At the end of the millennium, electronic gaming - or video-gaming as it was then known - was a smallish but rapidly-emerging industry. New graphical and interface technologies were about to rewrite the rules. At the same time, architecture and the design industry, particularly in manufacturing, started paying serious attention to working in the virtual world. The scene was set.

2005: Computer gaming hits the big time

For the first time, gaming overtakes Hollywood in terms of market value. Meanwhile, the gaming wars between console manufacturers Sony (PlayStation), Nintendo and newcomer Microsoft with the X-Box, led to massive investment into gaming technology. Sony ups the ante with the launch of its PSP console, which is so powerful that scientists strip out the chips for use in laboratory experiments.

Simultaneously, the advent of virtual communities such as Second Life introduces the crazy idea that humans can 'live' more than one life.

In industry, the concept of Product Life-cycle Management (PLM) becomes firmly established. Designers use sophisticated computers and databases to record every aspect of any production process, from sourcing raw materials and suppliers to design and manufacturing, right through to customer delivery; and reproduce this in incredible 'living' detail in the virtual world - before starting actual construction or manufacturing. Companies like Siemens perfect systems that slash design and manufacturing costs and minimize production errors.

2008: Nintendo leaps ahead

Nintendo gets the jump on the competition with the introduction of the Wii system, which takes gaming out of the 'geek' market and puts it in the living room. Suddenly gaming becomes really interactive and open to everyone.

2011: The breakthrough!

The first systems that crudely tap into the senses appear. Players immerse themselves in 'gamepods' that stimulate but largely simulate the five senses. The next few years see major refinement of the technology, until, in 2016, biologists isolate and are able to digitize the chemical compositions that cause emotional reactions in the body. Now the digital code is 'implanted' through sensors and simulates emotions and feelings as if they were real.

2019: Gaming rules, OK

The gaming industry has become the primary leisure industry in the world, largely because it was the first to leap upon the new immersive technology, closely followed by the pornography business (now accepted as the semi-legitimate 'black sheep' of leisure). Close behind are new procedures for medicine, in particular psychiatric therapy, and educational applications. Long-entrenched-users are the design industries, from architecture to heavyweight industrial design, and manufacturers. Immersive computing has applications in potentially every business!