Decker

(as USA Today reports it is in today's edition), then why are there so many games coming out in the pre-holiday period? Now don't get me wrong, I understand that this is the time for blockbuster games, just like some of the biggest films come out around Thanksgiving. Still the glut of games now is beyond belief.
Now if the average gamer was,say, 17, then I would understand it. He wouldn't really have a lot of money for games and only got them around his birthday and Christmas. But who's buying $50 games for thirty year olds? Nobody's getting me any. Not even my wife. In the current XBN, an EA rep is quoted as saying "The number 23 game in November outsold the number one game in March. By a lot", but I can't understand that logic. If a must-have game came out early in the year (or mid-summer), by itself, wouldn't you be MORE likely to buy it than if it were one of 15 titles you were interested in this week? Can anyone explain this logic to me?

fumanstan

You're letting yourself put too much emphasis that the so called age of the average gamer reflects holiday sales figures.

Just because an older gamer is less likely to recieve a video game as a gift doesn't change the fact that younger gamers still do.

cheapskate

Awww...

My wife always buys me at least ONE video game for Christmas...and I often buy her one too; so it makes sense to me. Maybe the two of you need to sit down and talk about what's really important in your marriage.

darkside

My wife will definitely get me a game for Christmas.

tsohg

My wife is getting me Fable for my B-day 11/2
Don't know what game I'll ask for for X-mas. Cheapskate is right you and the misses need to talk about the lack of "love" you are getting.

Decker

Well, she'll point out that 1) She doesn't know which game to get me and 2) That I buy everything I want for myself anyway. And she'd be right on both counts.

But back to the game/ present thing : Don't you think that the market is flooded this year. For example, someone who really likes platformers, would they really want Sly 2, Jak 3, R&C 3, Tak 2, and Blinx 2 all within a few weeks of each other? (and I left off the budget Ty 2 from that list) Wouldn't he just pass on a few of them, waiting for the price to drop rather than buy all the games he wants?
I'm fascinated by the business of gaming and just don't see the logic of this mass dumping of games. From the beginning of summer to mid-september, all you have are a few lame titles and the big football games. That should be a big gaming season, with all the kids out of school all summer. Remeber how big SC : PT was when it came out for the Xbox last Feb? Maybe part of that was because there weren't any other major releases around that time. The entire spring tends to be pretty dead. I really think more spacing out of titles would be better for the overall sales. I guess I'm wrong, but I don't understand it.

kvrdave

I generally get a few games for my b-day (Dec. 18) and Christmas. But all I really want is more time to play.

Decker

Truer words have never been spoken.

Trigger

You can't put an age on gaming - not around this forum at least.

milo bloom

30 yo here, and my wife and I still buy each other games. Can't let that age thing get you.

Michael Corvin

Same here. Metroid Prime: Echoes this year. Well either for Christmas or my 29th B-day on Christmas eve.

gp98

Those games that you mentioned aren't all made by the same developers. I'm going to guess that you aren't complaining about the mad rush of football games a couple months a go but now we'll have a dry period for a year, right?

Also, you said that you buy the games that you want when they come out. So they can give it to you in December or June and it won't matter but a twelve year-old doesn't have that luxury and they're the ones that are most likely to get caught up with the hype (i.e. Enter the Matrix) but their attention span isn't very long so all the developers want to have the game that everyone is asking for as a gift.


...That being said, this is beginning to be the time of year where I am too busy and have too many other things to buy and do to be able to purchase all these games.

nickdawgy

Go to the Gamefaqs forums, they seem to be full of teenagers that talk about how much it sucks they have to go to school, and can't play GTA, Halo, Doom, etc. and the fact that they need their parents with them to buy M rated games, and how much the stores suck

It's comical.....

