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The word “anime” is short for animation and is generally used for popular Japanese animated cartoons featuring hand-drawn or computer animated characters. Anime started gaining popularity through Dragon Ball, Naruto, Death Note, and other series. While this trend of anime initially emerged in Japan as a way of storytelling and narration of historical tales, it has quickly become an entertainment enterprise.
With the increasing popularity of anime series in the global market, anime DVD shops have become extremely popular as well. We can consider these shops as exclusive stores resembling movie shops that offer new DVD releases. While at an anime store, you may only buy anime DVDs, an online DVD store not only offers movies, TV series and world cinema releases, but also the exclusive anime series. The commercialization of anime series including television shows, movies, video games, internet releases, and other visual mediums has made it easier for fans to buy their favorite DVDs from the comfort of their homes.
7 Reasons for the Increasing Popularity of Anime Series:
Depth
Anime series usually have a lot of depth in their plots, unlike most cartoons. They deal with themes of good and bad, life, loss, hope, justice etc. Most people like these things, especially young adults can relate to them. These offer important life lessons and are more intriguing and addictive in comparison to regular cartoon series.
Character Visuals
Anime features beautifully drawn characters and locations that are very enticing on their own. The characters are colorful, attractive, gorgeous and inhuman. All these things add an air of mystery to anime shows captivating the audience
Storyline
Perhaps, the most addictive thing about anime series is the way its story unfolds. The developers create the characters to go with the storyline. One show features many different plots at once. Anime movies never become monotonous and the storyline remains dynamic. The continuity of the story over the episodes keeps the viewer hooked to the show.
An Appropriate Ending
Unlike most dramas and series, animes usually do not have a second and third season. They usually end when the time is right. This is what I like best about the anime shows; they do not drag.
Comic Relief
No matter how intense or serious an anime series is, it always has a touch of comedy. Whether it is a certain character or certain moments that provide this comic relief, it is always there. These random moments of laughter ensure that you have an enjoyable time watching anime.
Action Scenes
Anime movies tend to have well choreographed and synchronized action sequences. The ability to draw gives a lot of flexibility as to how to portray action scenes. Thus, anime videos usually tend to have amazing action moments.
Characters
The characters are so well developed and complex that many people can relate to several of them. Some literally fall in love with them. The amazing portrayal of emotions, captivating voice-overs, and charming personalities render the viewers as huge fans of the characters.
Besides the reasons mentioned above, the wide variety of available anime genres has led to a rise in anime viewership.
The realm of the real and the realm of the video game may be completely different in practice, but their connection is not all that different. No, they are more similar than you may have first thought. And, playing video games can even have a direct impact on, and even improve, your life. Don’t believe this? Well, read on to find out how.
Image source
Video games boost personal responsibility
When you play a video game you take it upon yourself to beat whatever it is that is put in front of you and then fight your way through to the completion of this game. And, this kind of challenge, especially when the game is hard or played on a hard mode, does wonders for boosting a sense of personal responsibility. What it does is give you the chance to burden the task of focusing to get the job done as well as the chance to burden the task of trying to improve situations around you and make them as easy to manage as can be.
Video games help to exercise the problem-solving parts of the brain
Video games, especially those that fall under the category of being strategy games, have the potential to make your brain bigger. They do this by exercising the parts of your brain that are used to solve problems, such as the part that holds your memories, the part that deals with planning, the part that deals with muscle control and the part that deals with spatial navigation. So, if boosting your brain in such ways sounds enticing to you, then get yourself a strategy game; in fact, get yourself one on your smartphone and get exercising that brain of yours throughout your day wherever and whenever you are! This could mean opting for an old reliable like sudoko, or this could mean opting to play Final Fantasy XV on iOS or Android. And yes, before you ask, the massive Final Fantasy gaming series has come to the world of mobile gaming very much as a strategy game!
Video games help to de-stress and relieve issues of anxiety
Some people play video games in such a way that it either becomes their job to play them to an extent, or in fact it actually does become their job to play them. But, most people just play video games in their spare time in order to provide themselves with some much needed downtime. If you fall into the latter category, then you can be sure that your video game playing is providing you with all the stress beating and anxiety relieving chemicals your body needs to recharge and just generally get through life. Well, this is the case if you refrain from playing particularly rage inducing games, or games that just seem to anger you whenever you play them!
