Kotaku Census 2010: The Personal Computer [Research]

It’s the backbone of the video game industry. Consoles come and consoles go, but the personal computer has always been there, and maybe, always will be. So let’s talk about it, eh? More

Kotaku Census 2010: PIRATES! [Research]

Today’s census questions are all about pirates. Yaaarrrrrrrr! More

Kotaku Census 2010: The Consoles You Own [Research]

All week long, we’ll be running Kotaku Census 2010 , where we ask you a ton of questions, and you answer them. Our first polls are now up, and want to know all about the consoles you own. More

Nielsen: Games Account for 5 Percent of U.S. Entertainment Budgets [Study]

Across all U.S. households, video games account for 4.9 percent of monthly entertainment spending – to 2.8 percent for CDs and mp3s – according to recent Nielsen research. Among households that are active game buyers, the figure is 9.3 percent. It’s important to note this is not a whole-dollar measurement – it does not mean Americans spend more on games than music. But it does indicate consumer preference, based on how they perceive the allocations of their money. Game-buying households – defined as those spending more than $1 a month on game-related content – comprise 24 percent of U.S. households. Their habits “paint a picture of valuable, tech-savvy entertainment consumers,” Nielsen writes. They’re more likely to buy DVD/Blu-ray movies, video-on-demand, go to movies, sports and other live events. Interestingly, these choices “come at the expense of more established media options like basic cable and print media.” If you’re wondering what the leading entertainment budget categories were, a general category of “participating in activities such as dining out, shopping, going to a museum” led overall with 24.8 percent of a family’s spending. Regular television packages, such as basic cable, came in second at 17.9 percent. Video Games Score 5% of U.S. Household Entertainment Budget [Nielsen. Graphic by Nielsen.]

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Nielsen: Games Account for 5 Percent of U.S. Entertainment Budgets [Study]

The Day The Gamers Took Over Reselling [Used Games]

