PS3 and Xbox 360 users are online more often than Wii users

By Dan White, on February 9th, 2011

Parks Associates: Nearly two-thirds of U.S. broadband households with a next-gen game console have connected it to Internet
Multimedia content, such as Netflix streaming services, and popular games with online components, such as Call of Duty and Madden NFL, are driving households to connect their game consoles and creating a new foundation for future growth in online video, according to international research firm Parks Associates. The firm’s new report Connected Game Console Update finds 64% of U.S. broadband households with an Internet-connectable game console have it hooked to the Internet, a major increase from 2007, when only 25% had their next-gen console connected.
“PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 have higher connectivity rates among the current generation of consoles, showing the power of multimedia offerings and popular game franchises in getting gamers online,” said Pietro Macchiarella, Research Analyst, Parks Associates. “Despite the Wii’s built-in wireless capabilities, it has been less successful in getting users online due to less compelling online games and multimedia content. However, with its large installed base, it still is a significant player in this market.”
Parks Associates forecasts households will connect more than 260 million game consoles worldwide to the Internet by 2015. Broadband connectivity enables new business models for game consoles and positions them as hubs for all household entertainment services, according to Macchiarella. Both Microsoft and Sony are now leading providers of premium Internet video content and derive a large share of their gaming revenues from their digital video outlets.
“Location and high penetration of game consoles make them ideal devices for distributing digital content,” he said. “Our Digital Media Evolution II found 65% of U.S. broadband households with a game console have it in their living rooms, where they loathe adding another black box. Therefore, consoles are the perfect Trojan horses in the competition for content distribution. There have been recent speculations Microsoft wants to create a new TV service on Xbox 360 by aggregating content from multiple sources. While these are still rumors, the reality is that the aggregation of premium content on consoles has already been happening for some time and is posing a larger threat to TV service providers.”
Parks Associates’ Connected Game Console Update focuses on several key growth areas in the connected console space, including online gaming, content distribution, subscriptions and microtransactions, virtual worlds and avatars, and Gaming 2.0, a new online gaming category that includes cloud-based gaming, user-generated content, gamer social networks, and single-player games requiring online connectivity to play. For more information, visit www.parksassociates.com or contact sales@parksassociates.com, 972-490-1113.
About Parks Associates
Parks Associates is an internationally recognized market research and consulting company specializing in emerging consumer technology products and services. Founded in 1986, Parks Associates creates research capital for companies ranging from Fortune 500 to small start-ups through market reports, primary studies, consumer research, custom research, workshops, executive conferences, and annual service subscriptions.
The company’s expertise includes new media, digital entertainment and gaming, home networks, Internet and television services, digital health, mobile applications and services, consumer electronics, energy management, and home control systems and security.
Each year, Parks Associates hosts executive thought leadership conferences CONNECTIONS™, with support from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)®, and CONNECTIONS™ Europe. In addition, Parks Associates produces the online publication Industry Insights in conjunction with the CONNECTIONS™ Conference series.

SOURCE :
www.thegamereviews.com

Hardcore Gamer ?

Hardcore gaming is a term that has been thrown around a lot in recent years. But what is a ‘Hardcore Gamer’, what separates the hardcore gamers from the casual gamers? We will find out in today’s post.

The term gamer in general was used to define someone who played role-playing games or war games but with the launch of consoles and the fact that nearly every household has one, the word ‘gamer’ has developed to include everybody who plays regularly on either a console or handheld device. But what types of gamers are out there? Well, there are mainly three different types.

   1. Hardcore
   2. Casual
   3. Pro

Hardcore:

A hardcore gamer is usually described as somebody who tends to put in a lot of time playing games. They get involved in the story of the game and with other gamers playing the same games as them, either meeting up online for a game or popping over to a friend’s house to have a game with them. Hardcore gamers also get well involved in the gaming community, i.e. participating in online forums, discussion boards and playing online with other gamers. Overall dedicating hours to gaming in general.

