The world is fast changing a few centuries ago the focus was on nations, economies, and science. With the onset of the cyber world gaming shares a platform along with important happenings in the world today. The year 2006 for avid gamers was full of expectations and excitement. According to statistics the US totaled more than USD 10.5 billion in hardware, software, and accessories sales alone setting a new record. Sony PSP and Nintendo DS took portable gaming to new horizons and many predictions were proven wrong in 2006.



The year 2006 brought excitement and thrills:

1.Three gaming consoles vied with each other for supremacy and the Xbox360; Sony PSP; and Nintendo Wii set pulses racing with gaming reaching new heights with the latest technology.

2.Gaming designers and companies like Vivendi Games, Activision, Rockstar, and Electronic Arts brought new games, revitalized games, and futuristic technology to gaming. God of War won accolades at DICE where game developers unveiled great plans for 2006.

3.The E3 or Electronic Entertainment Expo held in the Q2 of 2006 unveiled press conferences by giants in gaming as well as launches of new games like Assassin’s creed, Haze, Command and Conquer 3, and Wii Resident Evil among many others. Gaming gurus studies and reviewed the event and presented expert opinions on gaming delights.

4.Gaming watchers NPD kept a finger on the pulse of gaming and established that gaming was here to stay and figures were up by 29% over July 2005, 17% in August, and 38% in September.

5.The leaders in Q3 were Madden NFL 07 and Lego Star Wars II: The Original Triology which crossed the one million units sold hurdle. Consoler gaming reached new delights with announcements that Half-Life 2 rejuvenated, Street Fighter II’ Hyper Fighting and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion were all reaching out for Xbox360, PS#, and PSP.

6.Q4 reached new heights with launches of state-of-art gaming consoles like Wii and PSP3. Each had its fans and gaming was all a buzz with expectations, some joys as well as disappointments. Blizzard drew considerable attention with its massive multi-player role –playing masterpiece World of Warcraft.

7.NDP industry tracking revealed that Q4 reached new heights and that PS3 sold 197,000 systems while Wii sold 476,000 systems. According to the trackers 400,000 copies of the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was retailed.

8.Technological advancements in the gaming world reached new heights. High level graphics, speed, clarity, and multi-player gaming took gamers to new adventures. The gaming industry went all out to take gaming into the future with designers and hardware manufactures redefining gaming.

9.Change is inevitable and the Entertainment Software Association will have a new head as Douglas Lowenstein the founding President of ESA decided to move on.

10. The year laid the foundation of futuristic gaming hardware which set the trend for designers to focus on better software and greater games. 2007 will introduce multiplatform games like Grand Theft Auto IV, Army of Two, BioShock, and more.

The Gaming Industry is all set to reach new heights in the coming year with gaming gaining popularity world over. The World Wide Web, popularity of the internet, and tech savvy gaming consoles has caught and sustained the interest of gamers young and old. Gaming has expanded its base and become multi-player with gamers from all over the world vying their skills against opponents from all over the gaming universe.