Women Gamers in the Home of Chrome

PC World’s Erika Ingvald reported today on women gamers, focusing on the highly successful, 7-member “girlz 0f destruction” team, which was formed in October, 2001.

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Four team members recently moved into the first-ever dedicated eSports home, which is subsidized by Taipei-based team sponsor Via Technologies, a global supplier of high-end computer hardware. The house is situated right in the heart of the European gaming community, in the city of Sollentuna, some 10 miles north of Stockholm, Sweden.

There’s plenty of money in the gaming pot. All in all, the PC gaming industry estimates global sales of around $20 billion and U.S. sales of around $7 billion in 2005. The house, which cost Via about $250,000 this year, is named “Home of Chrome,” after Via’s and S3 Graphics’ Chrome brand and Chrome S27.

Moving far away from family and friends, even changing countries, has been one of the toughest issues, the “girlz” say. But it can be worth it. PC gaming is increasingly competitive, and tournament prizes are escalating. For instance, the Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) in 2005 gave out a total of $1 million in prizes on its world tour.

To attract the best sparring partners, the “girlz 0f destruction” will host both amateur and professional gamers, as well as others interested in the eSports lifestyle. Already, guests from the professional gaming community are coming to play in the house.

And there is a lot of space. The LAN gaming room, equipped with the latest gaming gear from Via, is called the Kremlin, since it is a huge open space pretty much like Moscow’s Red Square. Add to that a veranda and a balcony for nice summer evenings, and a sunroom and sauna for relaxing after long hours of practicing.

PS3 Release Delayed

Sony has announced that the new Playstation 3 game console will not be released in Japan until November. The news was expected by still caused Sony stock to drop 1.8 percent on the day.

The machine was supposed to be on the street this spring. Still, Sony says it will produce 1 million consoles a month and have 6 million available by next March.

The console with have a 60 GB hard drive that will support Linux out of the box. It will be completely backward compatible with PS1 and 2 and will upscale old games into high definition.

The whole system is supported by Blu-ray anti-piracy technology, which is where the hangup is coming from that’s causing the delay in release.

Will the wait hurt Sony, which desperately needs a new hit? It will have been more than a year since the new X-Box came out, so one can only guess what the repercussions will be.