Galil Blog|The Life of a Gamer

One of the most popular features of video games today, whether on the computer or on gaming systems, is the ability to create a player. Creating a player is so popular because you can add a player in a sports game that is not on the current roster because the game was released prior to the player making the roster or because the gamer wants to create himself as a member of their favorite sports team.

When creating a player the gamer will have the following options to choose from:

• Skin color
• Hair color
• Body type
• Muscle size
• Glove color
• Batting stance
• Touchdown celebration
• Introduction music
• Color of cleats
• Bat color
• Hair style
• Swing style
• Pitching style
• Visor or no visor
• Color of hockey stick

These are only some of the options available when a gamer wants to create a player in their favorite sports game. This has become such a popular feature that there is no sports game on the market today without this feature, including college games that feature basketball, football, and baseball. The gamer is able to put their own name on the jersey of the player they create or the name of the real player they are creating.

Some video games put a cap on the number of players a gamer is allowed to create because there is only so much space on the game or on the memory card or memory stick the gamer is using. Also, when creating a player in any of the Madden Franchise games the player will be assigned a rating and you have to pay that player a certain amount of money based on the rating he is assigned, which will go against your salary cap.

Video games sales are not what they used to be. Sale numbers are declining during these tough economic times because people just don’t have the money to spend on entertainment. Ironically, only a couple of months ago video game sales will steadily increasing as overall retail sales were decreasing. Now, in a shocking surprise, video game sales have begun to decline steadily.

When the month of July came to a close, statistics were released saying that video game sales had fallen for the fifth straight month. In the month of July, video game sales brought in $848.9 million, which was down 29 percent from exactly one year ago ($1.1 billion). Also, year-to-date sales of video games reached $8.16 billion, which is down 14 percent from the same time one year ago.

Video game manufacturers and retailers are hoping that the month of August might offer some turnaround for the video game industry because of the highly anticipated release of Madden NFL 2010. The latest installment of the illustrious Madden series was released on August 14 and is one of top ten bestselling video game series of all-time. The statistics for the month of August will not be available until early in September.

Other impending video game releases that could help the struggling industry include The Beatles: Rock Band, Halo 3: ODST, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Guitar Hero 5. The items that caused the largest decrease in industry sales are fewer system sales and fewer accessory sales. The only console to deliver growth over the past year has been Microsoft’s Xbox 360.

The latest version of Madden NFL is due out in stores on August 14. This year’s version, Madden NFL 2010, has a demo that allows players to replay the Superbowl matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals with complete five minute quarters. The cover of Madden NFL 2010 features two players, the Steelers’ Troy Polamalu and the Cardinals’ Larry Fitzgerald.

The Madden NFL franchise has become one of the most popular sports video games in the history of video games. The 2010 version of Madden NFL is primed to become the best version of the game during its history. There are updated playbooks, a new impact camera, new commentary, momentum changes, the ability to customize player moves and a new feature called fight for the fumble. Fight for the fumble is a fast-paced mini game where the player has the goal of recovering a fumble.

This game is bound to be one of the most popular Madden NFL games in recent memory with new gameplay features that put the player practically right into the mix of the NFL. Similar to other Madden NFL games, the 2010 version has some classic features such as franchise, season, single game, and online play. Don’t wait until the last minute to get in line because this game will sell quite quickly once it is available to the public on August 14th.

For the most enthusiastic gamers, there is an option on the game’s website to pre-order the game for any of the systems the game can be played on. The systems are Play Station 2, XBox 360, Wii, Play Station 3 and Play Station Portable.

Baseball fans love to play their baseball video games along with watching their favorite team on a nightly basis. Some of the most popular baseball video games around today are MLB The Show and MLB 2K (insert year here). A lot of baseball fans might not want to play video games on a gaming system and would rather play them on their computer. One of the best baseball simulation games on the market today to be played on a computer is known as Baseball Mogul. The recent version, Baseball Mogul 2010, is available for download on the Sports Mogul website for $29.99. Gamers can purchase the CD-ROM version for $39.99 in retail stores all across the country.

Baseball Mogul, any version of the game, let’s the player do whatever he or she wants to do with their franchise. At the start of the game the player must choose which team they wish to run. Once they choose the team they can them make any player personnel moves they feel necessary such as trades, releasing players, signing free agents, demoting players to the minors and calling up top prospects to the majors. Once the month of June rolls around the player can then pick high school and college players in the draft and add them to their Minor League system.

The player can play the games too. Each day is a game and it consists of determining which pitcher to start the game, who to start at which position, and which relievers to use when the starting pitcher is done for the day. Baseball Mogul is one of the best baseball simulation games on the market today and one of the easiest in terms of gameplay.

Video games can be played on consoles with a television, on hand held consoles, or on the computer via the Internet or software. Online video games have become one of the most popular forms of video games around today because some of them are free to play and others can be played against people all over the world. This is what makes online video games so popular; the fact that gamers can face other gamers all around the world.

Playing video games online is easy to do. All you need is a computer and an internet connection. You also need access to the website that hosts the video game. Once all of this is setup the gamer can then begin to learn how to play the game and start their endeavor. The games can be played against the computer or against other gamers playing the game on the Internet.

