The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) recently released a new report called “2011 Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry.”

The annual report discloses demographics about the video game industry. For example:

• the average video gamer is now 37 years old, and has been playing video games for 12 years
• 55% of gamers play games on their phones or handheld devices
• $25.1 billion was spent on video games in 2010
• 86% of parents are aware of the ESRB. 98% of them trust the ratings as accurate
• The two biggest categories of ESRB games being sold are either rated E for Everyone or M for Mature (44% and 24% respectively)
• 45% of parents play video games with their kids weekly. In 2007 this number was only 36%.

According to their website, “The Entertainment Software Association is the U.S. association dedicated to serving the business and public affairs needs of companies publishing interactive games for video game consoles, handheld devices, personal computers, and the Internet. The ESA offers services to interactive entertainment software publishers including a global anti-piracy program, hosting the E3 Expo, conducting business and consumer research, representing the video game industry in federal and state government relations, First Amendment and intellectual property protection efforts. For more information, please visit www.theESA.com.”

Current members of the ESA include Sony Computer Entertainment of America and Sony Online Entertainment Inc, Nintendo of America Inc., Microsoft Corporation, Capcom, Natsume, Electronic Arts, Eidos Interactive, SEGA of America, THQ Inc., Ubisoft Entertainment Inc., and many more.

You can download the full report in .pdf format here, or visit www.theesa.com for more information.

Tags: 2010 video game facts, 2011 Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry, ages of gamers, entertainment software association, esa, esrb, ESRB perceptions, gamer age, gamer study, gamer study esa, video game study

The hosts of The Retro League podcast mentioned an email of mine in episode 82, “Flynn’s Arcade,” the episode for the week of May 18th.

I simply asked them what games they would have in their dream arcade if they could have any games. They talk a lot about video games in this episode as the focus on the year 1982 in gaming.

You can check out the link to the show here, or visit them at http://theretroleague.com.

Tags: classic gaming, itunes, league, mortal kombat, mortal kombat web series, podcast, retro, retro league

Happy Memorial Day to all our veterans, and family members of veterans. Thanks for your time and service. I hope your weekend is fantastic, and that we all can take the time to reflect on the sacrifices of our veterans and their families today.

Tags: holiday, memorial day, next life, next life gaming, nlg

2K Sports has announced a renewed deal with the NBA to continue creating their flagship NBA 2K series.

Details of the deal where not announced, so we have no idea what the deal is worth or even for how long.

NBA 2K11 was the best selling 2K NBA game to date, with over 5 million copies sold since October 2010.

NBA Deputy Commission AdamSilver said of the deal,”Coming off a record-breaking year with NBA 2K11, we look forward to continuing our successful partnership.”

Licensing with EA has also been renewed, so expect a new NBA game from EA as well next year. Unlike the NFL there will be at least two different basketball games next year, so there should at least be some healthy competition.

Many people have praised 2K’s NBA title, so it should be interesting to see what EA does to try to catch up and grab the core NBA and video game fan audience.

American McGee and his indie game studio Spicy Horse is set to release Alice: Madness Returns on June 14th in the U.S. and the 16th in Europe.

Madness Returns is a sequel to the grim 2000 MAC and PC game American McGee’s Alice. The sequel looks just as gritty as it’s predecessor, with a heavy gothic influence. This time around the game will also be released on Xbox 360 and PS3. Included in new copies of the game will be a code to download the original game for free. Alternatively you can buy it for 800 MSP or $9.99 on Xbox Live and the PSN respectively.

The original shows Alice returning to Wonderland in a series of flashbacks. Apparently her therapy is not working well, despite the events of the original game being far behind her.

If you like creepy platformers you might want to check out Madness Returns, especially since it will be hitting consoles as well.

Tags: alice, alice madness returns, alice madness returns trailer, alice trailer, american mcgee, american mcgee alice, american mcgee alice madness returns, american mcgee alice madness returns trailer, american mcgee alice trailer, american mcgee madness returns, american mcgee trailer, madness returns, spicy horse

In a previous post I highlighted some of the best (or possibly worst?) video game commercials from the 80′s and 90′s.

Well sure enough that was just the tip of the iceberg.

So without further delay, here’s part 2.

*****

DigDug

This one is just ridiculous. It looks like they spent a decent amount of money though on making people look ridiculous.

Centipede

This one looks like a cross between a Japanese monster movie and the childhood fear of insects that could bite you. What part of a giant centipede would appeal to kids? I will give them points though for their excellent use of stock footage, and replacing the sound of bullets and bombs with arcarde sound effects..

Dr. Mario

Much like the previous Dr. Mario commercial I mentioned, this one is also ridiculous. Note the distinct 90′s clothing of the children.

Pole Position

This one doesn’t even try to hide the fact that it is being extreme-the narrator even yells at you. It also promises to “leave skidmarks on your soul.” I’m not sure what that even means.

Nintendo (“Can’t Beat Us”)

This is just a generally creepy NES commercial. I’ll let it speak for itself.

Atari 2600

Again another video game commercial with terrible rapping. Someone was trying too hard to be cool in the marketing department at Atari.

Virtual Boy

This is just a general commercial for the failed Nintendo system. Highlighted are games like Galactic Pinball and Mario Tennis. In hindsight it’s only funny because of how short lived the system was.