When it quietly went online for pre-launch testing early last year, Glyde was a reseller marketplace built with a midwestern, middle-aged book or music lover in mind. Then the gamers found it, and practically took over. “Even though we weren’t really aiming at gamers, one found it somehow, told someone else, and they told even more people,” said Simon Rothman, Glyde’s founder and CEO. “They’ve clearly taken over the dynamics, and are buying and selling through us more than anyone else [using the site].” Glyde, which officially launched to the public Nov. 16 , got to this point almost entirely virally, and its appeal is one easily spread by word of mouth. Used games – a commodity that touches sentiments of gamers’ rights and empowerment – can sell for more and can be bought for less through Glyde than in retail stores. And the transactions can be executed more conveniently than over eBay, Craigslist or Half.com. Although Rothman, a seven-year eBay veteran who created eBay Motors, was mostly agnostic about what would be the dominant item sold through Glyde when he started the company three years ago, its model plays straight to gamer preference and against the pet peeves and hassles of selling valuable used games. For example, listing an item on Half.com first requires a UPC search. On Glyde, just type in the game’s name and select its platform. It’s then listed forever, unlike auctions that expire on eBay or ads that time out on Craigslist. Sellers get an email when a buyer has been found. A pricing decision is assisted by a custom algorithm that – speaking very broadly and simply – establishes a real-time market value of the item. Shipping a used game via eBay or Half.com involves having a padded envelope laying around or a trip to buy one, and then a trip to the post office to weigh and stamp it. Glyde sends you the packaging, postage already affixed. Just dump it in and let the mailman pick it up. And of course, dealing with the GameStops and Game Crazys, there’s the resentment of getting $20 – if that – for a $60 game that’s only a month old. Finally, if a buyer is unhappy with the item, Glyde provides the means of return and refund – a process that’s a lot stickier and depends a lot more on trustworthiness on eBay or Half. Glyde passes the packaging ($1.25) cost to sellers, and the shipping costs (roughly $3.50) to buyers and takes a 10 percent cut of the sale price. Even with those costs, today a seller would clear $30 for a used, excellent-condition copy of Assassin’s Creed II, whereas cash proceeds (not in-store credit) from taking it to GameStop are $12. At GameStop, a used copy of the game currently goes for $49.99 ; a buyer can get it, total cost, for roughly $38, with the shipping a variable. While those prices are similar to what the game’s pulling on Half.com , Glyde’s pitching a convenience service that Half doesn’t offer. The biggest drawback is the time spent waiting for the packaging to arrive. When I got rid of Demon’s Souls (for $30.25 net) my email told me to expect this mailer by the end of next week. I’m supposed to drop it in the mail 24 hours after I get it, and then the buyer notifies Glyde that he’s got the game and is happy. If Glyde hears nothing, it releases the money to me after a two-day waiting period. Worst case scenario, we’re talking about 10 or more days from transaction to getting the game or being paid for it. Still, Rothman and Glyde are fully aware of how disruptive their business is to GameStop’s resale experience, and are going right after it. Price comparisons supplied by Glyde, drawing on market values of Feb. 10, show sellers getting $8 to $20 more than GameStop’s cash proceeds on a wide spread of used titles. Meantime, their research shows GameStop resale prices roughly 25 percent higher than what games sell for through Glyde. “GameStop has over 6,500 stores and 16,000 full-time employees, they have a lot of cost. They have to buy the item really cheap, to cover their expenses, and then sell it high,” Rothman said. “In our case, we don’t own the item, and we sell it for fair market value, and there’s so much cost stripped out of the system that buyers and sellers both make more money.” The tiptoe-footprint Glyde strives for as a middleman is apparent in the site’s design, which evokes Google-style minimalist design at every step. (You never scroll down; this is almost certainly deliberate.) Of course, gamers aren’t limited to selling those items. They watch DVDs and go to college, too; used books and movies, as well as CDs, are also sold via Glyde. Seller options include sharing one’s inventory over Facebook or donating proceeds to charity, adding a social element to the community. Rothman says gamers have had a strong voice in how the site’s design and use have evolved. “They’re very engaged and active, and amazingly good customers and members of the community,” Rothman said. “They’re also very vocal, they tell us what’s good, what’s bad and exactly what they think. “We could probably use fewer expletives,” Rothman says with a chuckle, “but they’re great and we love gamers. Movie enthusiasts and people who read books or listen to music are less animated early on.” Glyde is a privately backed startup, but its business model has attracted serious attention on Wall Street. A Barron’s profile at Glyde’s launch posited that GameStop could end up getting “Netflixed,” the same way Blockbuster’s physical business was decimated by a simple online alternative. But that’s for those two to battle out and determine a winner. For gamers, their early business with and input to Glyde has had a strong voice in establishing a resale alternative. That’s already a victory for them.

Go here to see the original:
The Day The Gamers Took Over Reselling [Used Games]

The Day The Gamers Took Over Reselling [Used Games]

