Gamertell

I like to consider myself a well-informed member of the gaming community, but it appears I’ve been beaten to the punch on the subject of real-time weather updates in video games. Embarrassing, I know, but I’ve dedicated myself to brutal honesty when it comes to our readership.

Nevertheless, some questions remain: Why wasn’t I notified of the Weather Channel feed in NCAA Football 2008 that reproduces real-world atmospheric conditions in the game? Was there a memo? Did I miss a meeting? News of this caliber doesn’t simply slip under the radar. No, there is obviously a much fouler, darker force at work here, like industrial espionage or scurvy.

This usurpation comes from Florida. Palm Beach Daily writer Mike Lyons published a nice little article detailing video game weather in last Sunday’s (January 20, 2008) online edition. Mr. Lyons is, as he states early on, fifty years old, which means that he lived through the first twenty years of his life without video games.

We’re seriously considering an in-depth interview with Mr. Lyons to chronicle the deep, physiological scars such a gaming void must have indelibly left on him.  But that’s not the point.

The point is that we’re starting to see the effects of radical demographic changes spawned by the success of Nintendo’s Wii and casual gaming. Males eighteen to thirty four are no longer the golden boys, er, gamers. When a fifty-year-old man from a retirement community admits that, “I was hooked,” in reference to his new Xbox 360, well, that is certainly a sign of change.

It’s analogous to my grandmother calling me up with troubleshooting tips for Windows Vista system and network configurations, an event which would’ve previously ripped the fabric of space and time.

Read [Palm Beach Daily] Also Read [EA Press Release (PDF)]