The average age of a gamer is 31.  The increasing age of gamers has served to make gaming a mass market pass time.  Gaming is now a channel through which any age audience can be reached - Adults play casual games, young kids are playing on their DS, and families use the Wii.  But what of the teen generation?  For teens, new consoles are still expensive but their old consoles (PS2 / original Xbox) are too out of date to be of interest.  So, what are they playing?  Is gaming still a way to reach them too?  You’ll be surprised…

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Everything changes. 10 years ago who would have thought pubs would be smoke-free, Def Leppard would release their new single via a console game (seriously, it’s being released via Guitar Hero) before it hits the shops, and the mass market would be embracing gaming especially a games console where you wave your arms about? So, could the video arcade be the next great social meeting place?

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I was in Game recently looking at all the accessories you can get for the Wii: the steering wheel, golf club, tennis racquet, shotgun, crossbow, fishing rod, the list goes on… But mostly these are simple extensions of the Wiimote; they don’t actually do anything. However the ‘balance board’ is coming to the UK and proves to step up beyond the capabilities of Wiimote prosthetics.

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When EA Games sets up a new division, it’s always worth taking note.

Yesterday, EA announced its new division called EA Blueprint, a division solely on creating games for social networking sites such as Facebook.  EA Blueprint’s games will be a mix of their existing IP and new titles.  The debut original title is reported as being Facebook Smarty Pants. read full post »