Gaming and Culture

You're seeing it in theaters, rather than DVD.

(Credit: Avatar)

It hasn't happened since 2002, but box office sales beat out disc sales in 2009, market research firm Adams Media Research said in a report released on Tuesday.

According to Adams, U.S. viewers weren't so keen on buying DVDs in 2009. While it found that consumers spent $250 million buying movies online in 2009, the firm found that physical disc sales dropped by 13 percent year over year, from $10.06 billion in 2008 to $8.73 billion in 2009. Those figures include Blu-ray Disc sales.

Adams said box office spending increased to $9.87 billion in 2009, up 10 percent from $8.99 billion in 2008. Flms such as "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" and "Up" were among those films that lured consumers to theaters.

Adams also looked at movie rentals. The firm found that $1.27 billion was spent on rentals through cable and satellite services in 2009. Consumers spent just $111 million renting films online. All told, rental transactions increased by 5.5 percent in 2009, but overall rental revenue, which includes online, on-demand, and physical-media rentals, grew by less than 1 percent, to $8.15 billion.

These figures do not bode well for the film industry. While box office sales are higher than DVD sales, Hollywood itself is dealing with a revenue crunch that, so far, it hasn't been able to overcome. And as the video game industry continues to evolve as an entertainment alternative to movies, the pressure seems to be on moviemakers to right the ship.

(Credit: Activision)

In the last year, consumers spent more money on video games in Britain than on films, including both trips to movie theaters and films on DVD, new figures compiled for U.K.'s Daily Telegraph indicate.

In the 12 months leading up to the end of September, 1.73 billion British pounds (about $2.8 billion) were spent on video games, according to data-monitoring company GFK Chart-Track. The U.K. Film Council said 1 billion British pounds ($1.6 billion) were spent at the British box office during the same period, with an additional 198 million British pounds ($320 million) spent on films released on DVD and Blu-ray.

• U.K. video games: 1.73 billion pounds ($2.8 billion)
• U.K. film: 1.198 billion pounds ($1.93 billion)

This means that approximately 532 million pounds ($860 million) more was spent on video games in 2009, roughly 30 percent more than on films. And while 1.73 billion pounds is impressive, it's still well shy of the $20 billion predicted for U.S. game sales in 2009. In fact, the U.S. spent $2.7 billion on games in November 2009 alone.

Video games, by no means a niche in the U.K, or most other parts of the world, are obviously big business and these statistics clearly show that the growth in new forms of digital entertainment specifically available via a computer or game console is having a major impact on more traditional forms of entertainment.

Contributing to the success of gaming in the U.K. were price cuts to jump-start sales, as well as tie-ins to supermarkets, greatly expanding the potential number of buyers and targeting gamers at the check-out stand, according to The Daily Telegraph. Further, Amazon.co.uk reported that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was the No. 1 seller for 2009, beating out DVDs of "Harry Potter" and "Twilight."

The industry data compiled by GFK Chart-Track also shows that the number of games consoles being used in Britain nearly doubled in 2009 to 25 million which means there are enough consoles for nine out of every ten households in the country to have one.

According to the report, only television--including DVDs of television shows, along with the cost of the license and satellite subscriptions--and music are bigger forms of entertainment.

For all those who believe the apocalypse is close at hand, I have a video that will surely save you from such dire imaginings.

This little delight from YouTube shows that we are, indeed, bringing up our children to believe in a better tomorrow, one in which human beings will finally place their priorities in the correct order.

Please enjoy the sight of a child (Is he eight? Nine?) expressing his sheer at-oneness with his firmament when he espies that his Christmas gift is an Xbox 360.

No one can possibly tell me that this is anything other than sheer, untrammeled joy at the thought of being able to block out the world and enter into the Kingdom of Video Games from which so many children rarely emerge. This child knows that all ancient, outdated concepts such as parents, school, and even Santa can be happily left behind now that he has the key to extraterrestrial escape: Microsoft's Xbox 360.

Who among us could not be moved by such elevated, primal emotions, ones that signal the escape from the normal to the paranormal?

This is the modern world. We are finally saved. Hallelujah.

Holiday shoppers brought good cheer to e-commerce retailers, spending $27 billion online from November 1 through December 24, a 5 percent jump over last year, ComScore reported Wednesday.

