[lbo-talk] It's May Day....

[shrill.polemic]

On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 6:08 PM,  <dredmond at efn.org> wrote:
> The most dominant platforms are actually cellphones and handheld gaming
> devices (DS has sold 130 million units, PSP 58 million). In the console
> world, Sony's last-generation PS2 sold 136 million, Nintendo's Wii sold 71
> million, Microsoft's Xbox360 40 million and Sony's PS3 34 million. Data is
> up here: http://vgchartz.com/weekly.php
>
> Gaming used to be driven by corporate monopolies -- Nintendo owned 90% of
> the market in the late 1980s, then Sony had 60% of the market in the early
> 2000s. But with the proliferation of platforms, no single company has
> dominance anymore.
>
> -- DRR

Thanks for pointing to these sources.   But in that list, where are
the games that question or criticize empire, militarism, etc?

And as far as dominance goes though, isn't the current
Ninetendo/Sony/Microsoft console "competitive" market (or PSP/Nintendo
DS market) a little like comparing Comcast to AT&T U-Verse or
Cablevision?  They offer roughly the same titles and I gather each
charges hefty licensing fees in order for game makers to access their
consoles.  And if Microsoft or Sony didn't want to offer a title,
there's nothing to force them to do so.

I'm trying to understand how you see a difference in how the video
game market operates compared to say, film distribution.  Seems pretty
similar to me.

shrill