Also worth noting: The rise of widespread broadband access is quickly giving way to a new breed of software creator. In particular, one who looks much the same as the amateur hackers and bedroom coders synonymous with gaming's primordial dawn. Thanks to titles which champion user-generated content (e.g. and LittleBigPlanet); widespread availability of user-friendly tools like Warcraft III's World Editor and Microsoft's Kodu platform; and the internet's availability as a ready-made distribution platform, the garage days are officially back. Now, even a single keyboard jock sitting alone at home can create the next interactive sensation, and both connect and communicate with a huge base of fans worldwide. Armed with a means of survival courtesy of direct and ready-made distribution vehicles like GamePro Labs or Live Community Games, indies can finally thrive. Unconstrained by corporate mandates, itchy shareholders and micromanaging bosses, visionaries like Jason Rohrer (Passage, Between) and (Braid) are already pushing creative boundaries further than they've previously gone. And, naturally, fleshing out the overall gaming landscape by filling in the virtual blanks, providing pioneering new types of play styles and even genres where none existed before.

Other sweeping trends are gaining in stature as well. For example, games morphing from one-shot products into ongoing services instead, as evidenced by the rise of MMOs like zOMG! and World of Warcraft. Let's not discount the possible disappearance of the gamepad either, per the announcement of motion-sensing controllers like Sony's new wand and Project Natal. Check portals such as Shockwave, Kongregate and AddictingGames, and you can't help but be struck by the thousands of Flash (free, internet browser-ready) games readily available too, with dozens more being added every day. And all this comes before we've even touched on emerging phenomena such as microtransactions; downloadable on-demand content expansions (DLC); episodic game installments; serious games; titles which creators can update and iterate upon based on buyer feedback in real-time; and computing services like and that promise to stream high-end games right to your TV or desktop.

Add it all up and what you get isn't an in its death throes. Rather, one that's experiencing a veritable renaissance, and splintering in so many promising directions and at such a pace that even us 30-year veterans can barely keep up. It isn't interactive entertainment which is croaking per se - just the traditional definition of "video games" as we've previously come to know them. And, of course, the present business practices championed by traditional big box publishers, whose hits-driven model (wherein, as a rule of thumb, one smash success typically pays for ten crushing failures) has begun to fail in an age of educated consumption and ballooning financial bets. Which, to come full circle, is why it's time we finally grew a pair, and drew a line in the sand. Because for the old guard, the mandate is simple: Change or die. No longer can publishers afford to stick their head in the sand and stay hooked on the old ways of doing business, trying to effectively dictate terms to the game buying public or employ clever marketing to pull the wool over aficionados' eyes. The proverbial cat's out of the bag, and power is now in the hands of players, who've got more places to turn than ever before when the urge to while away at the keyboard or joystick strikes.

All hyperbole aside (see, I told you I had a flair for the dramatic), let's be honest: As evidenced by the recent resurrection of Space Ace and Monkey Island (including unexpected ports of both no less), no game or genre ever really dies. (Nor platforms, given the existence of niche markets and software emulators... or, while we're at it, the N-Gage's Jason Vorhees'-like unwillingness to give up the ghost). Along the same lines, we'll never see the complete abandonment of so-called "AAA," or cinema-grade blockbuster experiences either. After all, to make a poor analogy, we all enjoy a big, dumb summer film every now and then as much as a quirky independent flick. Instead, what's likelier to happen in coming months is greater industry consolidation, as towering publishers and studios with considerable cash reserves gobble up smaller players, learn from these concerns, and gain in stature when the market rebounds. (A safe assumption: In the meantime, they'll focus more on "surefire" bets like sequels and licensed titles than unproven options such as original properties, seen as a greater risk). Either way, what you won't see reflected in those shrinking numbers everyone so loves harping upon lately is the amount of cash, or goodwill, quickly flowing into the coffers of newer, more innovative gaming concerns via countless previously unexplored avenues.

Blame luck, serendipity, or just a good old-fashioned recession. But what we're witnessing here is a stunning confluence of events that continue to reshape the face of gaming as we know it. And history, my friends, is being made as we speak. The big question: Will giants like Electronic Arts, THQ, and adapt with the times and break their dependence on the same boom and bust cycle the industry's been prey to for so long, or continue to raise the stakes still higher in hopes of gaining victory by being the last man standing? Only time will tell.

Going forward in the coming weeks, I sincerely look forward to joining you as we take a closer peek at the news and events that will help define the modern era of gaming as it enters its latest phase of existence. Because fate itself is quickly hitting the reset button on one of the world's most treasured pastimes, and with it literally anyone's game at this point, well... Like many of you, I can't wait to find out what happens when we reboot.

Video game expert and TV/radio host is the author of Get Rich Playing Games and the creator of game industry documentary series Players Only. A celebrated gadget guru and technology expert, he frequently appears as a technology and video game analyst on broadcast networks like ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC and CNN, and has contributed to 400+ outlets from The New York Times to Playboy and Rolling Stone. For more of his insights, visit www.scottsteinberg.com.

By Scott Steinberg