The period from Black Friday through Christmas Eve was also bright and merry as sales grew by around 3.5 percent, even after adjusting for an additional shopping day this year. Consumer electronics proved to be the hottest selling category, rising 20 percent. Larger retailers outpaced smaller vendors thanks in part to their use of free shipping and marketing via social-networking sites, said ComScore.

(Credit: ComScore)

The growth in this year's online holiday sales showed improvement over 2008, when sales dropped by 3 percent. Results were likely helped by a snowstorm that blanketed the East Coast the weekend of December 19-20, forcing many shoppers to pick up those last-minute gifts online.

"Online sales growth this year was driven by a continued increase in the number of people buying online, but consumers' economic challenges resulted in a slight decline versus last year in the amount spent per buyer," said ComScore chairman Gian Fulgoni in a statement. "The season featured a strong start as a result of early retailer promotions and a very strong finish helped by the snowstorms that occurred the weekend of December 19-20, retailers' willingness to offer free shipping later in the season, and consumers' confidence in expedited shipping arriving in time."

The Kindle e-reader, the Nintendo Wii, and an Asus Netbook were among the top tech items for Amazon customers in 2009.

The retail giant touted three "Best of 2009" lists on Wednesday, revealing the best selling, most wished for, and favorite gift items chosen by Amazon consumers for the year. The company also introduced its Bestsellers Archive, which can show historical popularity among several categories, including print books, Kindle books, music downloads, movies and TV shows, and video games.

Amazon has been relentlessly proclaiming the popularity of its Kindle device, though it just as steadfastly has declined to provide actual sales numbers. PC maker Asus, meanwhile, has been riding the Netbook craze and drew top honors in Amazon's computer category with its Eee PC 1005HA 10.1-inch Netbook.

Nintendo's Wii game console lost some steam during 2009, but heading into the holiday season gave strong signs of regaining its dominance.

Other top tech items on the several Amazon lists included Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007, an Omron Digital Pocket Pedometer, and an Accutire Programmable Digital Tire Gauge--the latter two perhaps being of use to tech types who need to take a long walk or drive after a hard day using Microsoft Office.

The Casio Men's Sea Analog Illuminator Dual LED Dive Watch made the best-sellers list for people who need to keep tabs on the time while under the sea. On the most-wished-for list was the Sunforce 50044 60-Watt Solar Charging Kit, designed to tap into the power of the sun to charge the battery in your car, RV, tractor, boat, and other vehicles on the go. New Super Mario Bros also made the cut as the most-wished-for video game.

Amazon's "Best of 2009" lists cover all but the last 10 days of the year--stretching, that is, from January 1 to December 22, 2009. The Bestsellers Archive goes back in time to the start of Amazon to unveil the most popular items over the long haul.

In the video game category, the Wii came in at number 6 historically and has been on the top 100 list for 1,128 days. Among electronics, Apple's iPod Touch 3G takes the second (8GB version) and third (32GB version) slots on the list for 112 days. And for software, MS Office Home and Student 2007 hit the number 2 spot as part of the top 100 for 1101 days.

You can also view historical data right in the Bestsellers Archive just by selecting the pulldown menu for year and choosing a different year, as far back as 1995 for books and more recent years for other items. A peek back at 1999, for example, revealed that "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" was the most popular video game of the year.

"The Bestsellers Archive reveals the collective interests of our customers back to the beginning of Amazon.com," said Eva Manolis, vice president of Retail Customer Experience, in a statement. "It's a fun experience enabling exploration of bestselling products -- helping customers find their favorites as well as discover those they may not know about."

The full 2009 lists can be found on Amazon's news release Web site.

Over 4 million unauthorized downloads...and counting.

(Credit: Infinity Ward)

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has set several records this year, including the most units sold in a single month (over 6 million in November alone). But according to TorrentFreak, a site that covers the world of torrent downloads, the game was also the most pirated title of 2009.

According to the site, Modern Warfare 2's PC version was downloaded on torrent sites a whopping 4.1 million times, which is more than twice as many downloads as 2008's most-pirated game, Spore. The Xbox 360 version of Modern Warfare 2 was downloaded 970,000 times.

Those numbers are all the more impressive when one considers that the game was downloaded over a period of just two months.