When it quietly went online for pre-launch testing early last year, Glyde was a reseller marketplace built with a midwestern, middle-aged book or music lover in mind. Then the gamers found it, and practically took over. “Even though we weren’t really aiming at gamers, one found it somehow, told someone else, and they told even more people,” said Simon Rothman, Glyde’s founder and CEO. “They’ve clearly taken over the dynamics, and are buying and selling through us more than anyone else [using the site].” Glyde, which officially launched to the public Nov. 16 , got to this point almost entirely virally, and its appeal is one easily spread by word of mouth. Used games – a commodity that touches sentiments of gamers’ rights and empowerment – can sell for more and can be bought for less through Glyde than in retail stores. And the transactions can be executed more conveniently than over eBay, Craigslist or Half.com. Although Rothman, a seven-year eBay veteran who created eBay Motors, was mostly agnostic about what would be the dominant item sold through Glyde when he started the company three years ago, its model plays straight to gamer preference and against the pet peeves and hassles of selling valuable used games. For example, listing an item on Half.com first requires a UPC search. On Glyde, just type in the game’s name and select its platform. It’s then listed forever, unlike auctions that expire on eBay or ads that time out on Craigslist. Sellers get an email when a buyer has been found. A pricing decision is assisted by a custom algorithm that – speaking very broadly and simply – establishes a real-time market value of the item. Shipping a used game via eBay or Half.com involves having a padded envelope laying around or a trip to buy one, and then a trip to the post office to weigh and stamp it. Glyde sends you the packaging, postage already affixed. Just dump it in and let the mailman pick it up. And of course, dealing with the GameStops and Game Crazys, there’s the resentment of getting $20 – if that – for a $60 game that’s only a month old. Finally, if a buyer is unhappy with the item, Glyde provides the means of return and refund – a process that’s a lot stickier and depends a lot more on trustworthiness on eBay or Half. Glyde passes the packaging ($1.25) cost to sellers, and the shipping costs (roughly $3.50) to buyers and takes a 10 percent cut of the sale price. Even with those costs, today a seller would clear $30 for a used, excellent-condition copy of Assassin’s Creed II, whereas cash proceeds (not in-store credit) from taking it to GameStop are $12. At GameStop, a used copy of the game currently goes for $49.99 ; a buyer can get it, total cost, for roughly $38, with the shipping a variable. While those prices are similar to what the game’s pulling on Half.com , Glyde’s pitching a convenience service that Half doesn’t offer. The biggest drawback is the time spent waiting for the packaging to arrive. When I got rid of Demon’s Souls (for $30.25 net) my email told me to expect this mailer by the end of next week. I’m supposed to drop it in the mail 24 hours after I get it, and then the buyer notifies Glyde that he’s got the game and is happy. If Glyde hears nothing, it releases the money to me after a two-day waiting period. Worst case scenario, we’re talking about 10 or more days from transaction to getting the game or being paid for it. Still, Rothman and Glyde are fully aware of how disruptive their business is to GameStop’s resale experience, and are going right after it. Price comparisons supplied by Glyde, drawing on market values of Feb. 10, show sellers getting $8 to $20 more than GameStop’s cash proceeds on a wide spread of used titles. Meantime, their research shows GameStop resale prices roughly 25 percent higher than what games sell for through Glyde. “GameStop has over 6,500 stores and 16,000 full-time employees, they have a lot of cost. They have to buy the item really cheap, to cover their expenses, and then sell it high,” Rothman said. “In our case, we don’t own the item, and we sell it for fair market value, and there’s so much cost stripped out of the system that buyers and sellers both make more money.” The tiptoe-footprint Glyde strives for as a middleman is apparent in the site’s design, which evokes Google-style minimalist design at every step. (You never scroll down; this is almost certainly deliberate.) Of course, gamers aren’t limited to selling those items. They watch DVDs and go to college, too; used books and movies, as well as CDs, are also sold via Glyde. Seller options include sharing one’s inventory over Facebook or donating proceeds to charity, adding a social element to the community. Rothman says gamers have had a strong voice in how the site’s design and use have evolved. “They’re very engaged and active, and amazingly good customers and members of the community,” Rothman said. “They’re also very vocal, they tell us what’s good, what’s bad and exactly what they think. “We could probably use fewer expletives,” Rothman says with a chuckle, “but they’re great and we love gamers. Movie enthusiasts and people who read books or listen to music are less animated early on.” Glyde is a privately backed startup, but its business model has attracted serious attention on Wall Street. A Barron’s profile at Glyde’s launch posited that GameStop could end up getting “Netflixed,” the same way Blockbuster’s physical business was decimated by a simple online alternative. But that’s for those two to battle out and determine a winner. For gamers, their early business with and input to Glyde has had a strong voice in establishing a resale alternative. That’s already a victory for them.

