Fun Inc.: Why Gaming Will Dominate the Twenty-first Century - Hardcover

Chatfield, Tom

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1605981435 ISBN 13: 9781605981437

Publisher: Pegasus Books, 2010

Synopsis

Despite the recession, video games continue to break records and command unprecedented amounts of media coverage. The U.S. is the world s biggest video games market and manufacturer, with a market now worth over $20 billion annually in software and hardware sales more than quadruple its size in the mid 1990s. World of Warcraft now boasts over 11 million players worldwide, and over $1 billion per year in revenues. Gaming is flourishing as a career and a creative industry as well. 254 U.S. colleges and universities in 37 states now offer courses and degrees in computer and video game design, programming and art. Video games are increasingly for everyone: 68% of American households now play computer or video games, while the average game player is 35 years old and has been playing games for twelve years.Against the popular image, too, 43% of online U.S. game players are female. The U.S. military alone now spends around $6 billion a year on virtual and simulated training programs, based around video games and virtual worlds. The budgets for developing the biggest games can now top the $100 million mark and are snapping up some of the biggest names in film from Stephen Spielberg to Peter Jackson.

About this title

About the Authors

Tom Chatfield, author, editor, journalist, and game theorist, is currently the arts and books editor at Prospect magazine, and writes widely in the national British press. He took a doctorate in literature and taught at St John's College, Oxford, before moving to London to work as a full-time writer and editor. Tom has been involved in design, writing, and creative consultancy work for a number of online games and media companies, including Mind Candy, Grex, Red Glasses and Intervox, and speaks regularly on technology, media, and gaming.

Tom Chatfield is Arts and Books editor at the highly prestigious Prospect magazine and also writes for the Times Literary Supplement, The Times, and The Observer in London. he has done puzzle design and creative consultancy for a number of online games companies.

Edition details

• Publisher: Pegasus Books
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1605981435
• ISBN 13: 9781605981437
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 258