“Let the Games Begin…”

The voice-over smoothly signs off with “…the game is just the start” in the current ad campaign for Sony’s latest iteration of its PlayStation game console. Better than that, the ad voice-over kicks off with “Start up more than games” and continues with “start a home entertainment REVOLUTION”.

He doesn’t actually shout or speak in block capital letters to emphasize the point. I just wrote it that way because while everybody’s expecting a mobile/digital TV/broadband play to deliver the (apparently) holy grail of convergence, game consoles are kind of sneaking up to grab the big prize.

And what exactly does the disembodied voice in the PS3 ad campaign mean by “home entertainment revolution”?

How about being able to access BBC iPlayer to catch up with your favourite TV shows and films! And when you factor in the matching offer from Microsoft’s XBOX 360, boy will you want to ‘jump in’. And don’t forget the Nintendo Wii either.

Each console is internet-enabled and allows ‘players’ (how much longer will they be called that?) to watch content from online TV catch-up services, download and play the latest DVD film releases e.g. ‘Ice Age 3 – Dawn of the Dinosaurs’, watch trailers for blockbuster films before they hit the cinemas and demo the latest games before they’re in the shops. And if this isn’t enough consumer engagement, with their PS3/Xbox360/Wii consoles, they’ll be able to audio-chat with friends while they’re playing games and hook up with friends on Facebook and Myspace or just tweet away on Twitter.

And then there are the games. But aren’t they’re just for kids?

Hold that thought ~ because the recent release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 shattered entertainment sales records to become the biggest launch in entertainment history – in its first five-days it grossed $550 million. This has beaten all previous first and five-day entertainment box office, book and game records – including ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ which held the record for the highest grossing film over five days, racking up $394 million.

In fact, this first-person shoot-and-destroy war-based game sold 4.2 million copies in the UK and US in 24 hours. (Bet the manufacturer’s stock management logistics were on fire!)

In the UK alone, there are 12 million of the latest generation games consoles which can bring the TV and web together. When you also factor in handheld siblings, like PSP and Nintendo DS and Apple’s iPhone apps, you’re looking at reaching something like 24 million consumers. I’m calling them ‘consumers’ because it’s not just kids who play on consoles. Just look at the positioning of the Wii as ‘family-entertainment’ and the success of games like Dr. Kawashima’s ‘Brain Training’, not to mention the ‘older’ demographic that makes up the iPhone customer-base.

Xbox 360 Live offers Sky, Zune, Lastfm, Facebook, Twitter

There’s more evidence that points to a real sense of convergence. Mega-corporations like Sky has opened up access on Xbox 360 and the BBC has recently re-launched an improved version of iPlayer on the Nintendo Wii (18 November 2009).  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8357777.stm

So, for an investment of £200-£300 plus an annual subscription (For example, Xbox 360 Live Gold annual membership is £30 ~ which is £2.50 a month) people can play games, watch TV, films and music videos, connect up with friends and family via Facebook et al – and do it all in the comfort of their living room and on whatever massive HD digital LED/Plasma TV screen they can afford!

By the way, I’m not particularly promoting Xbox. It just happens to be the games console my two boys just bought having clubbed together their savings and birthday money! (And they’ve had to start with the entry-level Xbox 360 Arcade).

Being a kid of the 21^st Century is tough, eh?