Just thought this was interesting:
(From computerworld)
The gaming industry is dominated by teen boys playing violent first-person shooter games on near-supercomputer gaming consoles. That's the conventional wisdom, anyway. And it's completely wrong.
June sales figures and recent trends reveal a completely different picture. In reality, gaming is going mainstream, attracting people of all ages and both genders, who want to play fun, easy and nonviolent titles.
And the industry is booming -- easily the hottest segment in technology.
The industry raked in more than $1 billion dollars in June in the U.S. alone. The biggest hit, of course, is the $250 Wii. Nintendo sold 381,800 of the gaming systems last month. (Microsoft sold 198,400 Xbox 360s in June, and Sony sold 98,500 PlayStation 3s).
The No. 1 game isn't something like Grand Theft Auto, but Mario Party 8, which sold some 427,000 copies. All the top games are nonviolent. Other major winners include Pokemon titles and Guitar Hero II.
The success of Wii is telling. Its friendly, easy approach to gaming shows that people want to play shorter, lighter games, rather than devoting their lives to mastering increasingly complex games.
Wii is the leader in what the industry calls casual gaming -- easy-to-learn, fun games that are "interruptible." And the top demographic for this category is women between the age of 34 and 55. In fact, more women in this age group play games than males in both teen and young adult categories combined.
Wii consoles are showing up in gyms and schools. They're being used for physical education and regular education. They're even put to work as morale boosters in offices.
