Calm Before the Storm

August is that month in between summer and fall that is all but devoid of hot new titles (with the notable exception of a few N64 games, of course). But that time of the year that video game players and companies look forward to most is fast approaching - it's almost impossible not to think of the titles to be released just a month or so down the line.

To endure the wait, prepurchasers reserve their copies of the hot fall titles while searching the Web and scouring through video game magazines to find out what to put on the "to buy" list next. Calm though it is now, this year will prove to be a boom time for 32-bit consoles.

When I think of all the games coming out this fall I'm planning to purchase - goodbye, wallet - it's easy to see that the industry itself has transformed. Gone are the days where movie-, comic book-, and cartoon-licensed games dominated store shelves. Instead, companies are actually encouraging innovation, and instead of creating games in-house, are licensing games from independent developers. Sure, there are plenty of Doom, Duke, and Quake games for consoles, but who cares.

The next three months - September, October, and November - will shape how the video game industry finishes this year. September alone is filled to the brim with many of Sony's own first-party titles. It's inevitable that before too long the price of the PlayStation is going to fall - maybe even to the key $99 price point. Sega and Nintendo will have no choice but to follow, unless one happens to drops its price first.

As the good years of 8- and 16-bit have proven before, there's usually one peak year for video game systems in their short lifespan. Despite boastful positioning from Sega and Sony, it's doubtful that they'll have as good a year next year. This year will definitely be Saturn's last fling, with plenty of first-party titles to make the huge lack of third-party support go unnoticed by Sega fans. The PlayStation has at least another year of good games left in it, probably more. The Nintendo 64 will do well this year if Nintendo can keep the first-party games coming, which are probably the only thing keeping the system afloat.

That doesn't mean there isn't more to come for today's systems. Plenty of people stayed with the Super Nintendo, and Genesis well into the run of the Saturn and PlayStation. In this ever-changing industry, one thing is certain: new hardware will eventually come in to wipe away the old. If I were a betting man, I'd say that Sega will pull Dural out of hiding sometime before the end of the year.

Surely the next few months will be exciting ones. Plenty of good games are on their way, and as another school year begins and the summer comes to an end, just think - Final Fantasy VII is almost here!