Computer and video games

:This article is about computer and video games For the magazine see Computer and Video Games (magazine).

Popularity

The current industry consensus is that the popularity of computer and video games, as a whole, has been increasing steadily ever since the 1984-1987 dropoff caused by the video game crash of 1983, and that the popularity is continuing to increase. The average age of the video game player is now 29 http://biz.gamedaily.com/features.asp?article_id=8540&filter=myturn, falsely indicating that video games are not largely a diversion for teenagers. Although statistics may point torward an older, and more mature generation, videogames are a very large part of many teen's lives. Some teenagers spend as much as 3 hours a day playing video games.

Related Topics:
1984 - 1987 - Video game crash of 1983 - Teenager

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Sales

The four largest markets for computer and video games are the United States, Japan, Canada and the United Kingdom. Other significant markets include Spain, Germany, South Korea, France, and Italy. China is not considered a significant market, probably because an estimated 95% of video games sold in the country are pirated. http://slate.msn.com/id/2116629/

Related Topics:
United States - Japan - Canada - United Kingdom - Spain - Germany - South Korea - France - Italy - China - Pirated

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Sales of different types of games vary widely between these markets due to local preferences. Japanese consumers avoid computer games and instead buy video games, with a strong preference for games created in Japan, that run on Japanese consoles. In South Korea, computer games are preferred, especially MMORPG games and real-time strategy games; there are over 20,000 PC bang internet cafes where computer games can be played for an hourly charge.

Related Topics:
MMORPG - Real-time strategy - PC bang

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The NPD Group tracks computer and video game sales in the United States. It reported that as of 2004:

Related Topics:
NPD Group - As of 2004

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• Console and portable software sales: $6.2 billion, up 8% from 2003 http://gameinfowire.com/news.asp?nid=5650
• Console and portable hardware and accessory sales: $3.7 billion, down 35% from 2003 http://gameinfowire.com/news.asp?nid=5650
• PC game sales: $1.1 billion, down 2% from 2003 http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/01/28/news_6117438.html

These figures are sales in dollars, not units; unit shipments for each category were higher than the dollar sales numbers indicate, as more software and hardware was sold at reduced prices compared to 2003.

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Retail PC game sales have been declining slightly each year since about 1998, but this fact should be taken with a grain of salt: the retail sales numbers from NPD do not include sales from online downloads, nor subscription revenue for games like MMORPGs.

Related Topics:
1998 - MMORPG

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There is a commonly repeated, mistaken belief that video game sales now exceed the revenues of the movie industry. This is untrue; in the United States, video game sales have exceeded the movies' total box office revenue each year since about 1996, but the movie studios trounce the video game publishers when the movies' "ancillary revenue" is counted, meaning sales of DVDs, sales to foreign distributors, and sales to cable TV, satellite TV, and broadcast television networks.

Related Topics:
Movie industry - 1996 - Movie studio - Video game publisher - DVD - Cable TV - Satellite TV - Television network

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The game and film industries are also becoming increasingly intertwined, with companies like Sony having significant stakes in both. A large number of summer blockbuster films spawn a companion game, often launching at the same time in order to share the marketing costs.

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Computer and video games in the broader culture

Computer games are still big business in South Korea. Developers there boast MMORPGs such as Lineage and Ragnarok Online with millions of subscribers and a third of the world's MMOG revenue. StarCraft gosu (expert players) are celebrities in a game that some have called the country's national sport. The success of computer and online gaming there is usually credited to South Korea's push for broadband Internet connections in the home and earlier bans on Japanese products (these restrictions were removed by the late 1990s).

Related Topics:
South Korea - MMORPG - Lineage - Ragnarok Online - StarCraft - Gosu - National sport - Broadband

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Several websites and publications devoted solely to games have been created, including Official Xbox Magazine, Nintendo Power, Official Playstation Magazine, GamePro, GameSpot, GameSpy, IGN and GameFAQs.

Related Topics:
Official Xbox Magazine - Nintendo Power - Official Playstation Magazine - GamePro - GameSpot - GameSpy - IGN - GameFAQs

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Video gaming seems to be becoming a bigger part of popular culture. Many T-shirts are available that directly reference video games, such as one with a picture of an NES controller with the text 'Know Your Roots.' Also, video games have also become a major part in cross marketing platforms, such as in Pokémon or Yu-Gi-Oh, where a child can watch the television show, buy the trading cards, and play the various video games available.

