Gamestop’s Latest Numbers Tell Us Everything We Need to know about the Future of the Game Industry
Monday, 1st April 2013Posted in Industry
Tags: facts, gamestop, gaming sales, numbers
Written by: Paul Nyhart
Gamestop released their 2012 numbers last week – which usually would mean very little to the video gamer who didn’t have cash invested in the stock market. However, what we saw out of Gamestop’s sale numbers, and the rest of the gaming industry for that matter, gives us a VERY good idea where video games are headed.
Gamestop saw a $270 million loss over the past year, which according to the world’s biggest game retailer, was partly the result of gamers sitting on their cash waiting for next gen consoles. Gamestop anticipates this will be corrected with the dawn of the PS4 (something they say 900,000 consumers have already signed up for “more information”), but look a layer deeper and we find out what is really going on. Continue reading “Gamestop’s Latest Numbers Tell Us Everything We Need to know about the Future of the Game Industry” »
This Week in Gaming History: XBox revealed, Resident Evil movie, two arcade classics
Monday, 11th March 2013Posted in History
Tags: facts, gaming history, historical, news
Written by: Patrick Scott Patterson
Ok, class. No spring break when it comes to video game history, so sit down and prepare to learn. It’s time for another weekly dose of video game history.
On March 10, 2000, Microsoft stunned the industry by announcing the XBox at the Game Developers Conference. An enthusiastic Bill Gates was, at the time, seemingly the only one excited about the new console brand.
March 12, 1982 marks the date for Robotron: 2084, the granddaddy of dual-stick shooters. Creator Eugene Jarvis was frustrated at the controls of Stern’s arcade hit Berzerk, so he wanted the ability to run one direction while firing in another. After breaking his hand this scheme was simplified into using two joysticks, a control scheme popular in many games today. Jarvis was also behind the later Smash TV, which borrowed heavily from abandoned concepts originally dreamed up for Robotron.
On March 15, 2002 the first Resident Evil film was released. Despite mixed critical reviews, the film went on to gross $102,441,078 and seemingly spawn sequels in similar numbers.
On March 16, 1982 Sega unleashed Zaxxon, one of the top earning games of the year. The game earned a lot of popularity due to a television commercial campaign and a unique isometric viewpoint that was a radical new concept in gaming at the time. The title created some industry controversy, however, when Sega refused to release the game for a convertible game system they’d been marketing hard to arcade operators leading up to the game. Those who wanted this hit game in their arcades were expected to pay the full purchase price for a dedicated machine at the cost of $2,500-$3,000 each, plus freight.
Mark it down… every Monday you need to report to class here and learn more gaming history. It will count considerably toward your final grade.
This Week in Gaming History: Food Fighting, Mario RPG, Conker’s Terrible Freakin Day
Monday, 4th March 2013Posted in History
Tags: facts, gaming history, mario history, news
Written by: Patrick Scott Patterson
Some of the most interesting video games ever came out in March. The three in this week’s history lesson are just the tip of the iceberg.
March 4, 1983 saw the birth of Food Fight. Published by Atari and developed by General Computer Corp (GCC… also known as the folks who created Ms. Pac-Man), Food Fight featured a character named Charlie Chuck, who seemingly pissed off several chefs that must not have been very good anyway, as they keep their ingredients on the floor. Anyhoo, Charlie just wants to eat the ice cream cone on the other side of the room, but the chefs aren’t having it.
March 5, 2001 saw the highly rated and highly controversial Conker’s Bad Fur Day. Developed for Nintendo by Rare, Conker is a party squirrel that likes to drink all night and have some fun. The shock value in the game, especially coming from Nintendo, is still talked about to this very day. A television commercial for the title seemed to push the envelope a bit too much as well, being pulled from a number of television networks. Naturally, it was considered perfectly okay for the history video this week.
March 9, 1996 saw the first release of Square and Nintendo’s Super Mario RPG. The Japanese hit later came to U.S. shores and proved popular, yet never had a direct sequel.
Just getting warmed up for the month of March… in coming weeks looks for anniversaries of some of the most challenging arcade hits ever and a number of iconic console hits. Check back each Monday.
This Week in Gaming History: Tennis, Zelda, Rally-X and WCW/NWO Thunder
Monday, 14th January 2013Posted in History
Tags: facts, history, playstation, THQ, video game history, wcw nwo, Zelda
Written by: Patrick Scott Patterson
A mixed bag of gaming history notes this week, with more interesting stories than you might think they have at a glance.
