Ah, summer! Finally, things are winding down at school, the weather's starting to creep above 45 degrees and the dying TV season is giving way to the booming and banging summer blockbusters. Iron Man,"" for instance, not only won over critics but made quite a bit of money its opening weekend too - over $200 million according to the New York Times. That's not bad, of course, but a little game called ""Grand Theft Auto 4"" did even better.
In case you've never heard of ""GTA4"" it's a sequel to ""GTA3"" it's for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 and, according to the Associated Press, it made about $310 million its opening day. Oh, and like ""Iron Man,"" it also had amazing reviews and fantastic word of mouth going for it.
It's inevitable when writing about video games for a non-gaming crowd to have a brief little summary paragraph, explaining that yes, actually, games are quite the money-makers these days, and they're legitimate forms of entertainment and not just for nerds in their parents' basements anymore. This has been true for almost a decade now, but it's still generally safer to metaphorically brace yourself against the onslaught of jeers and derision from so-called adults who think video games are just kids' stuff.
But they're really not - and haven't been for a while. The video game industry has been around for almost 40 years, and as far back as 1981 it made more money than Hollywood and Las Vegas combined. There already exists a sizeable amount of literature (used in its literal sense, as opposed to pamphlets and fliers) discussing video games academically, and more and more universities have started offering courses in video game theory or design.
Somehow, though, this has just failed to stick with the public at large. When ""GTA4"" came out, many of my older colleagues here said to me (since they knew I kind of like video games), ""Hey, did you read about the lines to buy that game? I never would've expected that!"" I smiled and replied some inanity, as social etiquette requires me to, but I just thought, ""Well, I would.""
It's predecessor was a huge smash, it was getting great word of mouth and everyone was just generally excited: How could huge lines and stellar sales figures not happen?
Alas, I seemed to be in the minority with this opinion, not because my logic didn't make sense but because people just didn't know these things. ""GTA4's"" release was equivalent of the post office releasing a new stamp to them, or Xerox coming out with a new copier: Who cares? Well, apparently over 6 million people cared that first day, with more and more joining them every week.
Of course, as video games increase in popularity, more and more people will treat them seriously. That may be circular logic but it makes sense. The more huge hits like ""GTA4"" and last fall's ""Halo 3"" the more movie tie-ins occur (I hear the ""Iron Man"" game is pretty good, but not great), the more celebrities get involved, the more old-school adults get replaced by younger and hipper adults... the more all of that happens the more video games will be treated as part of the mainstream.
Maybe that's as it should be. I'm not a scholar, but did movies and TV get off to a much better start? Even the ancient art of writing itself had some detractors, with no less venerable a figure as Socrates decrying it as ""weakening the mind."" Just what my parents said about Super Mario.
Either way, it looks like it's going to be a good summer all around. School's out, movies and games are in, and the warming weather may just bring with it a change in the wind.
Bill's column will appear weekly in the fall. Send responses to science@dailycardinal.com.