The rest is here:
The Day The Gamers Took Over Reselling [Used Games]

Mile Marker 28: Trauma [The Road To The Igf]

Tired of stodgy corporate games made by The Man and his minions? We’re playing the 31 best indie games for a change of pace —- and so we can judge them. Today, Trauma. In A Sentence Trauma is the point-and-click love child of Kafkaesque confusion and Myst exploration. State Of Completion The PC game will be free to play through most web browsers when it hits in early 2010. Thoughts Krystian Majewski’s Trauma is more art than game. You work your way through a number of photographs, manipulating your perspective, moving from scene to scene, while trying to unravel just what is going on. The innate mystery of being dropped into an unusual setting under surreal circumstances makes for an interesting experience. It isn’t until you mouse your way through the first couple of sections that you start to piece together the game’s story of a young woman who survives a car accident that claims her parents’ lives. The gaming presentation may be a bit methodical and cumbersome for some, but I found the end result very evocative. Answers We Demanded Kotaku: The entries of the IGF are an eclectic bunch, ranging from esoteric art titles to straight forward drop-in-and-play casual games. In creating your entry what do you hope to accomplish with your game? Majewski: I see TRAUMA as the straight forward drop-in-and-play esoteric art title. One of initial goals of the project was to create a game that also people, who haven’t been interested in computer games would be curious to try. So it’s supposed to challenge the notions of what a computer game is like. The visuals, the realistic setting and the ambitious story are part of that plan. But just making people curious would be pointless if the game wasn’t straight forward to play. So TRAUMA is also extremely short, easy to learn and it’s challenges are very simple. Even if you have never played a computer game before you should be able to see the end of TRAUMA in a short amount of time. The point is that this time will be very well-spent. Kotaku: What was the inspiration behind your game? Krystian Majewski: I did a very detailed analysis of the history and current state of adventure games during my research for the project. A lot of what I found went into the game. There are obvious influences from the Myst series for example. But actually, the initial idea was sparked by Samorost. It demonstrated what you can do using Flash and photography in the adventure game genre. Later during my research I found other inspiring indie projects like the games of Mateusz Skutnik or 99 Rooms. As for inspiration from outside of games – again, there is plenty. The project began as the final thesis for my design studies at Köln International School of Design. A lot of what I’ve seen and learned went into the project. For example, I experimented with combining CGI elements with real-life footage in a short project called “Twisted Reality”. There are also some influences by some local artists from Cologne, for example the long exposure photography of Lichtfaktor (http://www.lichtfaktor.eu/). Kotaku: Why video games? There are plenty of ways for a person to express themselves creatively, why did you choose this way? Majewski: I disagree with “Form Follows Function”. So I didn’t set out with the idea of expressing myself creatively and then decided to do that in games. Instead, I grew up playing games and started making my own pretty early on. I was motivated simply because I was fascinated with games. I started thinking on how to utilize games more purposefully when I got older. I realized it was a good idea because it is a discipline where I had an advantage and where I still see a lot of potential. But making games was the starting point, not the other way around. Make sure to check out the rest of the Independent Games Festival finalists as we head toward the March awards show.

Read more:
Mile Marker 28: Trauma [The Road To The Igf]

Microsoft Want To Use The 360 For Health Care [Microsoft]

As of right now , you can use an Xbox 360 to play games, watch movies, listen to music and communicate with people. In the future, however, Microsoft would like you to also use it for health care. The R&D guys at Microsoft Research are hard at work finding ways for new uses for the Xbox 360, and some are currently focused on getting the 360 into hospital rooms. One potential application is to combine the 360’s relatively low cost and dedicated performance to “feed information from electronic medical records onto in-room display screens for patients”. Upcoming camera/motion sensing peripheral Project Natal is also being looked at, a possible use for the device being a means of filtering patient information: being able to differentiate between individuals, Natal could adjust the amount of patient detail being displayed depending on whether a doctor or family member was in the room. Natal could also, through it’s controller-free input, be used as a way to not only allow sick and injured hospital patients to play video games without the need to hold or manipulate a device, but also give them easy access to hospital services and even – in a first for the Xbox 360 – internet browsing (though we’d imagine if this ever came to be they’d be custom pieces of hardware, not off-the-shelf consoles). Microsoft E-health Research Taps Xbox, Mobile Phones [PC World]

