Gamers spend more on pre-owned games

Video games, so far, are surviving the recession better than many consumer goods categories - but it's fascinating to see how gamers' buying behaviour and spending has changed.

Spending on games has been affected by not just the recession but a drought of blockbuster new titles compared to last year.

That drought is frustrating and I assume companies are holding back some of the big titles until they consider there's people ready to splash around more money.

The result is a swing to used games buying. One of the big game shop chains here has been pushing cheaper 'pre-owned' games in areas close to the door where you used to find previews of upcoming games - and I picked up some great half priced recent games in their sale recently.

A US Nielsen survey just out confirms this trend. It says gamers have become "increasingly value conscious in spending more time playing, selecting to buy more used games and adopting game rental subscriptions in slightly greater numbers."

The number of games being bought has not necessarily decreased but the number of used games bought has increased. For example in May, US gamers said they had bought an average of 3.51 pre-owned games than in the previous six months, up 42 per cent on the same period the previous year.

Gamers are also spending a bit more time playing games - maybe two hours a week more than a year ago. That may be a sign of going out less to save money.

Another interesting trend: CNN reports that Mattel is pushing board games in an effort to revive that industry which has slid since video games exploded in the 80s.

Mattel is reported to be pushing them in a recessionary climate as a less-costly fun alternative to video games and cheaper than a night out at the movies for a family. Whether this brings you to blow the dust off an old board game or hunt the local game shop for a $20 bargain is questionable.

And mobile games are starting to make inroads - again a cheaper alternative. US telco AT&T found in a recent survey 57 per cent of its mobile customers play games on their phone and it's a trend growing fast.

The most popular category was puzzle games like Tetris and Sudoku (66 per cent of users) followed by card games. But action games like Doom for the mobile are growing in popularity as are racing games. That's a trend that's going to grow as smartphones are made for playing games and for a couple of bucks, it's very tempting especially when old favourites like Doom are available in a mobile form.

Ghostbusters:The Video Game

Meanwhile back in the console world. I'll be enjoying on PS3 (and available of most formats) Ghostbusters:The Video Game (PG: Atari) which is pleasantly entertaining despite the inevitable repetitive gameplay of locating a ghost and trapping it to eradicate it with your shotgun or slime.

It is pleasantly entertaining because many movie sequel games suck. Of course it helps here if you're a fan of the Ghostbusters movies, but despite their age, they still stand the test of time and were absolute classics.

The good news is that in the video game, set two years after Ghostbusters 2, the story is written by the original writers (Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd) and with original cast members Bill Murray and Ernie Hudson doing the voice acting.

The movies were just a laugh - and likewise the third-person action game is good fun. New York city is suddenly full of ghosts, many hotels and streets are in chaos and the Stay Puft Marshmallow man is on the hunt. The ghostbuster adverts are humourous, the graphics pretty decent and the plot runs much like the movies in following ectoplasmic residue and fighting against the paranormal poltergeist plague.

Health is handled as a team, you will die if you stray too far from your fellow ghoul catchers and get knocked out. If you take too many hits, you have to wait until a teammate comes to the rescue but I guess when you join Ghostbusters. It's all about working as a team to snare some Ghost bait.

The game has inspired me to dig out the movies again. If only i could get that theme song out of my head. I'll have the Ecto-1 ambulance siren as a ringtone next!

MadGamer rating: 8 / 10