Computer games - who is into them?

[tantrum]

Hi,
I am doing some research for my project that will take place in October in  London.
I wonder who does play computer games?

Are they very popular - me being complete technophobe who played a computer game on my atari 20 years ago have no idea if the computer games can be intellectually challenging?

How one measures what is cool in computer game and what is not cool.

I know there are some magazines and websites for computer game's fans but which one is the coolest and most cutting edge to visit?

I am having a big headache now as I need to talk with a potential sponsor for the event who happens to be a game producer and I need to either tell them to stuff it or give me loads of cash to put their game into my event.

Will the presence of the new game - and either a film that was made about making of the game will interest or alienate non playing public?

I went to the screening of the intro to the game and technically and visually this stuff looks just amazing, but I personally would not go and buy the game and spend 15 hours of my life to play it.

Any comments apprieciated.

[Acidmouse]

I pretty much stick to the most popular game in the world. World of warcraft, who plays it?

Well the average age of someone in the game is 30+ and my guild is a 50/50 split between men/women.

I and most others I know don't care if a games cool or not tbh.

[Graham C]

There's some popular magazines, but I'd say that online sites are by far more popular.  You get people from all over the world on them where as magazines tend to be country specific.

Some useful sites for you

http://www.jolt.co.uk/ - huge gaming community that caters for pretty much every game

www.clanbase.com - another community site but for clans/guilds that play against each other.  Clanbase is used to organise matches and holds ladders for them all. There are some amazing gamers on this site.

[Sark79]

I like ping pong for my C64, hopefully in the next few years we will get a new machine I saw advertised in the local Kilmarnock newspaper, it is called the Sega Megadrive.  In the advertisment we were shown a blue hedgehog running around collecting hoops. Looks fun.  I imagine it will be a few years before we get anything that technically advanced up here though.

[lazaroonie]

I like ping pong for my C64, hopefully in the next few years we will get a new machine I saw advertised in the local Kilmarnock newspaper, it is called the Sega Megadrive.  In the advertisment we were shown a blue hedgehog running around collecting hoops. Looks fun.  I imagine it will be a few years before we get anything that technically advanced up here though.

Sark, if you are interested I can get you a "prerelease" megadrive, which is really only meant to be for beta-testing. yours for a grand....

[Sark79]

lol,  I will just wait for Woolworths to get the machine in .


Being serious Tantrum,  I like computer games a lot.  Sadly as you get older and have more commitments it becomes harder to find time to play them.  I used to love playing strategy games every day, but to really become good at those types of games requires hours of practice. It is no fun being second best. 

[Graham C]

It is no fun being second best to a 14 year old

FYP

[Mango99]

Hi Tantrum, the only game I play on my computer now is poker.. But, 6 months or so ago, I bought an arcade machine for my office.

It's a full size arcade cabinet thingy, and runs 4000+ arcade games from 1970 > 2000ish. Retro-tastic, it's got Space Invaders, Pac Man and all the classics on it.

My favourite games on it are Streetfighter 2 and Streetfighter 3.

I don't think I've played any game that's been released since 2000ish... Maybe a couple on the arcade or the poospee?..

[Sark79]

It is no fun being second best to a 14 year old

FYP

LOL,  My best friends Kids beat me at computer games all the time .  I used to be good at them and now I can't understand why my brain won't tell my fingers to press the buttons on the controller fast enough  . It is old age I guess.  They can't beat me a car racing games just yet though, lol

[Rod Paradise]

Having not played computer games for ages, I gave into temptation & bought a wii and am totally addicted to it. We now have a regualr wii challenge night in the pub and all ages from 19 to 85 play 10 pin bowling and tennis on it.

[TheChipPrince]

No time since I discovered poker i'm afraid...

[BigTomatoes]

 my girlfriend wants a wii for her birthday , were moving into a new flat so i guess itll be a bit of fun.

 i got a PS3 a couple of days ago , ive only got a couple of games just now , Fight Night - boxing , The Godfather - shoot em up movie storyline , and Tiger Woods 2007 , the biggest games arent out for a couple of months yet , titles such as
  
 Grand Theft Auto 4 , Metal Gear Solid 4 , the new EA sports rang - football , rugby , basketball ,golf etc etc.

 The graphics and gameplay is unlike any other machine ive used and the machine itself is amazing.

 it is more like a multimedia workstation than a playstation.

 it has a 60 GB hard drive , to save games , photos , videos , movies , music etc etc onto.

 it is HD compatible , plays Blue Ray discs ( the new version of DVDs ) , wireless internet able or ethernet able.

 has Blue Tooth , Java , and the list goes on.

 thing is , i havent got a clue how to get into the nitty grutty with it yet , does anyone else have a PS3 ??

 how do you get the most out of your machine ?

[happybhoy]

gamespot.com is one of the biggest review/general gaming stuff sites around, might suit your purposes.

I'm just waiting for them to announce a World Series of Pro Evolution Soccer and then I'm going to clean up.

[matt674]

Got PS3 a few months back having had a PS2 for many years - usually only gets played on though when i'm not in the mood for playing poker or i've been to see babymonkey and dont have the time for an MTT afterwards.

May change when GTA4 comes out in a few months however

[AlexMartin]

Counterstrike in between cash sessions. And yes i have a microphone lol