about-electronics.eu

BBC News: Gamers have been able to revel in some of the most exhilarating interactive experiences ever designed.

Sales in the UK are at an all-time high, with more than €2bn taken in the last 12 months.

Some video games crossed over into blockbuster entertainment territory. Halo 3, for example, earned €114m in its first 24 hours on sale.

Many people will be joining the gaming revolution this Christmas – but what were the games which had people talking in the past year?

The stand out moments for many gamers include Master Chief delivering his “Wake me when you need me” line in Halo 3, to the nuclear bomb blast in Call of Duty 4, the arrival in Rapture in Bioshock, and the innovative gaming of Super Mario Galaxy.

read more

The Inquirer: A survey of games console users shows that more women fess up to owning a games console than blokes. Advertising agency JWT said in its Denizens of Digitivity survey that 44 per cent of women confessed to owning a gaming console compared to 39 per cent of men.

This means that the stereotype of a gamer being 18-34, male, single and white, living with his mother, is not necessarily true.

Apparently the reason for the statistics is the growth of the Nintendo Wii which apparently opened the games console to all generations and both genders.

Women are not really playing first person shoot-em-ups but games like Dance Dance Revolution’ and ‘Guitar Hero’.

However marketing dollars are still being pitched to the stereotype. This is because blokes are still the hard core gamers and take their gaming far too seriously and a prepared to queue for days to get something daft like Halo 3.

read more

BBC News: More than 10,000 shops across the US will open at midnight to sell the title which is Microsoft’s key weapon in the console wars with Sony and Nintendo. More than 15m copies of the first two titles in the series have been sold.

Microsoft is hoping day one sales of the game will top €100m, making it the biggest-ever entertainment launch.
Shane Kim, corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios, said the success Halo 3 was an essential element in the competitive console market.

He said: “Halo 3 is the biggest franchise for Xbox. The game is going to drive a lot of Xbox 360 sales and Xbox Live subscriptions this Christmas.”

Microsoft needs Halo 3 to boost sales of the Xbox 360; despite investing billions of dollars into the Xbox project it has yet to see any meaningful profitable return.

read more