It's been a hectic year for the gaming industry, with new platforms, interesting games and even the odd moral panic.
As ever the year kicked off with the CES show in Las Vegas. This annual jamboree was dominated by the fight for the next generation of storage, Blu-ray or HD DVD. Thankfully for the gaming community the fight's over; Sony is putting Blu-ray drives in its next-generation console, and Microsoft hasn't fully committed to using HD DVD in the Xbox 360.
Bill Gates's legendary luck failed him at the show when a game crashed his system during a demo, allowing his competitors to twist the knife.
It's been a bumper year for platforms, with two new examples from Nintendo, a new Sony handheld, the Xbox launch and speculation about the forthcoming PlayStation 3 from Sony.
In May the new Game Boy Micro was announced, the smallest handheld games platform on the market. The dual screen DS got good reviews when it was launched, but sales have been disappointing for the company and the future looks bleak, sad news considering that it invented the handheld gaming sector.
No such problems for the Sony PSP. It sold like hotcakes from the start, even though the Europeans got the system six months after the rest of the world.
To make matters worse Sony blocked imports, showing that the company is only in favour of free markets when it suits. It was also less than happy about the consoles being used for porn.
Sony faced problems over cracking, after the copy protection system was quickly defeated, not once but twice. The platform also got its first malware this year.
On the console front Sony confirmed that it will be using the new Cell processor in the Playstation 3, due out next spring. But it faced a product recall in September over faulty PS2s.
The run up to Christmas was dominated by the Xbox launch in December. British customers faced shortages and bid crazy prices on eBay for the new console.
Even Steve Ballmer was unable to get hold of one, although we suspect that the billionaire should be able to get hold of one from somewhere. Japanese consumers were more loyal to Sony, or less than impressed with the Xbox.
But the Xbox launch was marred by build problems with the first batches, namely an overheating power supply. This caused one irate gamer to launch a class action suit against the company. The problems continued when Dutch hackers claimed to have cracked the first layer of Xbox security.
The only question now is how much money Microsoft will lose on the console, since it subsidises each Xbox it sells. When Sony and Nintendo bring out new consoles next year the burden to the company accounts should fall somewhat as sales slacken.
The games sector is about the only one in the PC building business that is making money these days and gamers were one of the first groups to get dual-core desktop systems. It seems that nothing opens the wallet so much as the need to shave a few nanoseconds off your Unreal Tournament time.
Innovations like liquid metal cooling systems, superfast memory from Rambus and a Power PC chip from IBM contrast sharply with Microsoft, which prosecutes modders.
If there was a prize for computer game witch-hunt of the year then it would have to go to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
The trouble started when a Dutch programmer found a hidden sex scene in the game, which was probably written and then dropped from the final version. The scene could only be accessed by introducing a software modification called Hot Coffee.
This caused the American 'think of the children' crowd to go wild and demand the game's withdrawal. The Entertainment Software Rating Board changed the game's rating and it was temporarily pulled from the shops in the US. Even Hillary Clinton joined in.
The game's creators released a patch that blocked access to the scene but that didn't stop the Federal Trade Commission investigating the case and a decision to ban the game altogether in Australia and a class action lawsuit from a US grandmother.
The furore was ironic in that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas allows players to kill policemen, steal cars and visit prostitutes but one hint of a nipple and the republic is falling. The industry passed its own comment on the whole sorry affair when the game swept the board at the annual Golden Joysticks awards.
Online games hit the headlines for a variety of reasons, usually bad. One got its own virus, a player killed another over a stolen virtual sword and the sector became the first to carry adverts in the games themselves.
The trouble continued when a hacker started widespread raids on online gamers. Concerns over gaming addiction has led China to crack down on the length of time games can be played. But, on the positive side there's definitely money to be made legitimately in online gaming.
So a busy 2006 beckons. The new PlayStation, the first sales figures for the Xbox, and no doubt more lawsuits and moral panics.
