Category: Gaming

Women Make Up 45% of Cellphone Gamers; Market to be $17 Billion by 2011

March 7, 2007August 20, 2008 Bob Caswell 4 Comments

According to Juniper Research, the cellphone gaming market will increase from about $3 billion today to over $17 billion by 2011. Just this year alone, more than one billion cellphones are expected to sell. While traditional gamers are mostly kids or men in their 20s (though women gamers and older gamers are on the rise), cellphone games have a high likelihood of being played by anyone who has a cellphone. The kid or twenty-something stereotype need not apply.

Gadgets, Gaming, Tech News

Booming Game Industry Influencing Stalling Music Industry

March 5, 2007August 20, 2008 Bob Caswell No Comments

Electronic Arts has a new page on its site specifically designed for buying music that has been featured in its games. The music is being sold through iTunes but is more easily found on EA’s site (called EA Trax), which just links you to iTunes when you’re ready to make a purchase. The EA site also offers much of the same music available as ringtones for your cellphone. The buzz surrounding this move is that video games are playing a much larger role in promoting new music, as the game industry is booming while the music industry is stalling.

Apple, Gaming, Music, Tech News

Game Industry Worried: Gamers Giving It Up As They Grow Up

February 14, 2007August 20, 2008 Bob Caswell 1 Comment

Mike Vorhaus is the managing director of the consulting and research firm Frank N. Magid Associates and is in charge of a fairly in-depth study of consumer trends in gaming. His latest work is that of profiling “lapsed” console gamers. Here’s what he found:

Guys, of course, are the core of the console-games market and are the basis of his study. Vorhaus refers to declining gamer activity as “cliffs” in the gamers life. The first group, 12-to-17-year-old boys, has 78% playing console games at least once a week. But when boys become men and enter the 18-to-34-year-old bracket, they fall off the first cliff. Those still playing console games weekly: 42%.

Gaming, Microsoft, Sony, Tech News

Germany & The Netherlands Consider Banning Video Games: Why This Is Wrong

January 19, 2007August 20, 2008 Bob Caswell 2 Comments

The Economist (subscription required) has an excellent piece outlining the silliness associated with banning video games. The proponents of banning use the same old tired arguments that have been used throughout history, including: games poison your mind and corrupt your morals, games make you excited or aggressive, and my personal favorite: games lead to criminal behavior. Here’s why each of those arguments is false:

Gaming, Tech News

Sony Claims Wii Is “More of a Novelty” Despite Wii Sales Doubling PS3 Sales

December 12, 2006August 20, 2008 Bob Caswell 33 Comments

Wii_4 The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) has an article out that indirectly outlines Nintendo’s comeback into the gaming world. Accordingly, U.S. retailers estimate that nearly 1.5 million Wiis will be sold before Christmas, about twice as many as the PS3. Nintendo explains that “Demand, as you can see from the reaction of consumers, has been greater than even we had hoped for.”

Sony’s response? “We feel very confident that the PlayStation fan is going to wait until
they can get a PlayStation 3…If they do pick up a Wii, it’s as more of a novelty,” says Sony spokesman Dave Karraker.

Gaming, Tech News

Wii Workout Poll Results: Americans vs. Non-Americans

November 26, 2006August 19, 2008 Bob Caswell 25 Comments

Wii2 This is part 3 of what I’ve decided to call the “Will Workout Series.” Part 1 was discussing how the new Nintendo Wii is causing aching backs and sore shoulders (among other things) across America. Part 2 was a poll to determine if it was just Americans or if others are experiencing this phenomenon. And part 3… The results of the poll!

The poll is still open for anyone interested, but the results I’ll analyze and discuss here are from the first 300 votes. To recap, the question was “If you own a Nintendo Wii, how much of a workout is it for you?” Here are the results (followed by commentary below):

Gaming

Poll: If you have a Wii, is it a workout?

November 25, 2006August 19, 2008 Bob Caswell 2 Comments

Wii_2 So the buzz around the blogosphere is that Americans are lazy because they have made mention of aching backs and sore shoulders after playing games on the new Nintendo Wii. The Wall Street Journal article I mentioned earlier gave many examples of Americans getting more than they bargained for while playing Wii games.

While the notion that Americans are lazy could be true, I thought I’d make a poll and ask. Sure, it’s a highly imperfect way to gather information on the lazy state of America, but so is reading one article about a few Americans… But never mind all that, let’s have some fun and see what we get!

Question: If you own a Nintendo Wii, how much of a workout is it for you?

Gaming

A Wii Workout: When Videogames Hurt

November 25, 2006August 19, 2008 Bob Caswell 33 Comments

Wii_1 The Wall Street Journal (subscription not needed) has an interesting article out today describing the aches and pains of Wii players. For those who might have been hibernating this Fall, the Wii is the latest gaming console from Nintendo that was released just two days after Sony’s PlayStation 3.

The Wii does not try to compete on a technical level (i.e. game graphics, etc.). Instead, Nintendo is hoping to convert non-gamers with “intuitive game play.” The controller it comes with is a wireless, motion-sensitive wand-like device that gamers wave around in the air perhaps as a sword, gun, steering wheel, tennis racket, or whatever a particular game calls for. But apparently, this type of game play amounts to some fairly intense exertion. Reports are coming in of aching backs, sore shoulders, and something now called “Wii elbow.”

Gaming, Tech News