Xbox 360 with 10 EA Sports Games… Career ending material
April 1st, 2008 by Dan HugoDylan and I have received our bet’s wage for winning the second stage of the Subaru Sani2c Adventure for EA Sports (home) - 2 Xbox 360’s as well as 10 EA Sports Games to change the way spare time is spent forever. Dylan opened his box of tricks, missed five lectures straight, and by 2am that night still hadnt moved off his couch…
(I am to be a gamer…)
Its been a revelatory experience of what was out there for someone who’s been totally oblivious to gaming at this level. Barring the past few months of toying with my PSP, and perhaps some younger days on an old style ‘tv games’ playing Mario Bro’s, my exposure to the current gaming universe has been less than minimal. Its blown my mind. A different level all together to anything I’d imagined. The depth and complexity of the EA games are far from a get-up and go scenario. One could devout weeks to mastering a single game, becoming one with its world, making the controls second nature, really living in a virtual space, chasing a career in it, conquering a war, earning a living as a racer, acting the lead in a movie, and so and so on.
Friends came over on the weekend, and bought a second controller, which added an even better twist to the Grand Prix Race track somewhere in France…
You’ll have to give me time, to settle into a few games to truly enjoy them for all they are. For now its a matter of trying to master the basics, of two separate controls for a fighters body and eyes, and then having ten further buttons for a myriad of secondary options and objectives. Eish. But I’ll get there. Dylan has completed Army of Two already… And I’m still trying to pass the trainee phase…
The visual graphics are nuts. And the real lifenessof the fine detail is unbelievable. When the vibration of the controller, the honest real life sounds, are sensational. And that all on a old tele. I cant imagine the impressiveness of t it all on a surround sound flat screen tv.
Here’s some basic info, for if you are still living where I was, in a pre-gaming era.
(Wikinomics): Xbox 360 is the second video game console to be produced by Microsoft, and was developed in cooperation with IBM, ATI, and SiS. Its Xbox Live service allows players to compete online and download content such as arcade games, game demos, trailers, TV shows, and movies. The Xbox 360 is the successor to the Xbox, and competes with Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles.
The Xbox 360 was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detailed launch and game information divulged later that month at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). It is the first console to provide a near-simultaneous launch across three major sales regions (Europe, Japan, and North America). The console sold out completely at release (with the exception of Japan) and, as of February 22, 2008, 18 million units have been sold worldwide according to Microsoft.[1]
Dylan and I each got:
Xbox 360 Specs:
Manufacturer: Microsoft
Type: Video game console
Generation: Seventh generation era
First available: November 22, 2005 (details)
CPU: 3.2 GHz PPC Tri-Core Xenon
GPU: 500 MHz ATI Xenos
Media: DVD, DVD-DL, CD,
Add-On: HD DVD
System storage: 20 or 120 GB hard drive, 64, 256 or 512 MB memory cards
Controller input: 4 maximum (wired or wireless or combination of either)
Connectivity: 3 × USB 2.0, IR port, 100 Mbit Ethernet
Online service: Xbox Live
Units sold Worldwide: 18 million (as of February 22, 2008)[1] (details)
Best-selling game Halo 3, 8.1 million (as of January 3, 2008)[2]
Predecessor: Xbox
As well as 10 EA Sports Games:
Army of Two
Need for Speed Prostreet
The Simpsons Game
Skate
Burnout Paradise
Fifa Street 3
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
The Orange Box
Medal of Honor Airborne
Fight Night Round 3
Enough to keep the two of us entertained for the unforeseeable future. Perhaps even enough to acquire some new friends. Definitely enough to increase the University Bcomm Degree burden, and make training in the flesh seem that bit of a harder ask…
Chris, Brent, Ralph - we owe you. Many thanks EA Sports South Africa.
TOP 10 GAMING INDUSTRY FACTS:
1. US computer and video game software sales grew six percent in 2007 to $9.5 billion – more than tripling industry software sales since 1996.
2. Sixty-seven percent of American heads of households play computer and video games.
3. The average game player is 33 years old and has been playing games for 12 years.
4. The average age of the most frequent game buyer is 38 years old. In 2007, 92 percent of computer game buyers and 80 percent of console game buyers were over the age of 18.
5. Eighty-five percent of all games sold in 2007 were rated “E” for Everyone, “T” for Teen, or “E10+” for Everyone 10+. For more information on ratings, please see www.esrb.org.
6. Eighty-six percent of game players under the age of 18 report that they get their parents’ permission when renting or buying games, and 91 percent say their parents are present when they buy games.
7. Thirty-six percent of American parents say they play computer and video games. Further, 80 percent of gamer parents say they play video games with their kids. Sixty-six percent feel that playing games has brought their families closer together.
8. Thirty-eight percent of all game players are women. In fact, women over the age of 18 represent a significantly greater portion of the game-playing population (31%) than boys age 17 or younger (20%).
9. In 2007, 24 percent of Americans over the age of 50 played video games, an increase from nine percent in 1999.
10. Forty-nine percent of game players say they play games online one or more hours per week. In addition, 34 percent of heads of households play games on a wireless device, such as a cell phone or PDA, up from 20 percent in 2002.
