Morning DLC: Video Games News And Rumors 12/30/13
By Nick Tylwalk
"Capcom has been viewed as of late as a bit out of touch with their fan base, and nothing demonstrates that more than some of the language featured in their latest investor’s relations material. Inside was a retrospective of their flagship Resident Evil series, and their idea of promoting the brand and attracting new customers was to attach themselves to fashion brands and fashion magazines. Their reasoning for this bizarre turn is that they are attempting to attract younger consumers as their “main user group is now in their late-30s to 40s, and the average age is also going up as the series goes on with an increasing possibility that some percentage of the existing users will outgrow games altogether.”It’s a statement that is at odds with the direction video games are going entirely. Not only has Nintendo broken ground in getting people of all ages into gaming, from the very young to very old, the NES generation seems to be taking gaming with them as they grow older at a steady rate."
"As the year comes to an end, year-end statistics are trickling out from every which way. Over the weekend, the China Game Industry Annual Conference’s China Games Party has released info on how much revenue the Chinese game industry has brought in over the course of 2013. Chinese video game companies pulled in over $13 billion last year, 13 billion.Of course the China number only represents, well, China. In comparison, according to Gartner’s numbers from October, global gaming revenue is expected to hit $93 billion. The report says that mobile games are the fastest growing segment of video games. Also, note that Gartner’s report also takes into account console games—in China, console games sales don’t really factor in. Mobile games are growing, but the biggest bread winner this year are still online client-based games."
"Jaxxyn Wood of Danville, KY alerted his family to a fire he noticed while playing videogames at 3:30 in the morning.Thankfully, for the family of 12-year-old Jaxxyn Wood, he’s still at the “rock and roll all night” stage of his life. Recently, while indulging in a post-Christmas 3:30 AM gaming session, the uniquely-named ragamuffin from Kentucky noticed an odor that smelled like “Legos on fire.” Seeing smoke, he followed it to the kitchen where he caught sight of a fire in the family’s ice machine. “I grabbed a plastic cup of water and put it out as much as I could, and then I went and got everybody,” he said. Thanks to Jaxxyn’s actions, the nine people staying in his home were able to evacuate safely."