It is hard to believe, but among the most fantastic inventions attempted in the twentieth century, there was not the one we use the most: the Internet. Nevertheless, making predictions is a thankless task, especially where cold calculation and economic logic clash with creative energy. It is especially true in the field of culture and entertainment.
New technologies are changing the industry at an incredible speed so that the tastes and habits of one generation become irrelevant to the next. But, just as in Rome 2,000 years ago, the formula “bread and circuses” does not lose its magical power. So no matter how transformed the sphere of culture and entertainment may be over the next few decades, it will always need its poets and gladiators.
As for entertainment, such as the best online casino in India, they are also the result of progress. Now people do not have to go to specialized institutions, and you can play from home.
Cinema
The twentieth century is rightly considered the century of cinema. The invention of the Lumière brothers in just a few decades out of nothing has created a global industry of art and entertainment. Cinema not only supplanted theater and literature but also touched deep mythological structures. Within the cinema came idols, legends, and icons – the dream factory worked uninterruptedly, providing the accelerated pace of life with appropriate culture and recreation.
Today, cinema has lost its novelty and level of influence. The 21st has already been called the century of video games, although the first was not even born yesterday.
Chronologically, one of the first video games saw the light of day in 1958. Tennis for Two was created at Brookhaven National Laboratory using an oscilloscope to amuse the public during an open house. Video games have evolved from an engineering joke to a $100 billion industry within half a century.
And while movies have opened the way to culture for many technical professions, games have only multiplied them. Today the industry absorbs specialists of different profiles, from programmers and managers to artists and scriptwriters, and more of them are needed every year.
Video games
Over the last 30 years, the video game production process has grown bigger and bigger, but the process itself has not changed much. We still use consoles and computers, albeit with a noticeable increase in power. In recent years, mobile platforms on phones and tablets and new controller systems like the Nintendo Wii or Kinect have joined them, but they are essentially the same consoles.
Shortly, though, things could change drastically. A qualitative leap forward in the industry today promises to revolutionize gaming. We are talking about virtual and augmented reality technologies, the potential of which, even in our innovation-driven age, is like magic.
Virtual Reality
Virtual reality is an invention of the 20th century. Game helmets, immersing the user into the real world of dreams, first appeared on the pages of fantasy books, then it was picked up by movies and even put on the market as actual device. Nintendo’s Virtual Boy game console went on sale in 1995.
It could display authentic 3D graphics, but it had a few significant drawbacks-the pictures were monochrome, and many players got nauseous while isolated in artificial space.
After the failure of Virtual Boy in the market, virtual reality systems were in the rearguard of the industry and only managed to get out of it 20 years later, thanks to the 18-year-old genius Palmer Lackey. In his parents’ garage, he created the Oculus Rift gaming helmet, overcoming previous systems’ shortcomings. Lucky’s company raised $2.5 million on Kickstarter to upgrade and mass-produce the helmet.
The developers loved it so much that it was purchased by Facebook for $2.4 billion two years later.
After the success of Oculus Rift, many large companies began to produce virtual reality helmets. Sony, Samsung, Valve, and HTC made their version. Today the market has two types of helmets: more affordable – cell phones, where the device screen is used as a display, and autonomous systems such as the Oculus Rift. What are they for? So far, mainly for games.
There are already more than 100 titles that support a fully immersive experience. You can have an experience for all tastes: fear, competition, fishing, spaceflight, romance. The fullness of the experience redeems imperfect graphics.
What will happen to VR technology in 20 years? They will finally become ubiquitous. Their development will require broad professionals, which is impossible to list in one article. Engineering applications will require peripherals, from joysticks to moving platforms, that make the virtual experience more realistic.
The number of visual special effects and motion design specialists needed will increase manifold – that’s what architects and builders of this parallel world will be called. Moreover, in reality, almost any service occupation that exists today is likely to be transferable into virtual space, either to create it or to keep it running: from a security guard to a psychological helpline operator.
Conclusion
The culture formula of the future is made up of three adjectives – digital, immersive, and interactive. The entertainment formula sounds a little different: It includes intense experiences, hyperstimulation, and instant access. An ideal example of future entertainment today is a five-star cruise ship Quantum of the Seas, where you can drink a cocktail prepared by a robot bartender.
Also, you can fly over the ocean in a transparent capsule, ride waves on the deck, float freely in a giant aero tube, walk through transformer spaces, play squash, and watch theatrical performances—everything and at once, faster and here.
At any given time, working in the cultural sector is a lottery game. Van Gogh and Mozart died in poverty, even though their works are part of the world’s heritage. No one is immune to injustice, but the Internet and new information technology make entertainment producers less dependent on the money of big institutions and their tastes. In the coming decades, creative industry professionals will have even more ways of self-employment and distribution channels at their disposal.
Today, democratic Youtube is seriously competing with TV, opening the way for talented singles. The market of independent game developers is flourishing, and the concept of “freelancer” has become a profession and a way of life.
By their example, one can understand that the technological future will favor the sphere of culture and entertainment, if only because it is one of the leading drivers of its growth. Click here to learn more about motion simulation lc series.
