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TO: Proximity Video Team FROM: Jesse Smith SUBJECT: Mashable article on YouTube pursuing online gaming DATE: January 5, 2010

  We were asked to analyze a blog post or news item to help us prepare Proximity's fall survey. Below is my summary of a //Mashable// article on YouTube’s patent to dive into the online gaming market. I will include questions on the fall survey to see how TU students who are gamers will be affected. 


 * What YouTube provides**

YouTube is a video sharing website where users view, share and upload videos. Almost anything can be uploaded onto YouTube even copyrighted material which is later blocked. YouTube allows users to become personal with the site by providing favorite lists as well as channels that reflect the user’s favorite videos. After YouTube was bought by Google in November of 2006 the company has seen continual growth and now is looking to break into a the interactive gaming market. In this Mashable article written by Ben Parr, Google the owner of YouTube is reported to apply for patent which involves a graphical annotation interface. In other words Google is applying for a patent which allows YouTube to host online video games.


 * Why this new venture is important**

If Google enters the market, it will change everything about gaming. The first and only problem is the amount of bandwidth needed to play a current generation video game through an interactive website. However this eventual outcome is inevitable. With YouTube’s plan to attain advanced online gaming capabilities it will be a matter of time until every game console is obsolete. A gamer will simply download the game that interests them through the internet and play it on their computer. YouTube pursuing online gaming is the first step to making dedicated game consoles becoming obsolete.


 * Questions to generation Y**

This is a big deal to all those gamers who love to go out at midnight to get the brand new game, not to mention the $600 premier price to the Playstation 3. Being part of generation y and growing up on the ability to rent and copy Playstation games I still have not bought my own current generation gaming console. And I feel I will be justified in the next few years while everyone else will be asking themselves… Google entering the online gaming market is a big deal to all serious gamers. Although some gamers have received there expensive Playstation’s and Xbox’s as gifts Google entering online gaming will make consumers think twice about paying upwards of $400 on gaming consoles. Even after the initial console price most new games are at least $50. It is possible that gaming will follow the path of the music industry where the price of software will significantly decrease once becoming available digitally. There are many questions that current gamers have to ask themselves.
 * Will I continue to buy games upwards of $50 once those same games are available through easy downloading and at a lower cost?
 * Is getting rid of your current console worth all of the apparent advantages of online gaming?
 * Are you comfortable knowing that all of your games are no longer physical in nature and rather exist in a database?

__Reference__

Parr, B. (2009, December 29) Is YouTube about to Jump into Online Gaming? //Mashable//, Retrieved Jan. 4, 2010, from [|http://mashable.com/2009/12/29/youtube-gaming-portal/]