Courtesy - Iain Thomson, vnunet.com
As ever the year kicked off with the CES show in Las Vegas. This annual jamboree was dominated by the fight for the next generation of storage, Blu-ray or HD DVD. Thankfully for the gaming community the fight's over; Sony is putting Blu-ray drives in its next-generation console, and Microsoft hasn't fully committed to using HD DVD in the Xbox 360.
Bill Gates's legendary luck failed him at the show when a game crashed his system during a demo, allowing his competitors to twist the knife.
It's been a bumper year for platforms, with two new examples from Nintendo, a new Sony handheld, the Xbox launch and speculation about the forthcoming PlayStation 3 from Sony.
In May the new Game Boy Micro was announced, the smallest handheld games platform on the market. The dual screen DS got good reviews when it was launched, but sales have been disappointing for the company and the future looks bleak, sad news considering that it invented the handheld gaming sector.
No such problems for the Sony PSP. It sold like hotcakes from the start, even though the Europeans got the system six months after the rest of the world.
To make matters worse Sony blocked imports, showing that the company is only in favour of free markets when it suits. It was also less than happy about the consoles being used for porn.
Sony faced problems over cracking, after the copy protection system was quickly defeated, not once but twice. The platform also got its first malware this year.
On the console front Sony confirmed that it will be using the new Cell processor in the Playstation 3, due out next spring. But it faced a product recall in September over faulty PS2s.
The run up to Christmas was dominated by the Xbox launch in December. British customers faced shortages and bid crazy prices on eBay for the new console.
Even Steve Ballmer was unable to get hold of one, although we suspect that the billionaire should be able to get hold of one from somewhere. Japanese consumers were more loyal to Sony, or less than impressed with the Xbox.
But the Xbox launch was marred by build problems with the first batches, namely an overheating power supply. This caused one irate gamer to launch a class action suit against the company. The problems continued when Dutch hackers claimed to have cracked the first layer of Xbox security.
The only question now is how much money Microsoft will lose on the console, since it subsidises each Xbox it sells. When Sony and Nintendo bring out new consoles next year the burden to the company accounts should fall somewhat as sales slacken.
The games sector is about the only one in the PC building business that is making money these days and gamers were one of the first groups to get dual-core desktop systems. It seems that nothing opens the wallet so much as the need to shave a few nanoseconds off your Unreal Tournament time.
Innovations like liquid metal cooling systems, superfast memory from Rambus and a Power PC chip from IBM contrast sharply with Microsoft, which prosecutes modders.
If there was a prize for computer game witch-hunt of the year then it would have to go to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
The trouble started when a Dutch programmer found a hidden sex scene in the game, which was probably written and then dropped from the final version. The scene could only be accessed by introducing a software modification called Hot Coffee.
This caused the American 'think of the children' crowd to go wild and demand the game's withdrawal. The Entertainment Software Rating Board changed the game's rating and it was temporarily pulled from the shops in the US. Even Hillary Clinton joined in.
The game's creators released a patch that blocked access to the scene but that didn't stop the Federal Trade Commission investigating the case and a decision to ban the game altogether in Australia and a class action lawsuit from a US grandmother.
The furore was ironic in that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas allows players to kill policemen, steal cars and visit prostitutes but one hint of a nipple and the republic is falling. The industry passed its own comment on the whole sorry affair when the game swept the board at the annual Golden Joysticks awards.
Online games hit the headlines for a variety of reasons, usually bad. One got its own virus, a player killed another over a stolen virtual sword and the sector became the first to carry adverts in the games themselves.
The trouble continued when a hacker started widespread raids on online gamers. Concerns over gaming addiction has led China to crack down on the length of time games can be played. But, on the positive side there's definitely money to be made legitimately in online gaming.
So a busy 2006 beckons. The new PlayStation, the first sales figures for the Xbox, and no doubt more lawsuits and moral panics.
Courtesy - Iain Thomson, vnunet.com