“A music CD is worth one hour at most. Compare that with the 10 to 100+ hours of enjoyment you can get out of a good video game! ”

Wait, you buy an album and only ever listen to it once, yet play a game repeatedly in your calculation. I have albums I have listened to far longer than any computer game has been played, heck some of the albums I have listened to on and off since the 80’s. Be fair in your assessment.

Otherwise, this article basically says what I and others have said for years, people only have a finite amount of money to spend on entertainment, we cannot spend more than we can afford and these days it has to be spread around much wider than ever before. A PS3 game costs the price of around 4 albums, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out where the money is going, personally a chunk of it going towards Sony’s PS3 divisions rather than Sony’s music divisions, but they still get it one way or another. I can’t spend more money than I have, no matter how much I may have or may not have downloaded I still spend on entertainment in the form of movies, music and games. One way or another, the companies still get it, sadly those very people just don’t get “it”, they failt to understand this.

Charles Arthur is bang on the money, trouble is it won’t change a thing.

Sure, games can cost more than a Bluray disc or music CD, but dollar for dollar the game will almost always win. One movie is worth anywhere from 1.5 to 3 hours of entertainment. A music CD is worth one hour at most. Compare that with the 10 to 100+ hours of enjoyment you can get out of a good video game! More if the game has good replay value or you like getting missed achievements (aka nerd cred lol). I used to be a PC gamer, but not so much anymore ever since buying an Xbox 360. Wireless controller + 52″ HDTV + 7.1 Digital Surround Sound + comfy cushy recliner = nerd heaven! Now take into account that most games don’t take very long at all to hit the bargain bin, the fact that they’re not just for children anymore (haven’t been for some years now) and the fact that they’ve also become more and more co-op centric over the last few years in addition to the usual multiplayer aspects and it’s not at all hard to see why folks are choosing to spend what little spare income they have each month in this fashion.

Entertainment is all about escaping the weariness of our daily lives and it’s hard to beat the high immersion factor of a good video game when it comes to escaping reality. Instead of being a passive observer like with movies, you’re an active participant in the story being told which in turn can make you feel much more connected to the characters. Mind you, gaming consoles aren’t completely perfect either. Everything is laden with DRM nowadays, especially on the Xbox 360. When my first machine died out of warranty, I had to buy a new one. Since the Live Arcade titles you purchase via the Marketplace are tied to the unique hardware ID of the machine, changing to a new machine presents a bit of a problem. On the originating machine, anybody could login using any ID and play all the Arcade titles. On the new machine, the account that was used to purchase those Arcade titles must be logged in or they won’t work. All were bought with my ID but about half actually belong to my wife. She can’t play any of her games unless I log in and run the game.

Anyways, good read. Hopefully the movie and music industries will eventually catch on to what seems so obvious to everyone else. It’s doubtful they ever will though. If they ever do manage to change, it will be in the 11th hour and only because they had no other choice left to them. It’s either that or die, both of which are perfectly fine with me. There is simply no room for outdated 20th century thinking and business models in the 21st century. I look forward to seeing what rises from the ashes.