Outlaw

The average gamer is not 29. the survey is biased

as far as your question, people are more prone to buying things around the holidays, it gives them an extra nudge this time around to spring the cash, and there's no bigger holiday than December

BeckysBoy

Actually, I think marketing to 29-year-olds around the holidays makes perfect sense. That's the most concentrated cluster of time off for most American adults, hence the time they're most free to think about and play video games. If you were marketing specifically to kids, the big release period would be June-Aug., because that's when kids would have free time and parents would be looking for something, ANYTHING to distract them (hence, why most of the big, stupid movies come out in the summer).

msdmoney

My girlfriend doesn't buy me games either, because I can usually find better deals, and get games much cheaper than she could, and she really wouldn't know what game to get me. I have her buy me stuff she knows about and that she is much better at like clothes.

The Holiday rush is inevitable, it really has nothing to do with gaming age, people are just spending more during this period of time. If people could wait a few months they would save themselves tons when games hit the bargain bin right after the holiday season, but then they wouldn't be the kid on the block with all the newest games.

Decker

It goes without saying that football games come out just prior to the football season and that the release dates of sports games are dictated by the real thing.

People here make some good points, but I keep thinking about how upset people here (and elsewhere) were about Ubisoft last holiday season. They had two great games. One (The Price of Persia) had very disappointing sales, despite spectacular reviews. The other (Beyond Good & Evil) got absolutely killed and was in the bargain bin by Feb. And last year will seem slow comared to this year -- there were some big sellers last winter but no A++++++++ titles like GTA SA, Halo, or Metroid Prime 2 to eat up the business.

remjim

So I'm the average gamer? Huh? Then why is it that every time I step foot in an EB there are about twenty twelve year olds trying to turn on the display systems as an employee tells them to stop it?

I'm so overwhelmed with all the games coming out that I remarked to my girlfriend that I don't think I can afford them all. She replied that I should hold off and that some of them might be Christmas presents .

It helps that she's a gamer as well (she picked up Paper Mario at the TRU sale).

BTW- Here's the article:

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/product...-andreas_x.htm

'San Andreas' poised for big sales, big debate
By Mike Snider, USA TODAY

Video gaming's most felonious franchise is back, and it's threatening to hijack the holidays. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the latest in a line that has sold 32 million games and sparked protests among anti-violence activists, arrives in stores this week.

The PlayStation 2 title already is the year's presumptive best seller. Analysts predict San Andreas could sell 5 million copies by year's end at $49.99 retail, planting it in Hollywood blockbuster territory. Eventually, 15 million copies could be sold, topping the all-time best seller: its predecessor, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, with more than 13 million sold.

"San Andreas could well be the biggest-selling game ever," says John Davison, editorial director for Ziff Davis' video game magazine group.

The Hollywood comparison carries over to casting and soundtrack. San Andreas, which plays like an urban gangster movie, boasts guest voices including Samuel L. Jackson, James Woods, Ice T and Peter Fonda. Car radios and boom boxes blast oldies from acts as diverse as the Ohio Players, Willie Nelson, James Brown, the late Tupac Shakur and Rage Against the Machine, spun by disc jockeys such as George Clinton, Axl Rose and Chuck D. (A double-CD soundtrack and an eight-CD box set are due Nov. 23.)

In the game, main character CJ (voiced by rapper Young Maylay) returns to his hometown after his mother is killed, and he is drawn into gang rivalries in an odyssey that stretches over three cities and more than 100 hours. Dan Hsu, editor in chief of Electronic Gaming Monthly, says the game might crowd out competitors: Consumers "will be playing this game for hours and hours."

That leaves lots of room for content that drew fire from Congress and parent groups in past GTAs."You can still beat up hookers and steal their money, you can still run over cops and shoot and kill the ambulance drivers as they come in to pick up the dead people. All of the carnage and destruction is still intact," says Tom Ham of Play magazine. Hsu says San Andreas may draw even more heat because of gang-related violence.

Rockstar Games notes that Andreas is rated M (for ages 17 and up) and that marketing is aimed at adults. "We make the games that we want to make and the games that we believe people want to play," the firm said in a statement.

Teen boys no longer rule the realm: The average age of today's gamer is 29, according to the Entertainment Software Association.
-----------------------------

And here's another:

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/product...s-inside_x.htm

New releases could herald 'the holiday of the megagames'
By Mike Snider, USA TODAY

This week's arrival of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas kicks off a holiday parade of hot video games that promise to make this season one for the record books. (Related story: San Andreas poised for big sales, big debate)

Although there was no blockbuster hit last year, "this is the holiday of the megagames," says American Technology Research analyst P.J. McNealy.

