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Saturday, December 22, 2007
“Gamers like interaction”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
He grew up playing video games.
Foxx Crump, 31, still plays them to this very day.
He owns a PlayStation 2, an X-box 360, an HD/DVD combo and more games than he cares to count. He figures he’s spent $2,000 on accessories, games and such this year alone.
“It’s part of my life,” he told me while we waiting for the GameStop, a video store in Lilburn, to open.
Friday was a special day for folks who wanted to buy the Wii, Nintendo’s year-old gaming console. Worldwide demand for the $250 system has outpaced supply. So with none in stock, GameStop franchises in Gwinnett and elsewhere issued rain checks on the sought-after unit. Customers had to pay the full price on the spot; the console is guaranteed by Jan. 25.
Last year, Crump found himself in the same bind as this year’s Wii customers. He couldn’t find the console at retailers in metro Atlanta. He still got one, though.
“A friend found a store in one of those podunk places outside Sandersville that had Wiis,” said Crump, who had a day off from his job at Graphic Edge of Alpharetta.
The video gaming industry is huge. Ars Tehnica Journal, an online gaming magazine, predicts the industry will be twice as big as the music industry by 2011. Between 1996 and 2006, U.S. sales surged to $7 billion from $2.6 billion, according to the publication.
And it’s not just young people doing the buying. The Wii console has attracted older adults because of its family-friendly games and the physical movement it affords. (I wouldn’t call it exercise, though.)
My son has a PlayStation 2 and a Nintendo DS. He’s tried to engage me, especially in the PlayStation sports games, but it’s yet to stick. I once asked him what fascinated him about it. He talked about the interaction and being able to control movement.
Crump, who grew up in Franklin Springs, outside Athens, told me his parents wondered likewise when he was a kid. His answer mirrored Miles’.
“It’s like you’re in a movie,” he said. “You’re part of it. You have a role in it, and you’re making events happen.”
Crump’s roommate is a gamer, too. He has a Nintendo DS. Crump was at the GameStop Friday to buy him a couple of games. Christmas presents.
Something tells me Crump will enjoy the gifts as much as his friend.
Rick Badie’s column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875 or e-mail rbadie@ajc.com.
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