Related Topics:
T-shirt - NES - Pokémon - Yu-Gi-Oh

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Video game properties have had mixed success when migrating to the movies. One of the first films based on a video game property was The Wizard, which some criticized as a 90-minute ad for Super Mario Brothers 3. In the mid-90s, films for Super Mario Brothers, Street Fighter, Wing Commander and Mortal Kombat were released. Reviews have generally been poor.

Related Topics:
The Wizard - Super Mario Brothers 3 - 90s - Super Mario Brothers - Street Fighter - Wing Commander - Mortal Kombat

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Despite the ultimately poor performance of these movies, many studios still want to turn big games into movies, hoping that the popularity of the game will help the movie. However, after the initial bunch, many projects materialized that were never finished, but the success of films like ' has led to more films materializing. Doom, a game which film makers were trying to cross over since the mid 90s is finally going into production. John Woo is also producing a movie on the popular Nintendo game, Metroid.

Related Topics:
Doom - John Woo - Nintendo - Metroid

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However, there is still debate in the movie industry on whether video games can be turned into good, profitable movies. Films like ', which has received mixed responses from audiences, with some saying it is a great movie, and others saying it is a very bad movie with excellent computer-generated imagery, but ultimately flopped in the box office, and Uwe Boll's House of the Dead and Alone in the Dark, which both ended up being horrible flops both in fan reactions and box office success and both ending up on the IMDB's bottom 100 movies, do not, in turn, give much confidence in whether these movies will be handled seriously. The recently released may change some people's minds though, even though it's a straight to DVD affair.

Related Topics:
Computer-generated imagery - Uwe Boll - House of the Dead - Alone in the Dark - IMDB

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On the other hand, video games get much more success when adapted into cartoons/animes. Some notables examples of major success includes the various Mario Bros. cartoons, Sonic SatAM, and Earthworm Jim while Sonic Underground, the American Mega Man cartoon and 4Kids' dubs (although this isn't limited to their video game-based dubs) are cited as being poor. Sometime, they even "help" more obscure/Japan-only games pick up popularity in America although rarely; To Heart would be the best example of such thing.

Related Topics:
Mario Bros. cartoons - Sonic SatAM - Earthworm Jim - Sonic Underground - Mega Man - 4Kids - To Heart

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Movies have had far more success moving the other direction, onto video games. Most summer blockbuster films now have a simultaneous video game release; some of the most lucrative video games of recent times are based on movies, such as Electronic Arts' Lord of the Rings series of games, and Activision's two Spider-Man movie games.

Related Topics:
Electronic Arts - Lord of the Rings - Activision - Spider-Man

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Even though movies have had more success in game convertion, not all movie games are good. Some publishers believe that the success of the movie will help the game sell, and so may not have as lengthy a development schedule as needed to make a compelling game. Some examples of this are the Catwoman and King Arthur movie games.

Related Topics:
Catwoman - King Arthur

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Also, video games have found themselves on MTV2, in a popular show called Video Mod, where characters from popular video games perform songs from hit artists, such as characters from The Sims 2 performing the song "Stacy's Mom" by Fountains Of Wayne.

Related Topics:
MTV2 - Video Mod - The Sims 2 - Fountains Of Wayne

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On the Internet, gaming has also become a popular subject of many webcomics. Currently there are two varieties. The first one is the sprite comic, such as 8 Bit Theatre, in which the artist uses sprites from the earlier Final Fantasy games to tell stories. Sometimes these are original stories, but are often parodies of the game in which the sprite came from. The other is a more traditional comic strip, containing original art, like Penny Arcade. Here, the storylines or jokes revolve around current events in video gaming. The success of Penny Arcade has attracted many people in the industry, including Ubisoft. Other parodies have come in the form of amateur videos, such as those of Mega 64.

Related Topics:
Webcomics - Sprite comic - 8 Bit Theatre - Sprites - Penny Arcade - Ubisoft - Mega 64

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In Germany, the TV channel NBC Europe broadcasts a show called GIGA, which turned more and more into a video and computer game show. In the show, new games are presented and reviewed. Lately, the show featured the esports scene a lot, by introducing professional players to the audience and broadcasting live competition matches.

Related Topics:
NBC Europe - Esports

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Medical prefessionals and professional athletes use video games to help them perform better in their line of work. Surgeons of the medical field use video games to improve hand-eye coordination and NASCAR drivers use video games to help them learn different race tracks and the quantity and quality of turns on the track.

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