If you've been hiding under a rock for the past 3 days, you'll notice after coming out into the bright sunlight that it is a new world outside...and in the homes of millions of gamers. No, this isn't a Nintendo plug, it is the advent of a new generation in gaming. The demographic for gaming is shifting, and within the next few decades 100% of Americans will play games, or at least have a console of some kind in their homes. What does this have to do with the hardcore gamer? Everything.

The one thing I've noticed about this year's E3 are the events surrounding it in my personal life all parallel that of the gaming market. I attended the World Series of Video games this year, and I was really dissapointed in the mass disorganization that ensued. Naturally, it was a disaster on a massive scale, whoring out gaming to the highest bidder (in the case of WSVG, that would be CBS sports). This mass-marketing to non-gamers through mainstream titles like Gears of War and fight Night Round 3 completely raped the idea of E-sports for me, and it seemed like we were losing control of the market that we built. That's right, WE - The gaming masses - are what build this industry. There are movers and shakers, promoters, publishers, developers and the like but they only make games to cater to our taste, and if it doesn't satisfy the collective hunger for decent software games don't sell.

While the PS2 and X-box held strong the last console generation, the Gamecube seemed left to the dust. 3rd party software wasn't strong, save for a few titles like Resident Evil 4 and Eternal Darkness. Nintendo crafted masterpieces one at a time and many people felt that development times were too long and the console would fall because it was last in the console race. There was even some talk of Nintendo falling the way Sega did after the dreamcast failed. Of course we all know the gamecube had a price drop and ended up doing fairly well, but the uncertainty of the market was evident to the hardcore, and the mainstreaming of games has singled out the hardcore gamer.

When E3 rolled around this year, I wasn't too excited, mainly because of the fact that is was toned down a LOT, but also because I wasn't sure what was going to happen. The PS3 is failing because of its price point, the X360 is a good console but lacks software that interests me and the Wii was completely sold out. All of this compiled with my feelings previously mentioned made me feel awkward. I hadn't sunk my teeth into a good, solid game since the next-gen consoles were released. I was filled with dissapointment.

Since E3 has come and gone, I feel a sudden jolt of excitement. While the statistics were thrown at me, and previews of new games were flashed before my eyes, I felt like I did when I first played Final Fantasy VI...curious about others like myself. Curious to see if others like me existed. Most of all, I felt excited.

My Gaming Clan, Deus Motus, was shafted this year at WSVG and every other tournament we were planning to attend because the major tournaments like CPL and WSVG had dropped Quake 3, our best game, in favor of better looking games that required less skill to attract a new market. After WSVG, Quake 4 professionals stopped playing...Pro gamer "Lost Cauze" got called a sellout for rolling with the shift from Q3 to Q4 and the online servers for the game kicked into full gear and a lot of players (pro gamers included) started playing Quake 3 again just for the love of the game...so much so that I hear a visual patch is coming for Quake 3 to make it 'TV worthy' so they can keep it around...This, coupled with Nintendo's massive sales of the Wii made me realize that nothing is predictable anymore, and it is the gamer that runs the market, not the corporations.

Now that the Wii has sold out Worldwide, publishers are developing custom software for it and gamers are paying attention to it.They are making games FOR US TO PLAY, not just to BUY. Look at the way Sony is handling the PS3 : They crammed as much shit as possible into a system and priced it accordingly thinking that they could ride on the success of the PS2 and the gaming collective gave a resounding "HELL NO" and they had to drop the price....and 500 bones is STILL too much and now they're drowning in failure in the shadow of the Wii (Jack Tretton was so nervous at the press conference...he kind of seemed like a worm on a hook for the entire show).

Why bother writing all this for all of you? Because I'm one of you, and I. AM. EXCITED. The holiday season is truly going to blow us away like no other season before. So many new games, so many new opportunities...I finally feel like the industry is shaping around me, and I've lost the feeling that I can't seem to find a decent game because games are being developed simply to gain capital. This new feeling makes me feel like I've stepped into a new world, I feel young, as if I haven't been playing games for the past 15 years or so.

I wanted to share this feeling with you, and to tell you that the gaming market needs us now more than ever. If you're one of the millions that own a next-gen consoles, you probably already know this, but I say to all of you: Welcome to the new generation of gaming, enjoy your stay. Cheers!