Super Mario RPG (Japan)

A very odd Japanese commercial for the SNES game Super Mario RPG. Includes singing piranha plants, as rendered in Claymation.

Spider-man for the Atari 2600

In this one the Green Goblin taunts Spider-man as he plays Atari, instead of killing him.

SEGA Game Gear vs. Gameboy

This one is particularly nasty, with SEGA basically saying that you’re an idiot if you play Game Boy. I can’t imagine this being the best way to convert Game Boy fans to your system.

SEGA Dreamcast vs. Sony

Again SEGA slams another competitor-Sony. This time a Sony spy tries to steal a Dreamcast, but as they say in the commercial “It’s thinking.” And then it shows the Dreamcast hijacking traffic lights and planes.

Bayou Billy for the NES

This game is notorious for being a bad all around NES game. In the commercial someone with a horrible accent wrestles an alligator puppet.

Ice Hockey for the 2600

Phil Hartman flips out on a cashier, and demands ice hockey for the Atari 2600.

Killer Instinct for the SNES

One of Nintendo’s “edgier” commercials. In reality they just pretended to cuss and replaced the curse words with goofy sound effects.

Battletanx for the N64

This commercial is actually pretty funny, and manages to spoof the Snuggle bear from the laundry detergent commercials. Basically a giant tank wrecks havoc and destroys everything in it’s path.

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening rap for Gameboy

Yet another horrible Zelda commercial with rapping…I’m really not sure why Nintendo did it again. It’s better than the Link’s Awakening rap at least.

Pac-Man

And finally, for our bonus commercial…Pac-Man: The Cereal. In the 80′s tons of video game characters had cereals named after them. This commercial takes the cake when it comes to cheesiness however. I’ll let you decide on your own if you can do the Pac-man.

I hope you enjoyed Part 2 of some of the oddest video game commercials out there. Apparently the 80′s and 90′s were focused on giving us the best looking, most extreme games out there. Now of course these are all laughable.

Tags: berzerk, berzerk commercial, centipede, centipede commercial, classic gaming, pole position, pole position commercial, retro commercials, retro game, retro video game commercials

According to a Gamasutra report sales of Nintendo’s 3DS handheld have been slow, according to major U.S. retailer Gamestop, which discussed the sales on an earnings call.

The 3DS sold roughly 400,000 units in the U.S. the week of it’s March 27th launch, but that pace has not been maintained.  Gamestop President Tony Bartel was quoted as saying, “I think there have been reports that the numbers are lagging from what the expectations were in the U.S., and I think our results will be in line with that.”

While the 3DS’s glasses free 3D effect is nice, the $250 price tag is not helping it. For a console that would be fine, but portable systems never sell well at that price.

There is of course the usual dry spell of games after a system launches as well. So far Ocarina of Time has not hit yet, and there has not been a new Mario or Mario Kart game for it. Given these factors and the current success of the standard DS/DS Lite/DS XL line it appears that the 3DS won’t catch on for quite some time. So expect to see sales pick up over time once more games are released and the price drops.

Tags: 3DS, 3ds sales, 3ds sales numbers, Gamestop, nintendo, nintendo 3ds sales, nintendo 3ds sales numbers, tony bartel

I recently downloaded the audiobook version of Tom Bissell’s “Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter” from Audible.com. The book’s audio version is narrated wholly by the author.

“Extra Lives” explores the author’s relationship to games over the years. Resident Evil, Fallout 3, Gears of War 2, and many other popular games are mentioned. For example the author discusses how he missed the presidential election results due to getting engulfed in Fallout 3 for hours.

He devotes another chapter to his experience playing the original Resident Evil on Playstation. He talks about how bad the voice acting was, and how terrible the game controlled. Despite that he admits that the game still scared him once he began to encounter the first hordes of zombies. At that point he noticed that the narrative in video games became a lot more prominent.

One of the most interesting parts of the book is where he tells how he became addicted to Grand Theft Auto and cocaine at the same time. On cocaine the game was more vibrant to him. When he first got the game he sat down with his roommate and played it for 30 hours straight.

Tom’s thoughts are pretty interesting at times. He does a fairly good job of explaining video game terms and individual games to non-gamers. He also talks about popular games as examples to illustrate his points. In some ways well-informed gamers may find this to be one of the more boring points, as he thoroughly explains each game.

Ultimately however he fails to definitely answer why video games matter. At times he confesses to games being a huge time sink, and almost seems ashamed of his hobby. Surely games aren’t as bad as cocaine? Addicting perhaps, but your average gamer will not became an addict to the medium. Perhaps ultimately games matter simply because they are a fun distraction.

At about 5.5 hours and 10 chapters, “Extra Lives” is worth a listen. While I don’t always agree with the author’s thoughts it’s an interesting listen.

Tags: audible, extra lives, extra lives book, extra lives why video games matter, tom bissell

In episode 82 of The Retro League podcast, the hosts read another one of my emails on the show. I ask them about arcade games, and which ones they would include in their ultimate arcade room if they could.

If you’re into classic gaming check out their website, forums, Facebook page or podcast in iTunes.

Tags: arcade games, classic game, classic gaming, podcast, retro, retro game, retro league