According to an industry analyst’s report, the age when children start using consumer electronics (in particular video games) went from 8.1 in 2005 to 6.7 in 2007. Huge sales of handheld systems (especially Nintendo’s cash cow the DS) can mostly be attributed to the decreasing statistic, with children-oriented blockbusters like Pokémon selling through the roof.
Strangely enough, the average age of gamers in general still holds at around 33, making me assume that Nintendo’s current plan to attract cotton tops is working rather well.
It makes me sad to think that I didn’t start playing games religiously until I was around the ripe, arthritis-stricken old age of 9. Not because my parents didn’t let me play, mind you. No, it was just because, I don’t know, the original Nintendo wasn’t even out yet! Ugh. Now I’m depressed.
If this rapid declining rate continues, expect Gamertag fEtUs69 to be kicking your ass and calling you a homosexual in Halo any day now.
[Via Next Generation]
Chad Concelmo is Destructoid's features editor. He loves hanging out with awesome people. That's why Destructoid makes him so happy, since it is full of THE MOST AWESOME PEOPLE OF ALL TIME! Also, dolphins.
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Contest:
8:48 PM on 06.05.2007
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Please, give these kids a chance at life before passing them through the flames of the video game industy. Won't somebody think of the children?
Now imagine a generation weened on Halo: tomorrow's supersoldiers with awe-inducing spatial-navigation skills and triggerfingers faster than the beat of a hummingbird's wings!
I'm a gamer, and though I don't play games as much as I used to due to real life stuff, I still feel strongly about the positives that come from playing video games. However, I also hope that parents, especially gamer parents, know that video games should only be small part of the child's developmental cycle. Balance out video gaming with, say, taking him or her to the park or the playground.
Each generation is fatter and lazier than the last. Increases in technology have helped to foster that statistic. We need to take more care when introducing kids to video games. Let them know that soccer or football is also a fun game to play! :)
Good post. I agree on all points.
http://www.theesa.com/facts/top_10_facts.php
http://www.theesa.com/facts/gamer_data.php
Thats the best I can do for you
I was 3 when my brother got his NES.
And for the record, the 1st game I played on it was the Rare masterpiece RC Pro-Am.
First game eva was COMBAT on the 2600 when I was 7-8 or so. Tank game pwnd biplanes.
My first computer game was Bard's Tale on the Commodore 64 and I was about 10-11. (Actually I think it was Zork text game, and another text game called "Rats")
I'll be 33 later this year.
It was my own version of "Farmers Daughter" (I saw the same name and premise for many text games soon after)
I'll give you one guess what it was about.
Those statistics though are most likely based on a random sampling, of which most questionnaires were probably answered by the head of the household, predominantly middle-aged men.
Show me a statistic, and I'll show you information skewed and interpreted specifically to present a particular point of view.
That gamertag kicks ass...does anybody actually have that gamertag?
Neither does thisguy
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