The Decline of Gaming

I like to think of myself as a pretty avid gamer. Not hardcore per se but certainly I play games much more than a casual gamer. When the ps2 came out way back in 2000 I was one of the lucky few to waltz in to my local KB Toys (this was before GameStop and EBGames were nation wide) and purchase the ps2 i had pre-ordered the previous summer. You can imagine my surprise when they were being sold on Ebay for thousands of dollars. Needless to say I didn't even think of selling mine. Because I bought it so I could play on it, which you would think would be an obvious concept. But with last weeks release of the ps3 it is evident that gaming is not so much about the games anymore. Many gaming and tech sites, such as Kotaku (which you can find in the links section), went and interviewed "gamers" who stood out in the cold and rain for days to get a ps3. And over 50% of the people interviewed said they were simply getting one to sell on Ebay...how does that make any sense? Are people that money hungry that they are willing to stand outside in 30 degree weather for 72 hours just to be able to make what now amounts to about a 400 dollar profit. The whole next-gen situation is giving some pretty clear signs that the gaming industry is heading downhill. Now I'm going back to playing Final Fantasy XII.

~Aldana