TorrentFreak also released its findings for other top pirated games. The Sims 3, Prototype, Need for Speed Shift, and Street Fighter IV rounded out the list of most-pirated PC games. Street Fighter IV and Prototype were second and third on the most-pirated Xbox 360 games, following Modern Warfare 2. Dirt 2 and UFC 2009 Undisputed placed in fourth and fifth places, respectively.

TorrentFreak also evaluated the most pirated games on the Wii. Not surprisingly, it was the New Super Mario Bros. that took the top spot with 1.15 million downloads. It was followed by Punch-Out, Wii Sports Resort, House of the Dead: Overkill, and Mario Power Tennis.

In the tech industry, the terms "nerds" and "geeks" are thrown around a lot. For some, those terms are offensive. For others, they're endearing. And for some they are simply accurate descriptors for who they are. But a professor from Bennington College, who was recently profiled by The New York Times, believes that those two words need to be avoided at all cost.

How would Steve Jobs feel about the title, King of Nerds?

According to David Anderegg, using terms like nerd and geek "perpetuate the stereotype" that nerds are "socially inept" and geeks are people with a "special expertise." They are so damaging, the Times reported, that Anderegg believes that "much like racial epithets, he says, [they] should be avoided."

The problem, the professor contends, is that those words are not used to define "cool" people. Instead, they are often times associated with "math, science, and computer science." He told the Times that because of that negative association, young people who consider themselves geeks and nerds "sabotage themselves in these fields, and the nation's work force is suffering."

Of course, Anderegg has a solution. He believes that "the best way to combat [those issues] is put it to bed." He wants nerd and geek removed from the public lexicon, like other unacceptable epithets.

It's an interesting take. For some, being a geek is a badge of honor. It means that the respective person is part of a group of folks that have similar interests and expertise in a field. Others might say the same about nerds.

But perhaps what's most puzzling about Anderegg's opinion is the title of a book he wrote about this very topic. He called it, "Nerds: Who They Are and Why We Need More of Them."

As someone who wants to eliminate the use of the words geek and nerd, isn't it surprising that he would use nerd in the title of his book?

Regardless, it's an interesting topic. Do you believe nerd and geek are damaging terms that should be avoided? Let us know in the comments below.

A 14-year-old boy's mother had enough with her son's gaming over the weekend. After turning off the console hoping he would stop gaming, she called police to ask for their help in solving her son's "addiction."

According to the story first reported in the Boston Herald, Angela Mejia had enough with her son's gaming when she found him playing Grand Theft Auto at 2:30 a.m. She told him to go to sleep, but he refused.

"Sometimes I want to run away, too," Mejia told the Boston Herald. "I have support from my church, but I'm alone. I want to help my son, but I can't find a way."

After unplugging her son's game console, she decided to call 911. Police came to Mejia's home and coaxed the boy into going to sleep.

"[The police] were just like, 'Chill out. Go to bed,'" Mejia's son told the Herald.

What Mejia's son did when he woke up is unknown. My guess: he played a video game. Yours?

Mass Effect 2

(Credit: BioWare)

In recent years, the U.S. role-playing game landscape has become decidedly dominated by Western-based games, like Mass Effect 2 and the recently released Dragon Age: Origins. But according to Greg Zeschuk, co-founder of role-playing game company BioWare, Japanese developers might have only themselves to blame.

Speaking in an interview with Destructoid, Zeschuk said "the fall of the Japanese RPG (JRPG) in large part is due to a lack of evolution, a lack of progression." Zeschuk added that developers "kept delivering the same thing over and over. They make the dressing better, they look prettier, but it's still the same experience."

But Zeschuk wasn't done. He said the same methods used years ago to advance a story are still being employed in today's Japanese RPGs.

"My favorite thing, it's funny when you still see it, but the joke of some of the dialogue systems where it asks, 'do you wanna do this or this,' and you say no. 'Do you wanna do this or this?' No. 'Do you wanna do this or this?' No. Lemme think--you want me to say 'yes.' And that, unfortunately, really characterized the JRPG."

As someone who absolutely loves role-playing games, that's a tough pill to swallow. I can still remember the good ol' days playing Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete to its completion in an almost nonstop gaming session.

At the same time, Zeschuk makes a point. RPGs are not what they used to be. They have evolved. And so far, the vast majority of Japanese-based RPGs that I've played recently reflect that same, old-school feeling. It's not always a bad thing, of course, but for the broader U.S. audience, if Zeschuk can be believed, it's starting to hurt sales.