Media giants suit up to take on video games (USATODAY.com)

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USATODAY.com - It's game on in the competition between the media and video/PC game industries. With games such as Madden NFL and Grand Theft Auto stealing viewers from broadcast and cable TV, media giants such as Viacom and Time Warner are eyeing the $14 billion video game industry for expansion and acquisitions.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/usatoday/20040827/bs_usatoday/mediagiantssuituptotakeonvideogames]Read (http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/videogames/*[url) more...[/url]

Source: Yahoo! News - Technology - Video Games (http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=index&cid=869)
Yahoo! News - Technology - Video Games

[mofo1115]

mebe this could be good and us gamers will have even more to choose from :D

[abrannan]

Or it will be bad with massive buy-ups and homogenization of the industry. :(

[Mr Unoriginal]

I predict the latter.

[Bann]

Them bastards!

[daikaiju]

maybe the Everyone Loves Raymond game will soon be reality!

[dtcarson]

If they put a reality show game on PS2, I'm done....
then again, there already is American Idol.
If there's any justice in the world, that game tanked like an Abrams.
Because just as the gaming industry was getting more diverse, we sure as hell don't need a sudden influx of trite, predictable games based on lame concepts. [I know, we do have those anyway, but nowhere near the level that's on TV.]
Thank *whomever* for my DVR, lets me find the 48 minutes of weekly Tv I enjoy, thus saving my precious time for gaming : )

[alongx]

maybe the Everyone Loves Raymond game will soon be reality!

Eh, I'd rather see Seinfeld: The Game About Nothing.

[Snake2715]

Who is this woman?


:

IDC analyst Shelley Olhava predicts media companies will enter the games industry cautiously. They will continue to invade on the software side, she says, by acquiring game developers and licensing their film and TV characters. Except for Sony, they'll avoid hardware, which she says will shake out to two brands in a few years.


I wonder what her thought is on whos leaving. I really cant see them go the route of two companies for the next couple 5 years or so. If one company totally bombs then they still will be releasing a new console in 2006 or so which will push them past 2010 with games most likely.

Sounds like she doenst know the industry to me.

[Cornfedwb]

Who is this woman?


:

IDC analyst Shelley Olhava predicts media companies will enter the games industry cautiously. They will continue to invade on the software side, she says, by acquiring game developers and licensing their film and TV characters. Except for Sony, they'll avoid hardware, which she says will shake out to two brands in a few years.


I wonder what her thought is on whos leaving. I really cant see them go the route of two companies for the next couple 5 years or so. If one company totally bombs then they still will be releasing a new console in 2006 or so which will push them past 2010 with games most likely.

Sounds like she doenst know the industry to me.

Well say Xbox next (I randomly picked one) totally bombs next-gen... even though there are technically three consoles out.. it could be considered a two-console war. Think Jaguar, 3D0, Turbo-grafix 16.. etc. They were around, but never really competed.

Hell, the Phantom should be out.. so we'd be talking four consoles technically.

[evilpenguin9000]

Sounds like random conjecture from people who ramble about business all the time, but don't know how the games industry really works. Trust me, reporters and columnists talk out of their asses a lot.

[daikaiju]

Sounds like random conjecture from people who ramble about business all the time, but don't know how the games industry really works. Trust me, reporters and columnists talk out of their asses a lot.

:shock: :shock: :shock: REALLY ?!?!

[kristianator]

now i'm picturing this uptight 40 something year old woman in a business suit chillin' on a beanbag in her office playing madden or something. actually, i would probably guess she's more of an rts player. sitting behind her pc, schooling some korean kid on brood war.

[Scrubking]

That is retarded - Gamers still watch tv.

So how exactly are video games "stealing" tv viewers?

"Okay Timmy, you can have your Xbox, but it's either that or cable TV."

[dtcarson]

The very terminology is suspect--games are 'stealing' viewers from cable TV. Well, cable TV 'stole' them from network TV and radio and their families. You can only 'steal' something from someone who 'owns' it or to whom it 'belongs'. Just goes to show the massive feeling of entitlement 'big media' has, and once something starts to draw its victims, especially the all-important 18-34 male demographic, then they start to worry. Of course their solution is 'buy the winner' rather than 'compete, innovate, offer attractive content.'

[KingDox]

so what, if these big media giants start making games you know they are all going to blow. More big companies are looking at EA and saying that they can do it too. But we all know that's not the case. I really doubt these big media giants will be able to pump out anything worth playing. But I do say let them try, we could always use more 5 buck CC games.

[epobirs]

They could change the language to say 'drawing' instead of 'stealing' but the meaning remains the same. People like having choices. Between games and DVD there is a mammoth assortment of things we can have whenever we want and not be subject to the whim of network executives.

I'm soon going to move to a smaller place and give up some luxuries to get my debts paid off. Given a choice between basic cable and a good broadband connection I'll take the data pipe. Nearly everything I care about on TV is available or soon will be on DVD. Right now I watch virtually nothing during its normal air time. I record it to my RePlayTV automatically and watch it later with the commercials automatically skipped over. I can rent season box sets for a fraction of what it would cost me to watch the same shows on premium channels when they're new. If I'm feeling dishonest I can download any show I care to watch within 48 hours of its first airing. The old TV network model just isn't offering good value anymore.

[Kaijufan]

I know I spent a lot less time watching TV and a lot more time playing videogames and surfing the web then I did a few years ago. I have a few shows that I watch (mainly Star Trek), and I rarely channel surf unless Im too mentaly tired to play games or go online.