How does this make you all feel? Gaming is increasingly becoming a mainstream hobby and media form, and this year is running away with it. There will be no more nerd n the future, as the nerd’s current special interests become the status quo.
Personally, I think it’s awesome. People are starting to understand how just how great video games are. They are reaching out to more demographics then ever and getting more feet wet that will eventually understand how excellent video games can be as an inexpensive and enjoyable form of either personal or public entertainment.
And we can all thank Guitar Hero, the Nintendo Wii, and the accessable enjoyment found in the games for DS for that.
This is not surprising. Our prices keep increasing - to a degree that a family of three could spend fourty bucks easy for an experience that will last less than three hours usually.
It makes more sense to buy a game that you can enjoy as often as you want for the same price.
It had to happen eventually. The act of going to the movies is becoming outdated now that people have access to better and better technology and with how movie theaters are becoming increasingly dated.
I still enjoy going out to the theaters- the whole deal from buying the tickets to eating the popcorn to talking about the movie on the way back. But it’s true that, with the coming of home entertainment, the appeal of moviegoing is lessened by a lot for many people. Certainly the day may come when theaters will go the way of drive-ins. Meanwhile, people will go out less and get even fatter.
Don’t forget something, though - games individually cost quite a bit more than a trip to the theatre; often games are bought, played a few times, then sold back or left around. Generally not RPGs, but the sort of games that are popular seem to have that happen to them.
In other words, more money != more entertainment time or value.
I’m not even talking about games, I’m talking about home theater systems. Good tvs, good sound systems, not having to deal with sticky floors, decent seats vs the outrageous costs at the movie theaters, the crappy seats, grainy video. The tickets themselves are overpriced and god forbid you even consider buying any of the food they have to offer. Movie theater technology is WAY out of date and the technology has fallen behind as home technology as soared forward.
With an industry that sustains itself on movies like Epic Movie, Chuck and Larry, and Saw IV it’s no wonder that an industry that sustains itself with games like Halo 3, Madden, and GTA IV surpasses it.
As glad that I am that gaming is less of a cult and more of a mainstream media, keep in mind that the price of a ticket is ten dollars or so, whereas the price of a game is $50 or $60. People still go to the movies mostly because it’s something to do, but lately it’s much more time and cost efficient to just wait for the DVD. Not to mention you don’t have any idiots who won’t be quiet in the third row.
I find it kind if ironic that you used a sports game of all things as an example in addition to Halo 3 and GTA IV.
Movies can be cool, but you don’t interact with them as you do with games. Videogames give you some level of immersion (and sometimes choices and control as well) in the story being told that can’t be matched by anything else.