Five gaming predictions for the New Millennium

I've got an old soldier in me, and he's anal as hell. That's why I'm celebrating the new millennium this year, instead of last. And with the start of the new millennium comes a host of millennium predictions. But I'm much too lazy to predict an entire century, so here's my top five predictions for the gaming world in the coming year, listed in order of importance.

XBox. Microsoft will launch their uber-console, the XBox, sometime between September and November. They will spend their half a billion dollar marketing budget in highly effective ways to market the system's launch a smashing success. While the XBox launch won't be as big as Playstation 2's was, Microsoft won't have the supply problems that Sony has experienced, which means that we can walk into a store at any time and be able to pick up a system on impulse.

Despite that, in a mad attempt to be the first Canadian to own an XBox, I will be camped out in front of EBX several days in advance of the launch date.

Gamecube. Nintendo, not wanting to go up against Microsoft for the Christmas season, will push the Gamecube launch into 2002. Hardcore Nintendo fans will be upset, but will buy the system anyway. Most everybody else won't, since despite Nintendo's best efforts, they will be branded as a "toy." Nintendo won't be going out of business by any stretch of the imagination, though. They will continue to own 100% of the handheld gaming market, which will keep them in the black until they are ready to return to the top of the food chain.

Black and White. Peter Molyneaux's much anticipated game will be released early in the year for PC platforms, and later on for almost every console out there. Expect to see it on the Playstation 2 and Dreamcast at least, although, given Lionhead's close relationship to Microsoft, it wouldn't be surprising to see an enhanced version available for the XBox launch. The initial PC release will be plagued with lots of minor bugs and glitches that will be quickly patched up, but the game will be stellar nonetheless. The Dreamcast and Playstation 2 versions will be bug-free and contain many new game elements.

Playstation 2. Sony will be hyping it's juggernaut extensively, but hostility from retailers, and a general lack of high-quality titles will keep the system from being as successful as the original PSOne. Sony will try its best to keep developers from jumping on the XBox bandwagon, but most American and European developers will back Microsoft to the fullest. Expect a bloodbath come Christmas time as Sony and MS battle it out in the media to get your hard-earned gaming dollars.

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