How popluar are video games anyway? When looking at just game sales the numbers are very significant. According to About.com, In 2004 the game and gaming console sales were down from 10 billion dollars to 9.9 billion dollars. Regardless of the loss, those are huge numbers. They report that the top games of 2004 included, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - PS2, Halo 2* - XBX, and Madden NFL 2005 - PS2. The top selling game, GTA, is a rated M game while Halo 2 is T and Madden is E.

So this says a little about the industry. In 2004, games that were violent and oriented to mature audiences were the best selling games. This says one of two things about the audience these games were made for. First, people who are playing games more now are over 18 and playing the games like GTA, Halo, and Bioshock. Second, people who are buying games are buying them for their children who are under 18, just because they want them, and not necissarily finding what the game is acutally about. That could be a problem for kids who don't even know what these games are really about.

All of my information was used from http://retailindustry.about.com/od/seg_toys/a/bl_npd012703.htm