Gaming Trends

You will be paired in groups of two according to the information you gathered on Wednesday. Your work will be handed back to you and you are to sit with your partner. Together, you will:

Review the following article: NY Times Gaming Trends focusing on the following questions:

a. What have been some common stereotypes about video games and video game users?
b. What has changed and why?
c. What new audiences are being drawn to gaming? Why?
d. Who changed the trend?
e. How have users responded to the shift?
f. Why have consumer companies been surprised by the shift?
g. What might this shift suggest to companies about their understanding of consumers who use their products?
h. How might the online gaming trend mirror the popularity of social networking sites?
i. How do you think players from different countries communicate when playing the same game?

ALSO....
View snippets of the games featured in the article at Harmonix (http://www.harmonixmusic.com/), Activision Blizzard (http://www.activisionblizzard.com/) and Vivendi (http://www.vivendi.com/corp/en/home/index.php); or other popular games on a Web site such as Game Rankings (http://www.gamerankings.com/), Game Trailers (http://www.gametrailers.com/player/22768.html) or Spike TV's 2007 Video Game Awards (http://www.ifilm.com/show/23733).

THEN....
Groups should work toward formulating predictions about future trends in gaming. On chart paper, write short statements, two or three sentences, describing the trends you will consider in greater detail. For example, you might decide that the next trend is an online version of Wii in which global participants compete in tennis or bowling, and hold a Wii World Series. If so, you might cite reports of the role of Wii in combatting couch-potato syndrome in kids, the trend toward intergenerational, international gaming and the stock prices for Wii.