The decade when playtime took over
Seasoned gamers would say that every decade feels like a tumultuous one. This is, after all, the entertainment medium in which the major content delivery platforms – ie, the home consoles – are reinvented every five years. And if you’re a PC owner trying to stay at the cutting edge – well, that’ll be a graphics card and processor update at least every 18 months, thank you. Moore’s law can be a bitch like that.
But the Noughties has been a standout period – mostly for the acceptance of video gaming as a mainstream activity. Sure, it bloomed during the 90s as the well-marketed PlayStation console courted a generation of cash-rich twentysomethings with no family commitments and bags of free time. But this was still boys playing games together. It wasn’t until the 2000s that the industry really started to hit the family living room, rather than the teenage bedroom or shared bachelor pad.
