Video Games
Where would the world be without video games? I’m not kidding, either. While you may scoff at the concept of
sitting in front of a television screen plugging away at that final boss, the
truth of the matter is that video games are serious business.
By 2008, industry experts think that the global video game
market will top $55 billion. It’s
estimated that over half of all Americans play video games. In 2002 every household bought an average of
two video games. And though you may
think that video games are ’just for kids,’ adults purchase about ninety
percent of all games and the average age of players is 29. Women are getting more involved these days
too. Over forty percent of all video
game players are now female.
The flavor of choice among all gamers is the console gaming
system. Almost every household in America
has a console of some sort. The most
popular system to date is the Playstation 2, with over 20 million units
installed in the country so far.
Straggling behind, the Microsoft XBOX and Nintendo Gamecube combined
cannot surpass Playstation 2’s popularity.
While console gaming represents the vast majority of the
gaming market, PC games are in an era of serious decline despite continued
efforts of developers around the world.
It’s estimated that by 2008, console gamers will outspend PC gamers by
$7 billion dollars. Despite better
graphics, the ability to patch games to fix bugs, and a growing multiplayer
segment, PC games will be unable to cope with the multiplayer demands as PC
gaming technology outpaces broadband bandwidth. To make things worse for PC games, every new console system now
has the ability to handle multiplayer.
So why are video games so popular? One could argue that your time could be better-spent reading
books or exercising. But the thing is,
our stereotypes of the super-geek or the fat kid sitting at home drinking cola
and eating pizza just doesn’t hold up anymore.
Everyone is getting into video games.
It’s mainly because they offer such an exciting prospect of escape into
a fantasy world. As technology evolves,
the immersion factor is increasing on a ridiculous scale. The widespread availability
of cross-platform games also means that consumers have access to a huge
catalogue of games at once.
Now that video games are here to stay the industry is
gearing up for a new era of marketing and development. Huge video game releases like Grand Theft
Auto: San Andreas and Half-life 2 are treated like mega-blockbuster film
releases with advertisements across all media and trailers designed to heighten
anticipation. Let’s face it. Video games are fun. The stigma of playing video games has
disappeared over the last two decades and the gaming renaissance has begun!
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