Video Game bigger than Major Movie

If you think Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has had a major impact on just the video game industry, you may need to adjust your expectations.

According to Activision Blizzard, the game's publisher, Modern Warfare 2 has set records across the entire entertainment industry.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is the "biggest entertainment launch in history," Activision said in a statement. In its first five days of availability, the game set a worldwide record with about $550 million in sales, according to internal Activision figures. It's impressive. But more impressive is the list of launches that it beat out.

In the first five days of availability, Modern Warfare 2 has eclipsed the largest worldwide box-office opening, held by "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," which tallied $394 million over its first five days. It also beat "The Dark Knight," which holds the U.S. box-office record with $203.8 million in first five-day sales. The game also narrowly trumped Grand Theft Auto IV, which captured $500 million in sales in its first five days of availability. The game's success also translated to major numbers on Xbox Live. Activision reported that "more than 5.2 million multiplayer hours were logged playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on the first day alone." On November 10, 2.2 million unique gamers played on Xbox Live, setting a new one-day record for the online-gaming platform.

Haynes Iphone App

Haynes, publisher of the famous Haynes Owners Workshop Manuals for cars and motorcycles, and leading publisher of general practical books has released the first Haynes iPhone App under a licensing agreement with technology company, Gourmet Pixel.

The Haynes App will be as intuitive and simple to use as the classic Haynes repair manual, featuring step-by-step guides with images and text, 30 easy-to-access automotive categories and an overview to learn the basics of how a car works and operates. It will also include videos so users can watch exactly how each task is completed by a Haynes engineer.

In addition there will be a ‘My Garage’ section to help with all those annoying tasks, including: service reminders, MOT, Insurance and tax renewal dates. The Haynes App will also include the ultimate ‘To Do List’, so the user can easily prioritise jobs. From weekly checks, to winter driving, the Haynes App will be full of comprehensive Haynes information and more topics will be added in the future.

Under the Agreement, Gourmet Pixel will work closely with Haynes to exploit various opportunities for the full range of Haynes content, both Gourmet Pixel and Haynes will be looking for significant sales on this evolving platform.

Playing Games Is Healthy

Encouraging children to use interactive computer games such as the Nintendo Wii will become part of a public health drive to tackle rising rates of obesity in the young.
In a pilot project in the East Midlands, gaming systems were given to overweight children to encourage them to take more exercise. Highlighting the scheme in his annual report, Sir Liam Donaldson, the Chief Medical Officer, said that video gaming was a key cause of obesity in children and young adults. He said that stopping children playing video games was impractical, so researchers and public health strategists were looking at ways to use them to improve health instead.
Researchers found that playing dynamic, interactive games instead of sedentary ones could increase the number of calories burnt by 42 per cent. If children engaged in active play for 60 minutes a day over a year, they would burn approximately 7½lb of body fat.
The research group includes representatives from GameCity, a street-level programme of activity that celebrates video games and interactive entertainment, Nottingham Trent University, the Department of Health, and clinicians from Nottingham University Hospital.
The first study of 15 children – 14 boys and one girl – showed that the heart rate could be raised and sustained at moderate to vigorous intensities during active game play.
Researchers concluded that highly interactive games could be a way for children to do the recommended amount of physical activity at home. The minimum amount is at least half an hour of vigorous exercise three times a week.
The second phase of the study is using gaming systems as an intervention strategy to encourage physical activity. Gaming consoles are being provided to 20 members of a support group for overweight and obese children. The researchers said that with many of the children finding it difficult to exercise because of their weight, games that could be played in the safety of the child’s own home offered a possible solution.
Like many regions of Britain, obesity has risen sharply in the East Midlands, particularly among boys. The proportion of boys who are obese increased from 0.9 per cent in 1995 to 17.3 per cent in 2006, while in girls it rose from 12 per cent to 14.7 per cent in the same period.
Sir Liam said that the second phase of the study was expected to be completed in the next few months.
“The findings will be used to develop a strategy to encourage behavioural change in children and promote involvement in physical activity,” he added.
Times Online Mar 09

More than half of parents view video games as a ‘great social experience’, says survey

Almost two-thirds of parents believe video games provide a great social experience, while more than half think gaming helps to bring their family together, according to a new study from Microsoft. Eighty per cent of the parents it surveyed said that video games were a vital component in a “balanced blend” of modern and traditional home entertainment.
Microsoft’s survey, which questioned over 2,500 parents in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and the United States, along with 1,000 British children, gauged attitudes on a host of issues surrounding video games. It’s the second consecutive year that Microsoft, which makes the Xbox 360 games console, has commissioned the study.
The research revealed that 81 per cent of British children play video games at least once a week, with more than three-quarters playing against other gamers online. One third of parents admitted to knowing little about who their child was playing against online, and 42 per cent expressed concern that online gaming was pitting their child against older gamers. However, only five per cent of children surveyed said they had encountered a worrying or frightening experience while playing online.
Microsoft’s Play Smart, Play Safe study found that in the last 12 months, parents had become more aware of the parental safety controls built in to modern video games consoles to restrict access to specific content and age rated games. Seventy-three per cent of parents said they know of the controls, up from 60 per cent last year. TELEGRAPH MAR 09

