Houston, I might have a problem

Ahhh gamers we are definitely a different breed, not too different from any other fanatics though I guess.
Last night I went to watch X3: The Last Stand (enjoyable, stay till the end of the credits for a little something extra), and during the previews an ad ran for the New Super Mario Bros., and I actually got goosebumps believe it or not while watching this ad. I'm absolutely dying to play this game only I don't have a DS yet as I'm waiting for the DS Lite, but I never thought it was possible to get this excited about a game.
While I was experiencing this sensation it made me think about what a nerd I am, and if this is a unique feeling. Then I remembered some of my friends who are absolutely crazy about Star Wars telling me they supposedly get chills as soon as they see the LucasArts logo show up on the screen. So maybe I'm not that crazy, I'm sure some of the Halo freaks probably did the same thing at E3 when the Halo 3 trailer ran (I would but I'm still shaking my head from Halo 2).
If you're wondering, yes it's a slow news day in the world of gaming, Nintendo release dates and sales numbers, XBOX360 Camera to be released in September, new Hitman is out, and North Carolina is thinking about giving tax breaks to game developers.

No DirectX 10 for XP

Now I'm not much of a PC gamer, and Microsoft just helped reiterate my reasons as to why I'm not, upgrades.
As most people know Microsoft is releasing within the next year or so a new OS, code-named Vista this OS is supposed to bring some great things to the table for PC gamers, one of which is the new DirectX 10. I get the impression that PC developers love to work with the newest stuff and this really could create a situation where not only are users going to need to upgrade they're video cards but also an OS, it will not be far off that games will be released that require DirectX 10, and anybody not running Vista will be left in the cold.
This again is the primary reason why I miss out on all these great PC games, upgrading. With consoles I know it's a 5 year lifecycle, and it'll cost me about 500-600$, with PC's the lifecycle appears to be shorter and I spend as much on a video card as I could for a console.
And to think I thought Sony gave a big slap-in-the-face to it's base after E3, this sure seems like one from Microsoft now too.

Violent Game Bills

There seems to be a bunch of "Violent Game" Bills going through various US States Houses and Senates recently. While any that have come close to being passed have been struck down as unconstitutional, they keep on popping up. Currently there is one attempting to be passed in Louisiana that is being heavily supported by the always entertaining (I find him entertaining because his arguments are a little far-fetched, his latest brain storm) Florida lawyer Jack Thompson. I am starting to wonder if there is another reason why these are popping up everywhere besides "protecting our children", this is an election year in the states I believe its for governors , but I'm not sure as I live in Canada. Now all politicians are all about self promotion but I feel that this is a strange way to get PR, they are basically telling people that they want to take away some 1st amendment rights.

I do believe that some games should not be in the hands of minors, and that retailers and publishers have some responsibility to make sure of that. Retailers should be subject to fines if games are sold directly to minors, but there's no stopping parents from buying games for minors and I can accept that, it's just like the horror movies you watched as a kid. Also publishers/developers should be aware of any hidden content that might be forgotten about when placing a game on the shelf. The "hot-coffee' incident is not something that the industry needs, but I also believe that Adult Games may have their place in the industry.

Ultimately I believe it is the parents that have the final say. I understand that it's difficult to always be there with the hectic schedules that most modern day families have, but if your not monitoring the video games, what else are you missing that's available quite easily through the net and other mediums.

I cannot completely disagree with these studies that say that kids playing violent games are more aggressive than kids that play non violent games, because I do believe that this could be true, but prevented with educating children about what a game is and what real life consequences can be had if these situations are being carried out.

If everybody comes together on this issue then there can be an open market for developers to create what they want, and protection for our children from what may be considered as influential and possibly damaging.

Nintendo Announces Wii Pricing

So Nintendo gave us an idea of the pricing on their next system the Wii (yeah I liked Revolution better too). According to Nintendo it will not exceed $250 US (about $300 CDN if your up here), now we all know that “will not exceed 250” probably means $249.99 but this is still an excellent price point for a system that Nintendo hopes will widen the gaming market; hopefully they can come with some good titles for release. I can see many parents this Christmas looking at their options: Nintendo $250, Microsoft $500 (really the core isn’t worth it), and finally Sony $600 (same here with their low-end system just spend the extra dough if you really want it), and seeing a system in the Wii that’s affordable, and interesting considering the revolutionary control scheme.

I am very intrigued by the Wii and it’s possibilities, but as with the DS it seems limited or gimmicky (if you wish) at first, and it could take a year for titles to start coming out to show off it’s full potential (look at how the DS evolved though, WOW). Microsoft looks like they might have some must-play new franchises coming out, which is great considering the current state of sequel-itis that the industry has. I also wouldn’t be surprised if Microsoft dropped the price of the 360 on or before November 17th (PS3 release date). As for Sony, they have followed up Nintendo’s price point, with what I consider to be damage control, the President is now making a point of stating that the PS3 is NOT a toy, and if you think of it as a toy then yes it’s an expensive toy. I do really respect what Sony has done for the game industry, but it appears to me that they either developed an inferiority complex with the current systems, where Microsoft’s big box out powered them, or they want to create an elitist gamer movement for the super rich (think of the Skulls of gaming). I love to play all the systems and do not fall in for “fanboy-ism”, but at $600US (probably $700CDN) I can’t justify. I guess my Sony platform will remain to be the PSP, and possibly I’ll get around to playing some of the stellar PS2 games.

Gamer Daily

This blog was created for me to give some regular opinions on the on goings of the video game industry. I follow it very closely even though I am not employed in it, but hopefully sometime I will be. These are OPINIONS and everybody might not agree with me, but I should let you know that I'm a non-biased gamer that owns both console and portable systems from the big 3, the only thing that I rarely get involved with is the PC side of things, mainly due to that I cannot afford a decent system and I wouldn't want to miss out on the wonderful graphic experiences that you can have in PC gaming. So to cut this short I'll be commenting on anything that I find interesting in the industry, whether it be announced games/system features, politics, and maybe even the occasional review. I hope everybody will enjoy, and don't take it too seriously, it is after all just a game.