Casual:

A casual gamer on the other hand, has limited time for video games. They tend to be the people you see playing angry birds or cut the rope on their iPhone, playing bejewelled on their windows phone 7 or brain training games on their DS.

Pro:

What is the difference between a pro gamer and a hardcore gamer, you may be asking yourself. Well, one thing. Money. Pro gamers are video game lovers just like hardcore gamers, but your ordinary gamer does not get paid to play their favourite games. A pro is usually sponsored by companies to go to tournaments and play, whereas hardcore gamers usually just stay at home or hang out with their friends.

Ok, we have the supposed definitions of the main three types of gamers, but you may be thinking you have this one friend who says they are a hardcore gamer but all they do is play Call of Duty. Are they still a hardcore gamer? You and I both know they are of course NOT. Please, if you have a friend that says that awful quote “I am a hardcore gamer, I play black ops online.” Slap them!

Yes of course I will admit, I play Call of Duty (and a lot of core gamers do) and that is because it is without a doubt a good game but we all know there is more to gaming then shooting Nazi zombies. Gamers back in the day of proper arcades playing Pac-man and Donkey Kong used to be classed as core gamers, but now a days if those games were released they would just get laughed at by so called ‘Hardcore gamers’.

When you say the term hardcore gamer to anyone on the street, the thought that would come into most peoples heads is 18+ rated games and first person shooters. You have the Call of Duty’s, the Halo’s and of course the Battlefields, but that is not all ‘hardcore gamers’ play. In all honesty anyone who just plays the one type of game is not a proper gamer in my eyes, a proper gamer has to have variety and that is why we have there is Assassins Creed, where you get to jump from building to building; whilst running through your ancestors memories. There is Dead Space, being a space janitor with fancy guns slicing aliens really has its kicks. There is GTA, Need for Speed, Final Fantasy, Fable, Gears of War, Madden, Fifa, Street Fighter, Pokémon, Guitar Hero, Portal, Mass Effect and they are just a few games; there are the games from our childhood in those arcades we spent hours upon hours in, classics like space invaders and Pac-man. Games we played while at our friend’s house like sonic. Even more recent but yet so distant games like Hitman, how much money would you make if I gave you a pound every time you asked a COD: BLOPS player what Hitman was and they looked at you like you were a Nazi zombie eh?

 http://www.thegamershub.net/2011/05/what-is-a-hardcore-gamer/Hardcore Gamer

Age Ratings Unlikely To Remain Mandatory

Censorship organisations could move to an advisory capacity in light of increasingly global market, the VSC tells us.

The Video Standards Council, the non-profit UK organisation which monitors video and videogame standards, has suggested that certification bodies may move away from mandatory ratings models in response to increasingly global distribution channels. The revelation follows this week's news that Good Old Games had changed its location controls ahead of the release of The Witcher 2, allowing Australian players to circumvent the country's censorship laws.

"It seems inevitable that such systems will have an impact on the way national regulators control online content though the more authoritarian regimes won't have any qualms about shutting down a site if they deem it necessary," the VSC told us. "However, the more benign censorship/ratings organisations will probably move away from the mandatory model and replace it with an advisory systems which puts the onus on consumers to make informed buying decisions through the provision of detailed consumer information."

Asked whether moves such as GOG’s could result in legal ramifications, the VSC highlighted the difficulties of monitoring an international market: "In terms of online availability of such games, we do not believe that any such ramifications currently exist or can be enforced since any national restrictions are very difficult to enforce where, for example, content is delivered from a foreign server."

But despite this, the VSC doesn’t believe that local certification bodies are in danger of becoming irrelevant in today’s globalised industry.

"We believe [local certification bodies] remain very relevant even in this age of global distribution. As stated previously, it may be that the nature of censorship and ratings will change to a more advisory-centred system, but ratings systems continue to provide consumers - particularly parents of children - with very useful content information which we know they find very helpful indeed. We believe the public tends to trust the judgement and advice of the more independent, established and respected ratings organisations and will continue to do so."


http://www.next-gen.biz/news/age-ratings-unlikely-to-remain-mandatory