US videogames market 2008

NPD Group analyst Anita Frazier, 2009 DICE Summit: As of 2008, 58 percent of the U.S. population aged 13 and over plays video games. "Amongst every dollar spent on entertainment, video games have the most share," said Frazier, and this translates to 27 percent of each entertainment dollar spent in 2008.One area which NPD has been having trouble with is digital downloads, but they did reveal some information. "PC game sales at retail have declined by over 50 percent in the last seven years," she said, but NPD does track subscriptions, which showed them that PC gaming is at least twice what retail shows.Though Frazier reminded us that this was a very rough estimate, NPD guesses that the total content picture for the game industry, including PC and console, might include non-retail sales of $2.3 billion overall, and retail sales of $11.7 billion."Online gaming has increased two percentage points from last year," she added, and within the console space, she revealed that of "the top three systems used for online play, it’s the Xbox 360, followed by the Wii, followed by the PS3. Last year, the PS2 was in the second spot."As a point of triumph for the industry, Frazier revealed new data that just arrived in her inbox last night. "The number of people gaming this year has increased to 61 percent [of the U.S. population]," she said. "The industry has gained an additional six million gamers over the last year.""About half of unit sales are for kids 17 and under," she added. "The retail market is very dominated by young people." The audience is 72 percent male, but women control "about half the spending in video games," says Frazier, reminding us that casual and more family-oriented games are spurring industry growth.

Gamasutra Feb 09

Vidgame software sales see double-digit spike in 2008

While taking a slide in Japan, US and UK video game sales are up according to the latest data released in the Top Global Markets integrated monthly report derived from The NPD Group, GfK Chart-Track Limited and Enterbrain POS data. The three market research firms have combined their vidgame software unit sales data for the world's three largest gaming markets. The resulting report shows unit sales across the three regions were up by 11% in 2008, totaling 409.9 million units. The overall number, however, doesn't reflect the fact that unit sales were up by 15% and 26% in the US and the UK, respectively, while Japanese sales were down by 13%, largely as a result of the decline in portable and console software sales in the country. The PS2 software market in Japan saw a 46% decrease in unit sales in 2008 - even sales for the popular Nintendo DS were down, though new-gen consoles (PS3, Wii and Xbox 360) saw positive year-over-year growth. Meanwhile, the UK experienced the largest aggregate and category growth, with console software sales enjoying a 38% increase and portable software sales increasing by 6%. State-side, console software sales spiked 22% with portable software sales moving up by 2%. Kid games are also topping the charts, as the report found that three of Nintendo's family-friendly titles in 2008, Mario Kart Wii, Wii Fit and Super Smash Bros: Brawl were in the top five games of 2008. KIDSCREEN FEB 09

Games will 'eclipse' other media

Video games are poised to "eclipse" all other forms of entertainment, according to games studio boss Mike Griffith. The Activision chief made the bold call during a keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. He said video games were prospering as interest in almost every other category of entertainment declines. Mr Griffith said social gaming, more interactivity and better technology would help gaming dominate the entertainment landscape in future. He said: "Movies, recorded music and TV - these are all stagnating or contracting entertainment sectors." He quoted US market statistics which showed that between 2003 and 2007 sales of movie tickets fell by 6%; the number of hours of TV watched dropped by 6%, sales of recorded music slumped 12% and purchases of DVDs remained flat. Over the same four-year period, said Mr Griffith, the video game industry grew by 40%. "Video games are poised to eclipse all other forms of entertainment in the decade ahead," he said. The success of Guitar Hero, said Mr Griffith, showed how influential gaming had become on many other entertainment sectors. He quoted Nielsen SoundScan data which showed that artists whose music featured on Guitar HEro had seen a rise in download sales of 15-843%. The game had proved so popular that some bands, such as Metallica and Aerosmith, were bringing out a version of the game that only features their music. "Music has a history of evolving through technology and we are at the beginning of the latest chapter in that story," he said. Technology, community and interactivity were the three factors that would help the video game industry become the driving force in entertainment, said Mr Griffith. The powerful processors in consoles such as the PS3 and Xbox 360 meant that games were getting ever more realistic and immersive, he said. "Games are no longer pre-set trips through linear mazes," said Mr Griffith. "They are becoming a legitimate story-telling medium that rivals feature films." He cited the video game of the latest James Bond film Quantum of Solace (QoS) as an example of how games were taking over. "The moviegoer is passive whereas the gamer is active and part of the game itself," he said, adding that anyone who played QoS would spend more than 50 hours in the company of James Bond compared to only 106 minutes if they watched the movie. The communities growing up around titles such as Guitar Hero World Tour also showed how entertainment was changing, he said. Owners of the game had created 141,000 tracks of their own using its in-built mixing studio and uploaded them to the Guitar Hero community site, which now has more than 600,000 members, he said.
More interactive controllers such as the guitars and drums in Guitar Hero and the Wiimote on Nintendo's gaming console were also helping encourage more people to take up gaming, said Mr Griffiths. "Those new controllers are encouraging new ways to become more socially active in gaming," he said. "They are bringing in a whole new group of consumers that have never before been involved in gaming." He concluded: "The one thing that is for sure is entertainment is changed forever with gaming." BBC JAN 09