie games are more popular than ever before, with thousands of titles available from different developers.

An Indie game refers to a game developed without the aid of a publisher and generally of developers.
What sets apart Indie games from AAA games is the freedom to pursue an idea which might not be deemed to be successful by AAA publishers. This uniqueness and difference in game price is very attractive to consumers. Below we can see an example of an indie game called "Hotline Miami" by "Devolver Entertainment" released in 2012. This game had a very good reception by the gaming community. It was a short game, but was very fun and unique. It went so well that the developers release a sequel "Hotline Miami 2: Wrong number"  in 2014 which features a more in depth story and is much longer than the first.

Reference:
The Rise Of Indie Games - A Quick Look Into The Genre And History | Technology X. 2015. The Rise Of Indie Games - A Quick Look Into The Genre And History | Technology X. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.technologyx.com/featured/rise-indie-games-quick-look-genre-history/. [Accessed 01 April 2015].



True 3D Graphics (technical trend):

In the 1990's 3D graphics started being used in consoles due to the face that by that time, consoles became more powerful and were able to handle 3D objects well. As time went by, new and more powerful consoles were released, like the Sony PlayStation 2 which featured the "Emotion Engine" which enabled the 3D characters to express better emotions. At that time it was clear that 3D games were the way to go for most developers. At this time we are able to see how most AAA developers opt for true 3D graphics in their games. Even the popular "Street Fighter" franchise switched from 2D to 3D as seen below.



Reference:

2D vs 3D --- Which is Better? | ScrewAttack.com. 2015. 2D vs 3D --- Which is Better? | ScrewAttack.com. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.screwattack.com/news/2d-vs-3d-which-better. [Accessed 23 May 2015].