How does the Internet figure into game development?
Typically if you have wanted to play a particular game then you have had to go to a software store and purchase a box which contains CD-ROM's or floppy disks. Games are packaged this way because the data which makes up most games takes up so much space and because physical stores have been the only place to showcase them. This data can take the form of graphics, sounds, character files, help, and of course the game engine itself. Now with the gain in popularity of the Internet, gamers don't have to get a game from a physical store, and in some cases they don't even have to install a game on their own computer. One of the contributions of the Internet to gaming has been games which exist entirely online. Project BOB is an example of this kind of game. It's graphics and code exist on the web and are expressed through a web browser. This means that updates are easier to distribute to fans of a game who visit a central storage for the game each time they log on to play it.
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