Perhaps not for Tennis, though. This thrill-a-second Nintendo classic was first released for the Famicom on January 14, 1984 and came to America with the first Nintendo Entertainment System push later on. Nobody really cared, though.
They DID care three years later on January 14, 1987 when Zelda II: The Adventure of Link came out. Released on disk in Japan, the U.S. release of the game was delayed almost two years due to a chip shortage. It was the second and final Zelda game for the NES.
New school gaming fans and even some old schoolers might not care about the January 15, 1981 release of Rally-X, but the game has a lot of interesting footnotes. Back when new, industry insiders considered the game the “next big hit” and predicted it would do better than Pac-Man and Defender. They were wrong. However, 2011′s Wreck-It Ralph film pays homage to the game with the “TurboTime” game and Turbo character, which were based on the cabinet art for Rally-X.
January 15, 1999 was the beginning of the end for WCW, and it showed with the release of WCW/NWO Thunder for the PlayStation. Panned by critics, it also looked like the end of wrestling games from THQ, but they’d continue to make them for decades to come. (NOW it looks like the end, though).
Check back every Monday for more video game history lessons. Know your goshdern industry history ya try hards.
Statistics Suggest There Is Little to No Link Between Video Game Consumption and Gun Murders [Charts]
Monday, 17th December 2012Posted in Industry
Tags: facts, gun rights, gun violence, statistics, violent video games
Written by: Paul Nyhart
Follow @paulnyhart
In the aftermath of the horrible tragedies in Newtown, Connecticut, a number of media outlets have linked video game consumption to gun violence, but as the Washington Post recently published, statistically, that does not appear to be the case.
The statistics charted below detail the rate of gun murder to video game consumption over ten countries. While the United States has a MUCH HIGHER rate of gun murder per capita, compared to the likes of Germany, Japan and The Netherlands, there is no empirical link to video game consumption — in fact, it shows a DOWNWARD trend.
In the United Staes, roughly 3 people out of 100,000 will be the victim of a gun murder, putting the U.S. ahead of the runner up Canada, by almost “2.5 people.”
Of course the chart does not graph the TYPES of video games being played e.g. violent, sports, RPG, etc. but it is safe to say that OVERALL consumption does not seem to dictate gun violence, or else The Netherlands would be at the top of the charts and would look like this:
ALL aspects relating to gun violence should be explored, which includes the lifestyle of an individual — however there is no DEFINITE link towards video game consumption and GUN violence — in this respect the evidence is to the contrary.
This Week in Gaming History: Crappy Holidays Edition
Monday, 3rd December 2012Posted in Gaming History
Tags: facts, gaming history, news, video game history
Written by: Patrick Scott Patterson
The month of December marks the launches of some great games… and some totally terrible ones. Really terrible ones. Just bad. Awful. Wanna see?
How about December 5, 1986 release Transformers: Mystery of Convoy on the Nintendo Famicom? You lead a tiny Ultra Magnus on a side-scrolling adventure where he battles bored boss enemies and hardly identifiable characters from the Transformers universe. Luckily, for North America, this game stayed in the east. Trust me when I say that’s a good thing.
We weren’t so lucky with Continue reading “This Week in Gaming History: Crappy Holidays Edition” »
This Week in Gaming History: SuperCade Time, Ghosts N Goblins, Abe and a Clown
Monday, 17th September 2012Posted in Blog Archive, Gaming History, News
Tags: facts, gaming history, gaming news, week
Written by: Patrick Scott Patterson
Time once again to look back on what this week means in the history of video gaming. Think you know this stuff? Read on.
On September 17, 1983, the Saturday SuperCade show debuted Saturday mornings on CBS. This video game based cartoon series contained shorts based on some of the hottest games of the day, including Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Junior, Frogger, Q*bert and Pitfall! The second season added Kangaroo and Space Ace to the mix as well. Continue reading “This Week in Gaming History: SuperCade Time, Ghosts N Goblins, Abe and a Clown” »
This Week in Gaming History: Karts, Mothers, Turbos, Fighters, Burgers and a Bandicoot
Monday, 27th August 2012Posted in Blog Archive, Gaming
Tags: crash bandicoot, facts, gaming history, gaming news, super mario kart, video, video game history
Written by: Patrick Scott Patterson
There is a lot of history to cram into This Week in Gaming History, including major anniversaries for some iconic game titles.
On August 27, 1992, Japan saw the release of Super Mario Kart for the Super Famicom. A title that is still popular today, it came out in the US just a few days later, on September 1.
