It's Gold Season!

The 2005 "gold rush" season has officially begun. Game developers and publishers are racing to get their products out early, as the holiday shopping frenzy advances. Many big games went gold this week. Among the list: The Movies, Black and White 2, Camelot: Darkness Rising (MMO), and the one we've been waiting for, Quake IV!

What does "gold" mean? Basically, it's when the developers are officially done with the game, and a master disc, presumably made of gold, is sent to manufacturing plants for mass duplication. Although the master discs are not gold today, the term remains from when they were during the initial years of CD technology. By the way, did you know that CDs have officially been around for 22 years? It makes me feel old! Time to hide all those old cassettes. Now I am really showing my age, but I am sure many of you out there are getting a chuckle out of it, as you glance over at your 8-tracks!