I try to follow the developments in the videogame industry since my son is finishing up his course work to become a video game developer and designer. Much of the talk of the past week (aside from hurricanes) was about Steve Jobs and his monumental contribution to the way people live their lives. A small article over the weekend did a nice job of summarizing the impact – http://nyti.ms/qM62BEOne could argue that traditional video gaming systems are becoming obsolete – at least in terms of mass appeal. Mobile gaming platforms are improving and while I initially had doubts about people’s willingness to play games on a small screen I have concluded that I greatly underestimated the power of mobile gaming. Inexpensive iPhone apps have inexorably altered the course of the gaming market.

It also has me wondering about overall the impact that the new mobile life will have on behavior and commerce. Movie attendance continues to slide even if the overall dollar take is slightly higher (due to higher ticket prices). Will enough people still be interested in sitting at home and playing Xbox, Playstation and other console games to have those companies continue working on the platform?

From the L2 blog over the weekend it appears gaming in China is changing rapidly as well and yes attributing this to Mr. Jobs is not far-fetched. http://bit.ly/nMx65e

‘China is fast-becoming the second-largest market in terms of downloads for many developers including companies like Rovio, but it lags behind in terms of monetization. The country came in just behind the U.S. in page views on Google’s AdMob advertising network in July, according to statistics the network shared at an iOS developer conference in China this past weekend.

The promise is there, but how do mobile developers take advantage of it?
Over the past two weeks in Beijing and Shanghai, I’ve had the chance to talk with several mobile developers like High Noon-maker Happylatte, PapayaMobile, PopCap Games and other companies being incubated in former Google China head Kai-Fu Lee’s incubator Innovation Works.

It’s an incredibly complex and different market from the U.S., but here are a few insights into developing and marketing iOS and Android apps there. (Inside Mobile Apps)’

Many videogames are based on the effort to hit a constantly moving target. My son has learned a great deal about computer programming and coding. But what may be the most important lesson is learning how to hit that moving target when it comes what to develop next. At least that’s what I am hoping.
So who out there plays console video games? And if you do, are you playing more or less? How about mobile video games?