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.

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.