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Microsoft Want To Use The 360 For Health Care [Microsoft]

Microsoft Want To Use The 360 For Health Care [Microsoft]

As of right now , you can use an Xbox 360 to play games, watch movies, listen to music and communicate with people. In the future, however, Microsoft would like you to also use it for health care. The R&D guys at Microsoft Research are hard at work finding ways for new uses for the Xbox 360, and some are currently focused on getting the 360 into hospital rooms. One potential application is to combine the 360’s relatively low cost and dedicated performance to “feed information from electronic medical records onto in-room display screens for patients”. Upcoming camera/motion sensing peripheral Project Natal is also being looked at, a possible use for the device being a means of filtering patient information: being able to differentiate between individuals, Natal could adjust the amount of patient detail being displayed depending on whether a doctor or family member was in the room. Natal could also, through it’s controller-free input, be used as a way to not only allow sick and injured hospital patients to play video games without the need to hold or manipulate a device, but also give them easy access to hospital services and even – in a first for the Xbox 360 – internet browsing (though we’d imagine if this ever came to be they’d be custom pieces of hardware, not off-the-shelf consoles). Microsoft E-health Research Taps Xbox, Mobile Phones [PC World]

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Microsoft Want To Use The 360 For Health Care [Microsoft]

The Best PC Mods For 2009 Were… [PC]

Mod DB , the central hub for all things mod-related on the PC, released over the weekend their editors’ and readers’ picks for the best mods of 2009. You may have seen some of these – like Galactic Warfare and NeoTokyo – featured previously on Kotaku. Others may be entirely new to you (and us!). Regardless, all are the result of untold hours of free, unpaid work by their respective developers, some great, some excellent, and it’s always nice seeing that kind of work be given its dues. EDITORS CHOICE Best Art Direction: Out Of Hell (UT2004) Best Upcoming Indie Game: Overgrowth Best Upcoming Mod: Naruto: Naiteki Kensei (Half-Life 1) Best Indie Game: A Reckless Disregard for Gravity Best Multiplayer Mod: MechWarrior: Living Legends (Crysis) Best Singleplayer Mod: The Nameless Mod (Deus Ex) READERS CHOICE Mod Of The Year: MechWarrior: Living Legends (Crysis) Second Place: Research & Development (Half-Life 2) Third Place: NeoTokyo (Half-Life 2) Fourth Place: Star Wars: Galactic Warfare (Modern Warfare) Fifth Place X: Renegade (Unreal Engine 3) Sixth Place: Median XL (Diablo II) Seventh Place: Third Ageeee: Total War (Medieval: Total War) Eighth Place: The Nameless Mod (Deus Ex) Ninth Place: C&C: Shockwave (C&C: Generals) Tenth Place: Resistance & Liberation (Half-Life 2) BEST UPCOMING MOD (READERS CHOICE) First Place: Mortewood Plaza (Half-Life 2) Second Place: Naruto: Naiteki Kensei (Half-Life 1) Third Place: Company of Heroes: Eastern Front (Company of Heroes) Fourth Place: Opposing Force 2 (Half-Life 2) Fifth Place: Raindrop (Half-Life 2) BEST INDIE GAME (READERS CHOICE) First Place: Natural Selection 2 Second Place: Overgrowth Third Place: 0 AD Fourth Place: FOnline: 2238 Fifth Place: Platinum Arts Sandbox If you’re wondering where Black Mesa got to, it’s there, with an honourable mention. It’s had enough awards, though, it’s time to get the thing done and out the door. You can read more about each mod, as well as find download links for those available, at the link below. [ 2009 Mod of the Year Awards ]

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The Best PC Mods For 2009 Were… [PC]

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