Two years later, on August 27, 1994, Mother 2 was released for the Super Famicom. This unique RPG became a cult classic to US gamers under the name of Earthbound.
On August 29, 1989 NEC’s TurboGrafx-16 hit North America. A highly successful system in Japan, where it was known as the PC Engine, it never caught fire on this side of the pond where it became the third wheel in the Nintendo and Sega console wars. Continue reading “This Week in Gaming History: Karts, Mothers, Turbos, Fighters, Burgers and a Bandicoot” »
THIS WEEK IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY: ‘Gameboy’, ‘Channel F’, and ‘Earthworm Jim’ Make Historic Debuts
Monday, 30th July 2012Posted in Blog Archive, Gaming
Tags: beginning, facts, gaming industry, history, stories, video game history
Written by: Patrick Scott Patterson
Follow @originalpsp
Welcome to the first edition of Video Game History Week here on The Jace Hall Show, brought to you exclusively by video game historian and yours truly, Patrick Scott Patterson.
The video game industry has been with us for decades now, yet little of that history is ever noted. I aim to change that with this new regular feature.
This week we celebrate the North American release of Nintendo’s GameBoy, first seeing the light of day on US retail shelves on July 31, 1989. While it battled far more advanced retail rivals for the years to follow, this early Nintendo handheld sat on the throne the entire time, eventually selling more than 118 million units worldwide. Continue reading “THIS WEEK IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY: ‘Gameboy’, ‘Channel F’, and ‘Earthworm Jim’ Make Historic Debuts” »
63% Of People Have Answered A Phone Call While On The Toilet (And Other Facts You Didn’t Want To Know About Cell Phones)
Monday, 2nd July 2012Posted in Blog Archive, Keeping it Real, Technology
Tags: addicted, cell phones, facts, faqs, robots, stats
Written by: Paul Nyhart
Where they found these stats we’re not sure, but they’re interesting nevertheless.
Bet you didn’t know that there are more active cell phones on the face of the planet than their are people — thanks to paranoid businessman and their spoiled children (and drug dealers who may or may technically be one and the same).
Of note, 55% of people have felt uncomfortable overhearing a cell phone conversation, which leaves a rather uncomfortable 45% to be comfortable overhearing sprinklings of someone else’s private life. Continue reading “63% Of People Have Answered A Phone Call While On The Toilet (And Other Facts You Didn’t Want To Know About Cell Phones)” »
Kony 2012 Gains Unprecedented Viral Support, But Is The Video Missing The Mark?
Thursday, 8th March 2012Posted in Blog Archive, Keeping it Real
Tags: facts, invisible children, kony, kony 2012, stopkony, visible children
Written by: Paul Nyhart
Follow @paulnyhart
The e-mails, tweets, wall postings, and google plus messages all came in like rapid fire early this week, asking us at the Jace Hall Show to share the video below…
By now the messages have been replicated amongst almost every celebrity, ranging from Dinsey to NBA stars, all the while helping ‘Kony 2012′ reach 32 million views on youtube (or 390 million fewer than a baby biting a boy’s finger).
The 30 minute Kony 2012 video explains who Kony is, what he’s doing, and why he should be stopped — in addition to explaining how you can help. It “aims to make Joseph Kony, the leader of Lord’s Resistance Army of Uganda famous.” Continue reading “Kony 2012 Gains Unprecedented Viral Support, But Is The Video Missing The Mark?” »
Recent Posts
- Let’s Flip The Script: You’re Intently Focused On A Game When Your Boyfriend Walks In Naked
- Xbox One Reveal Highlights Everything Frustrating About Modern Gaming
- Little Big Planet Inspired Platformer: Ethan Meteor Hunter Takes You On The Mission of a Meteor Stricken Rat With Telekinesis (That’s Right)
- XBOX One Announces No Backwards Compatibility; Crybabies Commence Complaining
- You Are a Feared and Powerful Knight “Cursed With The Gift of Magic” In: DORMANT SKY
- Mythbusters (Jace Hall Show Edition): Black Girls Don’t Play Video Games
- This Week in Gaming History: Happy Birthday Pac-Man!
- Devs Sound Off On What They Want To See From Tomorrow’s Xbox Reveal + New PS4 E3 Trailer
- How Video Games Helped Me Overcome Trauma — Part 2: Speaking Without A Voice
- How SAINTS ROW IV Will Bring “A Level of Freedom of Movement Never Before Seen In an Open World Game”