Revisiting our Favorite Game Boy Games - 30 Years Later

Nintendo’s Game Boy portable gaming console marked its 30th birthday in April. The little guy (although not so little by today’s standards) was nothing short of groundbreaking, so to mark the occasion we thought we’d revisit some of our favorite games.

Tetris. Although it predates the Game Boy by about half a decade, it was thanks to the Game Boy that much of the world was introduced to Tetris, the at-times anxiety inducing puzzle game. As if the unconventionally cruel variety of puzzle pieces wasn’t enough to get your heart racing, Tetris was also a multi-player, allowing two Game Boys to link up with the at times finicky Game Link Cable.

Super Mario Land. Even though you’d often have to squint to make out some of the game’s finer details, or any details, really, Super Mario Land first made Mario portable and introduced the world to Princess Daisy. The game led to a series of sequels which gave us Wario, now a staple of the Mario world with many of his own games to his name.

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening. No Nintendo list ever seems complete without a Zelda game, but unlike more traditional titles Link’s Awakening is one of the more unconventional offerings from the franchise. With bold departures like an optional sword in the weapon arsenal and a landscape of strange dream-like creature, the game served as an excellent link between the NES offerings and the SNES smash hit A Link to the Past.

Looking for some entertaining reads? Visit our online library at www.wordivo.com for a wide variety of ebooks, audiobooks, music, and more. Accessible anytime, anywhere, and available on all your favorite devices.

The Trends that Will be Shaping Entertainment

The world of entertainment has undergone drastic change over the past few decades. Gone are the days when films were the domain of major Hollywood production companies, as content distributors like Netflix have become content creators as well. Sticking to film, with a far greater distribution range thanks to in-home streaming, theatres themselves are closing at an alarming rate. Music distribution is no longer the exclusive domain of major record labels, and let’s not talk about print… With everything seemingly up in the air, one is left to wonder; what next?

If the PwC’s 2018 Media & Entertainment Outlook report is to be believed, the next trend in the world of entertainment may just be virtual reality. Alongside over-the-top (OTT) video and internet advertising, PwC predicts that virtual reality (VR) will be the fastest growing revenue generator for M&E companies in the U.S. during the five-year period from 2017 to 2022.

Thanks to products like the Oculus Rift, the VR industry is rapidly turning into a major emerging market in the realm of entertainment. Going beyond gaming, even outlets such as USA Today, Washington Post, and The New York Times are joining the trend, making inroads into the emerging VR journalism platform. With revenues that reached $1.5 billion in 2017, the U.S. is currently the world’s leading VR market, and that total revenue is expect to increase to $7.2 billion by 2022.

Looking for the latest and greatest from the world of entertainment? Visit our online library at www.wordivo.com for a wide variety of ebooks, audiobooks, music, and more, accessible anytime from your favorite devices.

Reading vs. Watching TV

The rise of streaming services like Netflix and Hulu certainly have more of us glued to our television sets than ever before, but has all that extra screen time come at the expense of reading? Before ditching our beloved books for the next binge, consider some of the merits of reading over watching something on screen.

With you wherever you go. If you have time to kill on your daily commute there’s nothing quite like having a good book by your side, or if you’d prefer ebooks, an entire library at your disposal. The batteries on your tablet or e-reader will certainly last a whole lot longer than when you’re streaming, and you don’t have to rely on data to have a good read by your side! Driving? You can still enjoy audiobooks while keeping your eyes on the road.

A world of pure imagination. A good book leaves a lot open to interpretation. You can paint landscapes yourself and imagine characters any way you want them to be as opposed to what a show producer wants you to see. Let your imagination run wild and be every bit as much a part of the narrative as the story itself.

Easier on the eyes. Printed pages and e-ink displays put significantly less strain on the eyes, and unlike tablet and television screens that emanate blue light, books and e-readers have considerably fewer negative effects on sleep.

Looking for some entertaining content? Visit our online library at www.wordivo.com for a wide variety of ebooks, audiobooks, music, and more.