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Facts and Figures: Why Do Gamers Care So Much about Sales Charts?

I got to thinking today about why gamers keep such a close eye on sales figures. In a completely unscientific experiment, I determined that Kotaku dedicated just under 200 posts last month to sales figures. Comments for these posts generally range from 50-100, so obviously some people care about sales figures enough to argue about them in an online forum.

We at 61FPS haven't made much of an effort to keep our readers updated on sales figures, as there are plenty of other places that do. We are men and women of overwhelming spiritual integrity. As John argued in December, there is a time to talk about sales, when astronomical numbers threaten to bring about tectonic shifts in the industry. But for the most part, why are people so hung up on sales figures?

I think part of it is laziness. On a slow news day, NPD numbers allow bloggers to phone in a quick and easy post that requires almost no creative input and is guaranteed to piss a few people off. A quick copy and paste job does the trick. I think this is especially true when bloggers resort to regional sales figures. Why do most readers care about how Gears of War 2 is doing in England? If I were English I don't think this would particularly interest me anyway.

Posted Feb 05 2009, 11:00 PM by Cole Stryker with | with 5 comment(s)

Filed under: kotaku, npd, cole stryker, de blob, sales, gears of war 2, roundtable discussion, fanboys

de Blob Sequel Probably on the Way!

61FPS favorite de Blob has sold well enoug to justify a sequel. This is a fairy-tale story for indie publishers.

Posted Jan 26 2009, 04:00 PM by Cole Stryker with | with 2 comment(s)

Filed under: cole stryker, de blob, thq, ign, gears of war 2, sequels

How Chicago Inadvertently Penned an Anthem for Dead Anime Fathers

The other day, I was browsing a retail establishment when Chicago's "You're the Inspiration" came over the store speakers. Suddenly, I felt very sad.

It was an interesting reaction and not one I would have had a few years ago. Having surrendered my youth to the modern day equivilent of potato mines (retail), I'm familiar with the safe music that's piped over the speakers to keep the masters and beasts complacent. I would never give Chicago another thought ever again if not for an Elite Beat Agents scenario involving an anime girl's dead father.

Surely I'm not the only one who's come to associate games with certain licensed songs. The Japanese have been sneaky about it since we were kids: Mario's invincibility music is lifted straight from Jesus Christ Superstar and more than one tune in the early Mega Man games sounded like a tribute to Guns n Roses and/or Metallica. But legitimate songs being used in games (or to advertise games) is quickly becoming popular and I'm increasingly interested in the association aspect. This doesn't apply so much to games like Guitar Hero or Rock Band, which usually have you belting out tunes in a club, or possibly a fancy club. I'm referring to instances where a song is used to define a game, or an in-game scenario like the ones in Elite Beat Agents.

Posted Nov 18 2008, 06:47 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 2 comment(s)

Filed under: guitar hero, rock band, mega man, gears of war, elite beat agents, game music, nadia oxford, super mario, gears of war 2, music association

Whatcha Playing: Wii Fit

Oh oh. I am officially one of those people. You know, the industry-wreckers. When the time is right, count on me to infiltrate your homes, break your copies of Gears of War 2 over my knee and throw the pieces like shurikens into your pug dog's heart.

In the meantime, I'm going to bulk up for the mission.

Wii Fit was kind of a sudden buy. "Oh my God is that Wii Fit? This isn't a mirage? Grab that shit, yo!" After that, the balance board incubated in its box for some weeks before we took it out and subjected it to fat torture.

At five feet, I'm not a willowy beauty and I know it might be a while until God gets off his arse and bestows upon me the seven inches of height I wholly deserve. I will forever be shaped like a heavy-duty dog-chew toy (slightly used), but I'm starting to come to peace with that. My other option is to simply stop eating, and that's not going to happen because I'm fond of living and digesting.

That said, I'm still realistic. I've made major dietary adjustments in my life partially because I know keeping healthy is not about dieting, but about lifestyle changes that you can realistically stick to. Also, I'm getting old and my stomach hates everything these days. It's not hard to get away from fried food when it goes down as french fries and comes up as Acidsaurus Rex Kool-Aid.

That leads this anecdote to exercise, which leads me back to Wii Fit. I figured it won't be long before winter chases us Canadians back indoors, so I may as well get used to indoor activities again.

Posted Nov 03 2008, 11:00 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 1 comment(s)

Filed under: wii, wii fit, nadia oxford, gears of war 2, exercise, lifestyle

about the blogger

John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Nerve, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.