by norm stovall normstovall@gmail.com
As we zoom toward the year 2007, the video games industry is picking up steam and won’t stop with its constant barrage of amazing innovation and fun products designed to suck your bank account dry, leave you with no time for personal activities such as bathing, and make you a general outcast to society at large. If you are a video game fan or even a casual game player, your life and the amount of free time you have will soon drastically change. Everyone knows that the holiday season can make or break game companies, and this upcoming holiday season I’d expect nothing less than all out war between console manufacturers.
With a strong lead, getting its next-gen offering onto the table a year ahead of Nintendo and Sony, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 has a hell of a momentum going. Already with a ton of great hits on both disk format and available for download over Xbox live, MS has a strong hold on the American gaming market. With the highly anticipated Gears of War coming soon, Tony Hawk’s Project 8, and the announcement of Guitar Hero 2’s Xbox 360 port complete with new song downloads via Live, MS does indeed have a few tricks up it’s sleeve. In addition to games, the HD DVD player for Xbox 360 will be available this November, and will come with along with Peter Jackson’s King Kong remake on HD DVD disk. If you already own an HDTV, this is a great deal for the price.
Nintendo is not far behind, with its brand new Wii gaming console hitting the market next month. In addition to the Wii’s innovative controllers, Nintendo offers wireless gaming, wireless Internet over your TV via the Opera Browser for Wii, and digital content downloads and local news via the Wii Network.
Sony is taking an entirely different approach with the release of the Playstation 3 in November, promising that gamers will be willing to pay more for the added value that the console’s Blu-Ray drive and HDMI ports will bring. If you follow the news about the consoles release schedule and line-up, you are probably sick of hearing about the console’s $599 price tag for the standard model. If you live in Japan, you are in luck, because the pricing over there has gone down about 100 bucks. (But you don’t live in Japan, so too bad-you are gonna pay full price.) The console itself is impressive, and Sony promises to have a good bit of quality launch games available when the console makes its debut, including Warhawk, Ridge Racer, NBA 07, and more.
Even Apple’s new iPod has games available for download, much like the up and coming cell phone platform, with new games available for download all the time. You will even be able to download new games via iTunes to play on your iPod, just like you would a song or a movie. So, in summary, great games are coming in from all angles this holiday season, so if you are at all a gamer, you’d better not make any big plans till around march or so, ‘cause you won’t be leaving your couch for a long time.
Local Gaming events
Don’t forget to check out The Last Stand: Round 2 this Saturday (October 7th) at the Pearl, located on the corner of 1st and main street downtown. The Last Stand is a Jacksonville-based fighting game tournament, where players from all over the southeast will compete in games such as Marvel Vs Capcom 2, Street fighter 3: 3rd strike, Guilty Gear Slash, and Capcom Vs SNK 2. Signups are at 10am, and the cost to compete is 10 dollars per-game. This price will go toward the 1st through 3rd place winnings, which will be split 70/20/10 per game, and it includes entry to the bar and lunch. So far we have over 50 people signed up, coming from as far as Miami and South Carolina, so if you are interested in competing, email me at normstovall@gmail.com for more information- space is filling up fast. Spectators are admitted for 5 dollars. There will be plenty of food, and drinks from the bar will be available. Remember to bring your own PS2 controllers for this event, or Dreamcast controller for Marvel Vs Capcom 2. I’ll See you there!
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