January 2009

The Entertainment Software Association

Sports Video Games Attract New Fans

Sports computer and video games have been entertaining players for decades. In fact, one of the earliest video games, Tennis for Two, created in 1958, was a sports game.   Since then, the genre has expanded and improved with enhanced graphics and depictions of real athletes. As a result, today's sports games are attracting sports fans and professionals alike.

Football games have been and continue to be some of the most popular sports games on the market. And their popularity extends beyond football fans to the players and coaches themselves. At Louisiana State University, Gary Crowton, the football team's offensive coordinator, has used a custom-made video game to help his quarterbacks learn to read opposing defenses. The game helped LSU win the national championship last January. 

ESPN, the cable television network that focuses on sports, worked with video game company Electronic Arts (EA) to enhance the network's coverage of professional football. Together they developed a new technology allowing ESPN football analysts to interact with life-like, three-dimensional virtual players during live telecasts. The feature, which combines EA's Madden NFL 09 with digital camera equipment in the studio, debuted in September 2008 on ESPN's weekly "NFL Countdown" program.

But, use of video games in the sports world extends beyond football. According to the NBA, approximately half of the league's professional basketball teams use video games to complement their personnel evaluation activities. Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey regularly plays EA's NBA Live 09 to evaluate players. Morey says the game helps him understand how adding a certain player would change the dynamic of the Rockets.  

Several NASCAR drivers, including Elliott Sadler, also report playing driving video games to get a feel for the 22 tracks that comprise the Nextel Cup series. These drivers, who rely on objects such as palm trees in their line of sight to maneuver around race courses, consider the tracks' digital representations an effective way to familiarize themselves with turns before the real practice laps. As Sadler notes, many of today's sports video games "translate 100 percent." He adds, "You wouldn't believe how realistic these games are now and how much we can learn from them."

Video games are even part of the most important international sporting event, the Olympics. Since 1992, the International Olympic Committee has licensed an official video game for each Olympic game. Beijing 2008, published by Sega, was the official Olympic video game of the 2008 Summer Olympics held in Beijing and featured 32 national Olympic teams and 38 different sporting events. The Olympic athletes themselves are even getting in on the action. The star of the Beijing games, U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps, recently announced that he is partnering with 505 Games to produce a new series of video games, with the first title set to be released in spring 2010.


Who's Gaming Now?  New Pew Study Reveals Some Surprising Statistics

A new study on adults and video games released last month by the Pew Internet and American Life Project reveals more about the identity of America's gamers and challenges traditional notions about who plays video games.

The Pew study found that more than half of adults – a full 53 percent – play video games.  This number includes games across all platforms, including consoles, computers, handheld devices like cell phones and portable gaming systems, and online games.  And the survey shows that among those gamers, one in five play games every day.

The researchers, who polled 2,054 people, determined that age is the most likely factor in whether or not someone is a gamer.  Ninety-seven percent of all teens play video games, and that number drops as a person gets older.  Only 23 percent of people 65 and older play games; however, of those that do, nearly one third play every day.  That's the highest out of any age bracket.

The game-playing frequency of older people was not the only surprising result of the study.  Exactly half of all women say they play video games, virtually eliminating the gender gap with men (55%).  And people with a college education are more likely to be gamers than those with less education.

With new and exciting titles coming out all the time, it's no wonder that the universe of people playing games is expanding every day.


New Game Center Builds on NYU’s History of Entertainment Education

New York University joined the ranks of more than 200 of the nation's colleges and universities to offer degrees in video game design by announcing the launch of the NYU Game Center in December.  The new center will offer long-term undergraduate and graduate degrees in the research, design and development of digital games, beginning in the fall of 2009.

This new program builds upon NYU's long history of entertainment education.  The institution's Tisch School of the Arts is best known for its acting and film programs, which produced many high profile stars, including Oliver Stone, Billy Crystal, Debra Messing, Martin Scorsese and M. Night Shyamalan.

Through this new entertainment software initiative, NYU is expanding upon the 70 video game design courses currently taught at the university.  New classes in departments such as computer science, engineering, new media theory, and the arts will now be offered to students.  And the Game Center will employ the resources of several NYU schools and affiliates including the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences; the Polytechnic Institute of NYU; the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development; and the Tisch School of the Arts to offer comprehensive video game degree programs.

Beginning in the fall of 2009, 10 to 12 NYU students will have the opportunity to choose a minor, major or double major in gaming; and in 2010, graduate courses will be offered to six students per year for a two-year Master's program and certificate program.

The NYU Game Center was funded by an anonymous gift of $1 million and a $200,000 grant from The Rockefeller Foundation's NYC Cultural Innovation Fund, and will initially be based in the Skirball Center for New Media in the Tisch School of the Arts.

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Quote of the Month

"We looked for areas where our core expertise in entertainment law could be applied, and we found that video games in many ways represented the future of the entertainment industry."

— Jonathan Fitzgarrald, a spokesman for Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger, one of many law firms now devoting more resources to the video game industry

Statistic of the Month

According to a mid-December NPD Group survey, 22 percent of music buyers overall, and 35 percent of consumers under the age of 35, reported playing a music-based video game, such as Rock Band, in the prior three months.  The market research firm noted that "many of these music gamers reported that the gaming experience had a positive outcome, such as creating music discovery or triggering a digital-music or CD purchase."

 Did You KNOW??

A study published in the December issue of Psychology and Aging found that playing complex video games after receiving training may improve cognitive functions that decline with age.  Researchers at the University of Illinois tested 40 seniors and found that those trained before playing the game were successful in the game and on tests of memory and reasoning. The study's results may eventually help older people who are struggling with daily tasks.

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