Internet killed the music, video, and book stores

Something happened in the mid 1990's: the internet became available commercially to the general public. Several years later, the first e-commerce sites went online, together with the availability of bootleg copies of music in the form of MP3 files. Despite the crash of many internet companies post-2000, retailers (both old and new start-ups) realized the power of e-commerce and invested in developing the infrastructure and systems. With the growing adoption of MP3 as the storage format for music files, and the accompanying devices, even CDs were losing their appeal. Traditional music retail stores began taking casualties in closures and bankruptcies.

Internet bandwidth increased significantly throughout the 2000's, so much so that most people could find it viable to stream entire movies without having to go to their local video store for rentals. Blockbuster, a major US video rental store franchise, declared bankruptcy in 2010 and was finally bought over by another company. In the book publishing industry, e-books and readers were becoming commonplace. The effects were significant as another major retail franchise, Borders Bookstores, has gone into liquidation.

Two words can be used to describe the downfall (or downsizing) of the traditional retail store: digital distribution. If a product could be delivered in digital form rather than physically, it will eventually be adopted in the e-commerce world. In e-commerce, there is no need for shelf spaces. E-retailers do not need to pay land leases or rents, only the necessary costs to maintain the sales portals and hardware. This translates to savings for the consumers, or bigger profit margins for the retailers.

Why am I talking about music, video, and books in my gaming blog? Because I believe the future of video game sales also lies in digital distribution. Some people will still tell me: "but I like the feel of the game box packaging, and the new smell!". I personally think it's not necessary to be holding on to a physical box or storage media to appreciate the game. All I care is getting the data files into my hard drive and start playing. Looking at the 3 console makers: Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo, all of them have created online game stores, giving indication to the growth of digital distribution. Big name publishers like Valve and EA now have their own online stores, allowing them to cut the traditional middle-men supply chain and sell direct to customers, even throwing in occasional deals and promotions. If there is no news of any game retail stores closing, it's only a matter of time.

My YouTube Channel

I now have a YouTube Channel where I post my recorded gaming sessions from Twitch TV.

Presently, I have compiled and uploaded the first two episodes of Season 1 for the Sam & Max games: Culture Shock, and Situation Comedy. Enjoy!

Statistics! Are you a gamer?

Everybody loves reading statistics. Numbers that tell you so much, like how many people use Internet Explorer, and their average IQ is lower than users of other browsers! By the way, that survey was a hoax. One set of statistics that amuses me is that from the ESA (Entertainment Software Association). Keeping in mind that the information is primarily for the USA market, it does however have several interesting points.

"5. The average age of the most frequent game purchaser is 41 years old."

"10. Parents are present when games are purchased or rented 91 percent of the time."

I am guessing little Timmy doesn't have a full time or even part time job to finance his game purchases and depends on bank of Mum and Dad (hey, I have been through this phase). Also, it has been widely known that if a game is rated M+, parents are there to "supervise" the purchase, ie. buy it then give it to their kids to play.

"4. The average game player is 37 years old and has been playing games for 12 years."
"7. In 2011, 29 percent of Americans over the age of 50 play video games, an increase from nine percent in 1999."

I really am surprised by the statement that the median age of gamers is 37. I am 36 and have been playing for 30 years. I would think that people from my generation are one of the "early adopters" of video gaming, as I have mentioned that video games wasn't a big pastime activity for people born before the 1980s. The ESA stats are too ambiguous, as it appears to lump anyone who plays a game, whether it be something on a mobile phone or on consoles or PC. And in the PC market, there are games played through social media like Farmville or Restaurant City on Facebook.

One very important piece of information the ESA does not provide is the average number of hours spent playing games in a week. Then the information should be further broken down to age and gender demographics. If someone plays games only on his or her mobile, and only for at most 3 hours per week, should that person be considered a gamer? Would someone who only plays Angry Birds call himself a gamer? If you asked your mum and dad to pick up that Wii controller for some Wii Sports action, would that instantly make them gamers?

Game Review: Alley Cat (1984)

At the request of a friend, I have decided to look into a game from the 1980's that was one of the earliest titles I played on my IBM desktop PC. Alley Cat, as the title states, is a game where you control a street cat, performing cat parkour moves in its quest for fish, milk, mice, and everything a cat could ever want.

Not your ordinary cat

The game starts out in an alley, with an apartment building in the background. The objective is to enter any apartment when a window randomly opens, although objects are usually thrown out of the window at the cat. Once the cat successfully enters an apartment, any of the following challenges can be encountered:

• Fishbowl: Get into the fishbowl, then eat all the fish inside, while avoiding electric eels
• Mice in cheese: Catch all the mice hiding inside a gigantic piece of cheese
• Milk: Drink all the milk in dog feeding bowls while not waking up the sleeping dogs
• Birdcage: Push a birdcage off a table, the catch the bird as it escapes
• Ferns: Collect 3 pots of Ferns off a bookshelf, while avoiding a spider

Mice Heaven

Birdcage challenge

Additionally, in each room, an animated broom will attempt to sweep the cat out of the apartment. The game focuses on navigational challenges and puzzles, and most obstacles are capable of taking one life point out of the cat (with the exception of the broom). Successfully completing a challenge room then brings the cat back out into the alley where a female cat will now appear in one of the randomly opening windows. The next step is to enter this new apartment where the cat has to navigate his way up to the female cat. Reaching the female cat then awards the player one additional life point, and increases the game difficulty. The entire game play then repeats itself.

Fish!

Who put eels in here?

In summary, Alley Cat is a fun-themed game with creative puzzles and challenges. The game is open-ended and will repetitively show the same challenges with increasing difficulty until the player loses all lives or quits the game. For anyone who is interested in old PC games, this is a recommended title, and suitable for children.

Dogs do not make good housemates

Now, for my unanswered questions about the game:

• Why are the apartment owners not around if the windows are open and objects thrown out?
• The brooms are all animated: are the apartment residents witches?
• Where did the giant cheese come from, and how was it moved inside?
• Why is the fishbowl bigger on the inside, and who puts ELECTRIC EELS in it?
• Why are there more dog feeding bowls than dogs?