The gaming industry has graduated from its fledgling state and burst into an all out in demand commodity in the United States. Gaming now appeals to a wide age range of consumers.
What gamer doesn't know the phrase " w00t u got pwn3d!?" Okay well maybe plenty now that the demographic for gamers has expanded past the potentially geeky in the late 70's and early 80's to a wider audience.
An NPD study has found that 63 per cent of the United States population are now gamers. The demographic polled for this study were gamers from the age 2-65. Many of these gamers have been hard core for years and have passed the mantel onto their children. The others who haven't inherited the gamer trait have been introduced to video and console gaming by the genius marketing executives of the popular console companies such as Sony and Nintendo.
Parents of babies and toddlers are bombarded with ads promoting learning and educational video games to help with their children's development while promoting fun and play are rushing to stores to buy products like Learning Leaps. These consoles are quickly outgrown leaving in their place a void that needs to be filled and parents then turn to Xbox, Playstation, and Nintendo for the answer.
The older age group has likewise been enticed with games aimed at improving brain function, eyesight, and memory. For example games like Brain Age 1&2 and Flash Focus were developed to target the demographic. The Nintendo DS is the first hand held console in the industry to include mind exercise games for adults to enjoy.
For the casual gamer there are lightly involved games like Petz, Catz, Dogz, and Horsez. These games allow you to take care of and raise an animal without the mess and fuss. The games for the lower and higher end of the spectrum are being absorbed mostly by females.
The age group of 15-65 has contributed the practice of gaming to stress alleviation. Hardcore gamers are more likely than part time gamers to play alone, however both groups of gamers feel that gaming is a good way to connect with family and friends and enjoy group games. The Halo Trilogy, a first person shooter, is known to be played at gaming parties
Another type of group gaming is particularly popular on the PC and is called a MMORPG or Massive Multi-player Online Role Playing Game. The early forms started as text games on the old DOS system and in chat room during the Internet's early years and evolved into classics like Ultima Online (UO), Everquest (Evercrack), and the popular World of Warcraft (WoW).
Although some caution that this years findings are at the whim of a fickle group, people have indicated their game time have increased by 30 per cent, which gives hope to the future of the gaming industry.
