The 80’s had their rock stars, the 90’s had their movie stars and in the present, we have our Z-list celebrities. Every decade has had their defining tabloid headlines about the aforementioned type of celebrities. But what’s the 2010’s going to bring us?

Well, I think it will be gaming stars. Don’t laugh at me and don’t jeer. Think about it. With the likes of Gabe and Tyco releasing games and with their comic being worth millions, why not? With the likes of Sky One featuring a gaming competition, albeit late at night, why not? With the likes of Podcasts such as Major Nelson Radio and Sarcastic Gamers achieving hundreds and thousands of listeners, why not? With the likes of Major Nelson being recognised by actors and musicians at Comicon and being told how much THEY love HIM, why not? With the likes MLG and professional gamers like Fatality making a living from playing video games and groups like Gamingpro.net making good money from sponsorships and with many companies noticing how quickly the industry growing, why not? With the industry now making more money than any other entertainment industry, why not? With Charismatic people like Jade Raymond and Clifford B now making more and more appearances, they look like movie stars and yet… their gamers and they are representing gamers, Why not? I’ve seen people be surprised when I tell them they are making the games I play.

The face of gaming is changing and it is changing rapidly. I have heard it time and time again that gaming is becoming more and more mainstream and it is moving from sad pre-pubescence boys and some 35 ish year old living in his mum’s basement to normal people. My sister, who used to hate video games, absolutely loves my DS so much; I haven’t seen it for almost two months. She loves CSI games  and singstar and will even sit down to play a game like Call of Duty 4 and I know your relatives are becoming more and more attuned to gaming with the rise of the casual gamer. Hardcore gamers are afraid that this will saturate the market with shovel-ware but I think this will lead the industry to many things. You may be surprised to know that I have only be gaming for 7 years and I only started to consider myself a hardcore gamer in the past year. A year ago, I never knew anything about the industry and I couldn’t have cared less about the likes of E3 and so on. But look at me now, in a short year, I have been a clan match organiser, member in several gaming forums, a blogger ABOUT gaming and a bit of a cock-eyed know it all. In the past short year I have played some amazing games, I have met some amazing people (wx ash, wx Danno and the whole former NTA Clan, not to mention people on forums like this on) I have had so many amazing experiences and it is all because I picked up that PS1 controller and played Spryo!

So, you see, while you may have all sniggered at the beginning of this post, I hope you can see how Gaming will be next big thing and we will soon read, “LORD BLING SNIFFS CRACK OFF OF PARIS HILTONS TITS, CAUGHT ON TAPE!!” on web pages and newspapers. I see gaming stars in magazines like Cosmo and Heat and Hello! Being the next big things… Make my words, people, the future is coming and I want to be at the forefront… who’s with me?