Who are the gamers?

Pew Research Center Study 09/08

• “53% of American adults age 18 and older play video games, and about one in five adults (21%) play everyday or almost everyday. While the number of video gamers among adults is substantial, it is still well under the number of teens who play. Fully 97% of teens play video games”

http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2008/Adults-and-Video-Games/1-Data-Memo/01-Overview.aspx?r=1

Legend of Zelda-Twilight Princess

Had 241 pages of text in the game that had to be read to finish the game.

Different types of gaming

• Free

• Cheap enough, it might as well be free

• Not so free

Free

• Chess-Still very popular w/ children and young adults -2200 players at the K-6 National championships.

Free Correspondence Games

• Diplomacy – The Game of Global Domination– Excellent game– jdip program is free and formats moves in the correct language– Can be played against other schools, libraries.

Sign up for

-cheap(ish) gaming

-Board Games -Settlers of Catan, Puerto Rico, Ticket to Ride, 1960-All excellent board games for libraries

- Older Consoles- DO NOT COUNT THEM OUT! -Folks still play them and are still crazy about

them. -Not only that, but the older consoles are so

cheap, you can often get them donated -some people prefer them. - Gamecube-29.95 N64-23.99 PS2-30-40.00

Highest cost, but best results

• 7th Generation Consoles– Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, Nintendo DS, and PSP• Each has something to offer that the others do not.

– Xbox 360-Good graphics, lots of titles– Wii- Most bang for buck-lots of multiplayer games– PS3-Best graphics-fewer games-built in Blu-Ray player

• Which one is right for you is strictly a matter of opinion.

Xbox 360

Playstation 3

Nintendo Wii

PSP

Nintendo DS

Most popular…

Most popular…

Most popular

• Nintendo DS (107 million) • PSP (55 million)• Nintendo Wii (53 million) • Xbox 360 (30 million) • PS3 (24 million)

More good news-DS games are pretty cheap and there are only 8 games that are rated M.

Equipment

• Controllers– At least 4– Wireless– Special controllers (Guitar Hero or Rockband)– Older controllers still have value

Cost

• Biggest hurdle for most libraries– Consoles are not cheap• Playstation 2 100.00• Nintendo DS 130.00• PSP 170.00• Nintendo Wii 200.00• Xbox 360 200.00• Playstation 3 300.00

funding

-Donations-Never underestimate what people will give you if you ask.

-FOL- Friends of the Library have greatly helped me and they are constantly named in library gaming groups as a source of funding across the country.

-Grants -Best Buy in-store grant-one page application -Wal-Mart community grants-one page application

-ALA grants- $5000 Verizon Grants for library gaming last year

-Continuous $100 grants from Funagain Games for schools and libraries

Best practices

• Video Game Tournaments– pros and cons

Game clubs

• Nintendo DS club– Easy to do– Users bring their own equipment– DS download play

• Board game club– Try a new board game each month.– Get reviews @ boardgamegeek.com or

funagain.com