Online video games can cost money to play if they need to be purchased from an online video game store or from the website itself. But sometimes, even more often than not, online video games are free of charge to gamers playing on the Internet. This is what makes them so popular to gamers all over the world. One of the most popular gaming websites that offers free games is Candystand. Candystand has been around for quite some time now and they offer sports games, arcade games, racing games, card games, puzzle games and trivia games for people of all ages.

MLB the Show 09 is one of the most popular sports games on the market today. The series of MLB the Show games is also one of the most popular series of sports games available today because they allow the player to do a variety of different things that can be done in real life Major League Baseball games. The cover of MLB the Show 08 features Ryan Howard and the cover of the 09 game features defending American League Most Valuable Player Dustin Pedroia.

MLB the Show 09 has an incredible amount of features available for the player of the game to choose from when they are ready to play. The features include career mode, franchise mode, single game mode, season mode, create a player, roster control, manager mode and much more. The career mode is one of the most interesting options in the game and also one of the most difficult modes to be successful in when playing the game.

The career mode allows the player to create themselves in the game and assign himself or herself to a Major League team. The player will work their way up through the team’s Spring Training games and Minor League affiliates on their way to the Majors. Once the player makes it to the Majors he or she must succeed to stick around with the big club. If they are not successful then they will be demoted back to the Minors again.

The franchise mode is also fun. Here the player will pick their favorite team and play regular season games in the hopes of winning a World Series over a period of five to ten years. If the player is unsuccessful and does not meet required goals they will be fired from running the franchise and have to start all over again.

The Nintendo Wii has become one of the most popular gaming systems not only in the United States but also across the world since its debut not too long ago. It seems like everyone I talk to these days owns a Wii no matter how old they are. My first experience with a Wii system came not long after it was released to the public. I came home from work around midnight one night and saw the lights on in our sunroom so I wandered in there to find my dad playing Wii Bowling to my surprise.

Dad and I stayed up until 3am that morning playing Wii in what was a nice surprise nonetheless. I asked him when they bought the Wii and he said earlier in the day. I also asked what made him and my mom go out and buy a Wii and his response was we just wanted one. My dad and mom are 52 years old, not your typical video game playing aged people. Most people would assume that kids between the ages of five and 15 play video games, not 50 year old parents.

The Wii was my parents combined Christmas gifts this past year but there’s one problem. They bought the Wii back in June of 2008. A little too early for Christmas I would say but oh well. As a family we have enjoyed the system for a year now and haven’t gotten tired of it at all. Wii Bowling and Wii Baseball is very addicting and my mom loves Wii Fit and Rock Band. I never would have thought that my parents would purchase a video game system for themselves but there’s a first time for anything.

Video games are an incredibly popular source of entertainment for people ranging in age from as young as three to as old as 93. It really doesn’t matter how young or how old you are to be able to enjoy video games and the friendly competition they can offer to gamers. People can play video games on their video game system at home against someone from China or England if they wanted to. Most video game systems available for purchase today include an Internet feature that allows the gamer to connect with other gamers worldwide and play against them.

The video game that has made friendly competition so popular is the Madden Series. John Madden recently retired from calling football games as a color analyst on television but his legend will forever live on with the Madden series of football games released each year in late August. There are tournamnets held all throughout the country at gaming stores, public venues, colleges, universities, people’s houses and high schools using these Madden games to find the best Madden player around.

Other video games that spur friendly competition are all sports games, racing games, war games, puzzle games and many more genres of games. Video games are said to be ruining America’s youth because kids come home from school and don’t want to run around outside with their friends. Instead they want to sit inside and play video games all day. Well, some of these games require a high level of intellect to play and win, especially when playing against another person instead of the system.

This is a great story.  So, I was recently working at a residence whose  neighbors were having a yard sale.  Did it ever pay off to be at work early.  I arrived at job location bright and early at 6 A.M..  They invited me over and I decided it would be a great way to let my morning’s coffee sink in.  I’m one of those people that always looks at the local classifieds for deals, but never really seems to take the action of buying stuff.

Chances had it that I found the jackpot by chance itself.  The first box that hit my eyes upon entering their attached garage was a brown cardboard box saying “$20.00.”  This box contained two original Nintendo Systems, Duck Hunt Gun, and approximately 80 games.  You hear it right.  Both systems work and that made my day.  The basics behind the story are that times are tight, so look for bargains.  Paper Boy what!

I was recently thinking about how much money is in the video game market.  Nintendo first became a household name in 1985 with the introduction of its original system.  Even Sony, who has invented transistor radios and video camera, has their highest historical sales from a video game system.    In 2007, the industry had $18 .8  billion dollar in revenue, a 40% increase from 2006.  The market is growing everyday with sales of 60 million units in 2007.

The three major players in the market are: Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo.  The systems has captioned more and more market shares as their technology squeezes out the necessity for DVD players.  Systems are also using the increased internet capability to allow users to interact from large distances.  3D Gaming is just around the corner.