Teenagers fed up with video games?

Posted Apr 8, 2006 at 4:13AM by QJ Staff Listed in: Tags:
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Piper Jaffray recently completed it's bi-annual survey on youth habits and trends, which partly includes the topic of video games. 700 teens from 12 high schools across the US and Canada, along with an additional 1,235 students via online surveys participated. The results are, at the very least, pretty interesting.

While the results indicate a healthy 81 percent of student households are in possession of at least one video game console and 59 percent of students play regularily, the survey also asked if teenagers plan to change their game habits any time soon: A whopping 80 percent stated they won't spend as much time and money on video games anymore. Almost 70 percent said their interest in video games in general is dying down.

So is this just a natural development or the result of more and more mediocre cookie-cutter games on the market? Too bad the article doesn't say anything about the exact age bracket of the surveyed teenagers.
 
 
 

Comments

by - 2006-04-08 06:10:22
Too much attention to graphics, no changes in the games

All that ever happens between games now is the graphics are improved. Look at the GTAs. One of the most popular series (god knows why) on the Sony consoles. Ever since the original its been the same. Kill a guy, steal a car, take someone somewhere, steal more cars. Great we learn to swim and get GFs and stuff, but that hardly changes it. The games aren't gettign any better, they only change the graphics. Thats why Nintendos doign really well with the DS at the moment. Much as sony or microsoft fans will try deny it, they have highest sales, not because its chepest like they want to believe, but because the games are changing.
by - 2006-04-08 06:13:59
hah

A lack of qualitative games may actually be the reason. Did I say may? I meant most definitely.
by akuma2099 - 2006-04-08 06:38:01
Good point #1

I agree, the newer games coming out just look pretty but there is no real breakthrough game play. I mean how many more WW2 FPS do we need? Also as far as GTA goes gamers go ape s**t everytime a new one comes out I even saw people standing in line for San Andreas. Even though it is just a better looking version it is still the same steal this kill them. I am looking forward to the revolution to see how developers use the controller.
by Vipre77 - 2006-04-08 06:47:22
ADHD?

There are so many teenagers these days that have no attention span whatsoever. Hell, I'm 28 and I find that I get bored quickly, too. The only thing that kept me in check when I was a kid was the fact that my family didn't have a lot of money to buy me all the things I wanted and I lived out in BFE where there wasn't much to do anyway. That kept me doing the same things for longer because I didn't have much choice. Kids these days have so many options of things to do that they get conditioned to only doing things for a little while before moving on to something else. They've got video games from a myriad of different game consoles (including portables) to play, DVDs out the wazoo, collecting music, and parents are getting their kids into sports younger and younger (well, it seems that way to me, anyway), all kinds of pressure to do well in school, all while to fit into some sort of social life. If a kid happens to be energetic while bouncing around from one activity to the next, people slap the ADHD label on them and fill 'em up with Ritalin. IMHO, kids these days are simply over-stimulated with stuff to do. Perhaps I'm getting a little off-subject... When considering only the video game aspect of the study done in the article. It's not really a surprise that kids are getting turned off. The new breed of consoles are getting too expensive for Joe Blow High School (or College) Kid to afford. Xbox 360 bundles going for $700 for the first few months and that's the only way you can get 'em? And now that you can get them without a bundle, you still can't hardly find them anywhere? Horse-pucky, I say! PS3 is only going to be worse with it's higher MSRP. Then there's the PSP. $250 for the "Value" pack? $250 for a portable game console is getting a bit ridiculous. I bought one for myself anyway, but I'm a 28 year old engineer with no kids. I've got a little money to spend on extravagant toys for myself. For the money kids are spending on games consoles these days, they could put a decent down payment on a loan for their first car. Hmm... car or video games? Not really a tough choice, IMHO. The fact that so many games are rehashes these days only makes the decision that much easier.

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