Video games help to boost multi-tasking skills
Some people find multi-tasking harder than others, that’s just a given. But, if you fall into the category of being a poor multi-tasker, then fear not as there are actually things that you can do that will help you to get better at the art of dealing with being tasked with multiple things to do at one time. One of these things is to play video games. Yes, when you play certain video games, such as first-person shooters like Call of Duty, you will be having to deal with many things at one time. When playing COD, for instance, you will be having to deal with things like visual distractions, auditory distractions and you trying to shoot something whilst having something shooting at you at the same time. And, when you are having to deal with aspects such as these simultaneously and at one time, and you are having to do this regularly, you automatically boost your ability to do so. Thus, you instantly boost your ability to multi-task!
Video games teach how to let go and start over
Having to let go and start over with things in life may seem like a bit of a deep topic to cover, but it is actually something we humans are faced with doing regularly, if not daily. And, as you’ve probably guessed by now, playing video games can help you get better at doing it! Yes, when you lose on a video game, as frustrating as it is, you just let go of the failed attempt and start over, right? Well, doing this regularly enough when playing video games is going to make it easier to do in your real life, too.
Video games really can improve your life. If the points above weren’t enough to persuade you on the fact that this is the case, then make sure to check out this article detailing how video games can have a positive impact on child development. That might just be enough to persuade you!
Almost everyone has played a video game or two. Video Games are what most people often resolve to when wanting to relieve stress or just to get away from the everyday hustle and bustle of life. Similar to the effects of movies, video games provide great entertainment through several means such as wholesome fun, action, mystery, problem-solving, etc.
Video games, however, do have a dark side. Similar to movies, games have brought nightmares to a lot of people when they play horror survival games. With immense gameplay, awesome storytelling, and fear, individuals who play these games get addicted to the thrill and adrenaline they get when facing a hidden monster or a ghoulish face scream at them out of nowhere. With that said, here is a look at the five most terrifying games produced.
Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly – Tecmo
The majority of the games featured in this list tackles with evading and escaping the supernatural. However, Fatal Frame 2 is the opposite of most games. Armed with a camera, the protagonist must snap photos of ghosts that they encounter along the way. The game is a unique take on the survival horror genre. The horrors of the game feature Japanese-inspired ghosts that resemble Sadako and other horror icons famous in the country.
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard – Capcom
Known for its heavy use of zombies, Resident Evil is a mainstay in most lists that feature the horror survival genre. However, Resident Evil 7 is the strongest showing in the series as of late, and a lot of people aren’t disappointed by the frights it gives. The eerie setting of Resident Evil 7 takes the player in a whole new setting filled with old shacks, rotting vegetation, gruesome images, all set on a plantation.
Leaning on towards a rare genre in the American horror scene, Resident Evil 7 is more of a “Hillbilly Horror” wherein the terrors are from seemingly brutish and uneducated people in the far reaches of American modernization. Resident Evil uses all its scares to deliver a resurgence and a fresh new look for the franchise.
P.T. – Konami
From famed game director Hideo Kojima and famous Hollywood director Guillermo del Toro, P.T. is a first-person psychological horror video game which takes the player on a whole new level of fright and fear. The game was part of a teaser for the Silent Hills, a canceled installment of the Silent Hill franchise. A lot of fans praised the game for its direction, graphics, complexity, and the absolute mental horror of its gameplay.
With the game already shrouded in mystery, Konami took the game off of the PlayStation Network which prompted a lot of fans to protest, clamoring for a chance to download the game again. To this day, no traces of the game are present online which only adds to the mystery that P.T. or this “Playable Teaser” brings.
Image source Flickr
Amnesia: The Dark Descent – Frictional Games
The essence of horror survival games tends to focus on action rather than the fear itself. Amnesia: The Dark Descent is an ode to the nature of what is a real fright. Games like Resident Evil, Zombie themed games, and most survival horror genre games equip a player with some melee weapon or a gun. In this game, however, you are powerless as the option to fight back is apparently absent.
