Their very interesting article can be found here. Let’s take a look at the 5.

• #5 Consolidation. You have read it countless times on here. In 2008 there will be a lot more of it. The ownership of the gaming industry is changing very quickly. This all comes from the power shift from conventional media such as film, music and television which are in the descendancy to games which are in the ascendancy. The big global media companies have no option but to buy our industry up. It is a matter of survival for them.
• #4 Catering to the Wii audience. Here, once again, are some Wii development “rules”:
  1) Don’t do shovelware. You are just damaging your brand(s).
  2) Write Wii specific titles. Don’t port. You have to respect the interface difference.
  3) Understand that most Wiis live in the lounge. And most other consoles live in the bedroom.
  4) Polish, lots. Then polish some more.
  5) Realise that you have to provide entertainment for the population at large. FPS titles are not a good idea.
  6) You need to market completely differently. PR in women’s magazines will work a lot better than adverts in game magazines.
  7) Talk to your wife/girlfriend. They understand the Wii better than you do.
• #3 The Rise of the shooter. Some huge successes: Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, The Orange Box and Mass Effect. All entertainment industries go through fashions, usually sparked by one great product that others then imitate. Shooters are not the game industry’s finest hour and it is inevitable that other genres will come along and have their fashionable time.
• #2 Indies going Major. This is very interesting. Basically it is the democratisation that happens when you take publishers out of the loop. And it is coming about because of the vastly increasing availability of digital distribution mechanisms. As has been said before on here, this could be the way the whole industry goes with publishers as we now know them becoming obsolete.
• #1 Mainstreaming of Handhelds. The DS has become the walkman of our time. Just about everyone could and should have one. And we haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of the potential here. The possibilities are almost infinite. This will be the best selling console in the world this year, next year, and so on until Nintendo replace it. It could bring out a complete revolution in what education is and how it is delivered. The only limitations to what the DS will achieve is our own imaginations. Meanwhile the PSP seems to have found a niche for itself as a media player, with games for it selling less and less. This must infuriate Sony who traditionally take a loss on the console and then make their profit on the games. Which is a pity as Sony, uniquely, are in a position to make the DS killer device.

 

It is nice that 4 out of the 5 trends are a direct result of the enormous success and phenomenal growth of the industry. Something that looks set to continue for years ahead.