With next-generation game systems not expected until 2006, the industry needs blockbuster games to keep business flowing. And with 100 million game consoles worldwide — about 73 million PlayStations, 16 million Xboxes and 14 million GameCubes — waiting for those titles, "we now have what we've never had in gaming history," McNealy says.

Rockstar Games' gangster adventure, GTA: San Andreas, is poised to be the star of the season. "It's one of those extremely rare games that sell more with each successive version," he says.

GTA: San Andreas' expected sales of 5 million copies worldwide by year's end should be enough to give it the year's No. 1 slot, says Piper Jaffray analyst Tony Gikas. But other titles are expected to claim large audiences as well, including:

•Halo 2 (Xbox, Nov. 9), the sci-fi sequel to Xbox's top game; 1.5 million people already have pre-ordered it. Analysts say Halo 2 could sell 4 million copies this year.

•Metroid Prime 2 Echoes (GameCube, Nov. 15), a 3-D Nintendo space quest.

•EverQuest 2 (PC, Nov. 8), an updated version of the most popular multiplayer "online world."

•Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PS2, Nov. 16), stealthy combat during the Cold War era.

•Half-Life 2 (PC, Nov. 16), another sci-fi title, expected to rival Doom 3 for PC game of the year.

•Gran Turismo 4 (PS2, Dec. 14), the latest in the racing series.

The competition "is going to be fun to watch," Gikas says. "You are going to see some very sexy games out, and even more than previous years, you'll see a concentration of sales in the top 10 to 20."

Overall, U.S. sales of video and PC games are expected to hit $7.2 billion this year, up from $7 billion in 2003, Gikas says; other estimates go as high as $7.6 billion. Video game system sales are declining as current consoles age, so overall industry revenue will drop to $9 billion from $10 billion last year.

Michael Corvin

SWEET! December is a holiday now? I'll have to tell my boss.

gp98

Because adults can afford the game, buy it, and go home.

ceeece

I'm 30, and from reading the posts a lot of you guys are married which means you're not teeny boppers. The survey might be true!

We grew up in the Atari/ Nintendo generation. So, we have been the consumers ever since. Every new console we had to have and we haven't grown out of video games. It seems to me that the video game industry is really following us first gen console kids and catering to us (except maybe Nintendo) Just MHO.

edit: plus we have real jobs and disposable income.

Josh H

Biased survey, it's tough to get kids in surveys as you have to have parent's permission to interview anyone under 18. Thus there's really no way to get an accurate result of the average gamer age.

I'm sure it's older than it used to be, but no way is it 29. There's way too many little kids into games for the average to be that high.

BeckysBoy

I'm 30 and married myself, and I've noticed many of you are as well, but it does seem suspect. To average out at 29 there would have to be a ton of gamers over 30 to balance out the teens and kids...and that seems highly unlikely. Unless, of course, you're counting the parents of all of those kids, in which case it makes perfect sense, as they'd cancel each other out and make the average something right in the middle...like 29.

boredsilly

Y'know, I'm surprised that the makers of these A++++ titles haven't started jacking up the prices yet. Raise your hand if you had to take out a small loan to buy Killer Instinct on the SNES? Surely GTA:SA would move just as well at $55 - $60 a pop. Glad to see this trend has pretty much died.

This holiday season is really stacked, and I would dare say its the biggest gaming season ever. Not only are 5 or so triple a titles being released along with a slew of other promising games, but we have the PSP and DS on top of all that. Craziness!

remjim

I remember paying $75 for Strider on the Sega Genesis. The game was the first to have 8 Megs ("8MEGA MEMORY"), a big deal at the time when magazines like EGM posted how large a game was.

Check out the cover art here: http://www.kidfenris.com/stridercover.html

If anything games appear to cost less now since just about everything is marked down. I commonly pay twenty bucks for a game at this point.