If being powerless isn’t enough to scare you, Amnesia also has a unique system embedded in its gameplay that isn’t found in many horror games today. A sanity meter is a meter that tells the player of his or her sanity. Expose your in-game character to a lot of ghoulish figures, and your meter eventually fills bringing your character to insanity.
This unique system juggles the real world player’s flight or fight system which ultimately provides an exhilarating and scary experience to those who try out Amnesia: The Dark Descent.
Silent Hill 2 – Konami
Silent Hill 2 is the 2nd installment of the Silent Hill franchise. The game is so scary that a lot of people consider the entire franchise the brass ring for most survival horror games. Although the game makes use of relatively simple combat systems, it’s still a scary game due to the grotesque monsters you’ll get to encounter which is curiously difficult to defeat.
The game also makes use of horrible audio by playing random high-pitched noises that most people find unsettling. In the first game, Silent Hill, a similar sound plays when the radio fills with static when an enemy is close. Other sounds in the game include a baby crying, pigs squealing, gasping, footsteps approaching, glass shattering, etc. Try listening to those sounds while standing in a room alone.
Silent Hill has been long known by many as a game that strikes horror in the most unusual ways by displaying horrible and gruesome scenes to the player. Silent Hill 2 is indeed the best game to come out of the franchise, with other installments not far behind. Truly a game that will scare your wits out. Do not play this game alone, without lights.
Takeaway
A lot of people play horror games for the pure fun and adrenaline that comes with jump-scares and frights. Sometimes, just like movies, these games take it to the extreme by using more than just zombies and monsters as frightening themes. Some of these games stick to the more realistic form of fear.
Games like Amnesia use real fears that most people experience. Silent Hill, however, combines all those elements and molds them into an experience that players will never forget. Keep the lights on, blankets over your head, and play with a buddy, as these games are the scariest.
In 2000, esports was still a new word. Yes, video games were played by millions of people worldwide. However, video gaming competitions were held among amateurs on a local level, and could not be considered a worthy investment. Who could have thought that the esports industry would go through the roof and will be growing at 41% per year?
How Esports Became What It Is Today
The esports industry as it is now is a result of a boom in online gaming in South Korea at the beginning of the 2000s. The boom was catalyzed by the spread of public Internet access and an increase in unemployment. More and more South Koreans chose to play computer games during this period, and the popularity of online video games grew so much as to allow to organize competitions. Slowly, the number of competitions in Korea alone grew tenfold. A governmental comission was organized in order to manage the growing industry, and as many as three channels were dedicated to transmitting online competitions. The hitm game in Korea was StarCraft, which sold 4.5 million copies in South Korea alone.
Image source Wikimedia
Slowly but surely the esports competitions gained popularity in the West, with MOBA games like Dota that are now at the peak of their popularity. MOBA (massive online battle arenas) and MMORPG (massive multiplayer online role playing) games slowly replaced first person shooters and strategies in the competitions, due to the fact that entering a MOBA game requires a lesser number of skills and is sometimes absolutely free. The prize pools of competitions are very attractive to young people who now can pursue professional player careers. Some competitions prize pools of 18 million dollars.
The overall audience of professional gaming competitions is on a steady increase, from 115 million in 2015 to 194 million in 2017, with every esports fan spending an average of 50$ a year. By 2020, the audience is estimated to grow by 20% and constitute 303 million. The profit from the egaming business is now at 696 million dollars, and this figure has a 41% growth rate. This makes the esports industry attractive enough for investments from sources other than game development companies. The number of competitions also grew from 10 in 2000 to more than 260 nowadays.
What makes esports appealing is apparently the competitive side of it. Video games have evolved to be so complex and diverse that they require fine skills and extensive training to succeed in them. The competitive edge is tremendous, as players spend a lot of time and effort to become very good at what they do and beat everyone else at it. At this point, it starts looking as any other competitive sports out there. Almost everybody can play football; however, only the most skilled professional players do it so well that they can beat everyone else at it and participate in worldwide competitions. In many ways, Internet-gaming is a sport. There is even a debate going on around whether to recognize esports as an actual sport. The Olympic Games Committee of 2024 is considering including video games into their list.
In any case, the esports gaming industry is only getting started. The estimated figures from a NewZoo report suggest that it will grow to be a 1-billion-dollar industry, and will be gaining popularity in the years to come.
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