Game Players Put Hyper Realistic Action and Movie-Driven Titles on Their Holiday Wish Lists

Game Players Put Hyper Realistic Action and Movie-Driven Titles on Their Holiday Wish Lists

PITTSBURGH, Dec. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- This holiday gift-giving season, don't be overwhelmed by the choices for your game-playing addicted loved ones. According to experts at The Art Institutes, the games on this season's holiday wish lists will do everything but scream at you from the shelves to snap them up.

For Daniel Brick, Director of Game Art & Design at The Art Institute of Portland, there are a lot of choices this holiday season for the game-playing fanatic in your life. "Halo2" (Bungie Software), "Half-Life2 Special Edition" DVD (Vivendi Universal Games), "Doom3" (Id Software with Activision) and "Men Of Valor" (Vivendi Universal Games), according to Brick, "All reach new heights in terms of graphics with "Doom3" leading the way with new lighting and an immersive sound quality that brings hyper realistic real-time rendering to a new level. The creator of the original first-person shooter game continues to set the standard for how games will look in the future."

A game-playing retro flash back this holiday season is Atari's 2004 Classic Gaming Favorites from the early Atari 2600 days. Games that generation X used to play in the late 70's are now packaged in the Atari Anthology bundle for the PC, Playstation2 and Xbox. These games are not just nostalgic for the X generation, but also for those GenX parents who want to introduce them to their kids.

And it seems as though there's no escaping "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" (Rockstar) for this gift-giving season. According to Milan Petrovich, Academic Director for Game Art & Design at The Art Institute of Las Vegas, "This sequel to the Grand Theft Auto series builds on its successful formula of freewheeling, open-ended gameplay and expands it considerably." Buyer beware cautions Petrovich. "Like the other games in the series, GTA:SA is violent, offensive and filled with derogatory stereotypes and is not meant for players younger than 17." However, he adds, "It's also wildly entertaining and fun to play. This is one of the hottest games currently on the market."

Ryan Lowe, an instructor of Interactive Media Design with The Art Institute of Tampa, while acknowledging the popularity of "Grand Theft Auto," says that if you're buying a game for someone who likes the game-playing elements of GTA, consider "Need for Speed Underground 2" by EA (Electronic Arts). According to Lowe, "This was a great game last year with turbo upgrades, better tires and new ECU chips."

And it's not just games that will be sitting under the tree Christmas morning. Chris McGhee, Academic Director of Game Art & Design and Multimedia & Web Design for The Art Institute of Phoenix, says that "media will be king this holiday season." For example, he says, "While the iPods are a little pricier than some of their competitors, the design and quality make them worth the money and Apple will continue to sell a ton of them." In addition, McGhee sees handheld media units like Video Now as being big sellers this holiday season. Says McGhee, "They've recently been upgraded for color screens and allow the kids to watch videos on small handheld devices."

All our experts agree that another big trend this holiday season is game and movie tie-ins. According to Daniel Brick, "The big game publishers merging with the film industry to release titles with the release of the movie, for example 'The Incredibles,' 'Spiderman,' 'Sponge Bob' and 'Lord of the Rings.'" In addition Brick says that game manufacturers are seeking "new age groups and genres to hit beyond the 17-25 male market. The new growth is in the areas of games for women ages 25-45, handheld cell phones and early childhood educational games synergized with large retail markets like Wal-Mart and Toys-R-Us."

So if you're heading out to buy games for those on your list who came up on the right side of "naughty or nice," here's what's hot for the holidays:

Adult/Teen

Halo2 - Bungie Software
Half-Life2 Special Edition DVD - Vivendi Universal Games
Doom3 - Id Software with Activision
Men Of Valor - Vivendi Universal Games
Madden NFL 2005 - Electronic Arts Sports
Sid Meier's Pirates!(R) PC - Atari
Fable - Microsoft(R) Game Studios
Prince of Persia: Warrior Within - Ubisoft
Lord of the Rings: The Third Age - EA (Electronic Arts)
The Urbz - EA
Everquest 2 - Sony
WOW (World of Warcraft) - Blizzard

Younger Players

Nancy Drew Series - Her Interactive
SuperMario Sunshine - Nintendo
Crash Bandecoot - The Wrath of Cortex or Nitro Cart - publisher: Konami
Sonic Heroes - Sega
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door - Nintendo



To check out a game's appropriateness for children or young teens, parents can visit the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) web site at http://www.esrb.org/ to search a game by rating and content description.

The Art Institutes system of 31 education institutions is located throughout North America, providing an important source of design, media arts, fashion and culinary professionals. The Art Institutes system of schools has provided career-oriented education programs for 40 years with more than 160,000 graduates. For more information visit The Art Institutes website at http://www.artinstitutes.edu/nr .


Source: The Art Institutes

CONTACT: Barbara Vilanova of The Art Institutes, +1-412-242-0796

Web site: http://www.artinstitutes.edu/nr
http://www.esrb.org/


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