By Alex L. Goldfayn
The Technology Tailor
It's close, but my Chicago Bears are winning. The hateful Washington Redskins are making a furious comeback though, slicing through our defense like it's not even there. I am anxious, yelling like I have some control over the outcome.
Thirty seconds to go, Redskins are threatening, my Bears are digging in, ready for one last game-saving stand against the evil...
"Hi, honey," says my wife, for the third time. (I didn't hear her the first two.) I pause the great drama unfolding on my Madden NFL 06 PlayStation 2 video game, put down the controller and, humbly, get up to give her a hug.
Momentarily, I am embarrassed. I walk to the mirror, look at myself and say out loud: "My name is Alex and I play video games. Sometimes, if I have a good season going, I play them a lot. I am 29 years old."
Which is, it turns out, exactly eight years younger than the average age of the American video gamer. The Electronic Software Association says so.
Suddenly, I feel better about myself. You know what else the ESA says?
That 50 percent of all Americans play video games. This means that very recently, either you or that guy in the seat next to you was busy being an on-screen, animated Tiger Woods (Muhammad Ali? Derek Jeter? A crazy monster with a really big gun?) last night.
It could be the woman next to you, too, because 43 percent of all gamers are female (I wonder if they're more embarrassed about their hidden hobby than I am).
I dig a little deeper and find an ESA statistic that makes me feel super-duper good about myself: Compared to today, 53 percent of game players expect to be playing as much or more 10 years from now.
Yippee! I am not alone. And, please don't tell my wife, but I have no intention of quitting any time soon either. All of which is very (super-duper) good news for the $10 billion video gaming industry, which, ladies and gentlemen, generates more revenue per year than all of Hollywood.
Because gamers are older than ever, they have more money to spend on games. Which means they can afford the new $300 Microsoft Xbox 360, with a souped-up version available for $400, and all of the games that go with it, a $60 a piece.
Of course, you'll need to splurge on a high-definition television too, as all of the games are now HD. Sure, you can play the new Xbox on your older, analog television, but you won't be experiencing its full-blown glory. And when the new versions of Sony's popular PlayStation and Nintendo's GameCube come out later this year, they're expected to be high definition, too.
"Honey!? Can we buy an HDTV now? But the games are in HD!"
The borderline-middle-age video-gaming mainstream has manufacturers aiming their consoles at solutions for far more than the conquering of fake worlds. Listen to what John Biggs, editor at one of the most popular online gadget review sites, Gizmodo.com, has to say about the Xbox 360:
"You can hook up the Xbox to your home network, install some software on your computer and you can actually see and hear all your music, photos and movies on your big-screen TV."
Hmmm. Sounds a lot like a video game system posing as a computer in the living room.
"It is. It's basically the first high-powered PC that sits in the living room," Biggs says. "For all intents and purposes it's a Microsoft Windows product masquerading as a gaming machine."
This is not surprising, as the computer industry has been trying to get into your living room for years. It's the next frontier for sales opportunities. In fact, before you know it, media center PCs will not look like PCs at all. Instead, they'll look like any other silver or black rectangular console in your entertainment system.
They'll have a big hard drive for all your movies, music and pictures, and instead of using a keyboard and mouse, you'll use your remote control to operate this computer. And, of course, like the Xbox, you'll be able to connect this device to the rest of your home's computers, and exchange content between them.
Want to watch last night's episode of "Lost" on your office PC? No problem. Want to bring up last night's Excel spreadsheet on your big-screen? Just click with the remote. We're not quite there yet. But we're not that far away either. The Xbox is a big step towards this reality.
Now, back to what's important:
My Bears are making a goal-line stand, it's cold, it's snowing, it's the third down and the detestable Redskins look determined. They dig in. I grip the controller with both hands. I'm ready.
Hike!
Bio: Alex L. Goldfayn writes the "My Tech" column for the Chicago Tribune, and his first book, "Going Digital," about all the fun, fantastic things you can do with your digital photos and home movies is due out this summer from HarperCollins. Visit TechnologyTailor.com for more information.
