Game On My Wayward Son

So GameStop just released their earnings and they are up 11.4% and projected to go up an additional 18-22% this year. That is some incrediable numbers in this economy, but it's also not that surprising when you think about. 

Let's take for example a game I've put more hours on than I probably should mention since it's going to make me look like uber-geek. The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion and all of it's expansions probably add up to about a $130 worth of gaming goodness. That sounds fairly expensive but between the 5 characters I have put it 427 hours of game play...that's almost 18 days of total play time. Anyways that works out to be $.30 per hour which is pretty good value for money. Now lets compare this to say going to the movies which cost $10 for a 2 hour flick. For you non-math majors that works out to be $5.00 per hour. 

See it's not hard to see why video games offer a better entertainment option and therefore why people are buying them in this economic climate. We all want to be entertained and we are all cutting back quite a bit so it doesn't seem like that far fetched of a statement to say you want to but Rock Band over going to see someone in concert. 

This is also not to mention the social aspect of gaming, my buddies and I play Left 4 Dead just about every night and we communicate with one another via headset. Some will say that's not social interaction but I challenge anyone to explain to me how it isn't. By sitting at home, being social and entertained we are all saving money. No buying expensive drinks at a bar, no burning petrol to drive anywhere, no overpriced food at a restaurant, and so on. We get hours and hours of entertainment out of a game that cost us $25. 

Then there is the other big reason why people play games, and that is to escape the awfulness which is real life. I mean I look around all I see is doom and gloom that I have no control over. That's not very fun, but I guess it takes someone with a warped sense of thinking to have fun in a world where zombies have taken over and the only way to survive is to unload massive amount of lead into them. I don't know I think I would rather be apart of a world with a zombie apocalypse than a world where the economy is collapsing and it's all being ran by idiots...I can at least shoot the zombies. 

Go game on my geeks and geekettes, game on!