The Latest in Videogames: Checkers
Simple Board and Puzzle Games Thrive Online,
Amid Sluggish Sales of High-Tech Videogames
Linda Davis, a 53-year-old retiree in Highland Falls, N.Y., spends hours each day glued to her computer screen, playing online games. Her favorite is the card game canasta, and she also regularly plays a Scrabble-like game called Qwerty, among others. "It keeps your mind going," she said.
Ms. Davis is among the many avid players of "casual" online games, a small but fast-growing segment of the videogame industry. The market for the low-tech games, which includes puzzle, board and simple arcade games, is expanding at a time when sales of conventional videogames are sluggish. The games are drawing crowds, in part, because they appeal to a wide audience -- women account for at least half of the people playing casual games, according to industry executives, and many players are in their 30s or 40s.
From top: Solitaire, Bejeweled 2 and checkers are among the online titles attracting casual gamers.
The games are widely available for free on various Web sites. The games are easy to learn and don't require the time or dexterity of more advanced videogames such as those on the Xbox 360. Many of the games are Web adaptations of familiar board games like checkers, or card games like hearts and solitaire. The sites help players find opponents.
The industry's main source of revenue is advertising, but sites are increasingly drawing revenue from subscriptions for premium services and access to more elaborate games. Revenue from casual games will grow to $458 million in North America this year from $314 million last year, according to DFC Intelligence, a research firm based in San Diego. About 57 million people in North America will play such games at least once this year, up from 34 million four years ago, the firm said.
The games have "become a global phenomenon, and most people didn't realize it was happening," said Michael Schutzler, senior vice president for the games division at RealNetworks Inc., which last month agreed to pay $21 million to acquire Dutch game firm Zylom Media Group BV. RealNetworks, which operates the game site RealArcade.com, said game revenue rose 63% to $56.3 million last year from a year earlier.
Online Company
Ms. Davis began playing the games after she retired from a career in information technology in 1998. She suffers from chronic arthritis that often limits her mobility, sometimes keeping her from leaving her home. The games are a welcome escape, and she has met several friends through online chat features built into many of the games. "When you're in the house all the time, it's company," she said.
She usually plays games in the morning after she helps her husband and youngest son get ready for work. She prefers to play on Pogo.com, a site owned by videogame giant Electronic Arts Inc. Pogo allows users to play about 85 games for free if they're willing to see ads. A premium service, called Club Pogo, shows no ads, features about 30 additional games, and allows users to vie for cash prizes, in exchange for an annual fee of $30. Club Pogo has one million members who play an average of 14 hours a week, according to a spokeswoman.
Ms. Davis said a big draw for her is the chance to collect "badges," online accolades awarded for conquering various challenges in games. Among her current goals is to reach level 48 in the site's canasta game, two rungs from the finish. (Ms. Davis said she used to play canasta against other people, but recently switched to playing against "bots," or automated opponents controlled by the Web site. "I've become a very aggressive player, and a lot of people don't like aggressive players," she said.)
Expanding Interest
Companies like Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Time Warner Inc.'s America Online have beefed up their gaming sites in recent years in part because the games help them attract users from demographics that carry a lot of weight with advertisers. Yahoo Games (games.yahoo.com) is the most popular site in terms of traffic, according to ComScore Media Metrix, with 18.3 million unique visitors in February.
Several recent acquisitions reflect heightened interest in the sector. Media holding company Liberty Media Corp. this month paid $195 million to acquire a majority stake in Fun Technologies PLC, which provides online games to America Online and Microsoft's MSN, and operates SkillJam.com, a site that runs game tournaments with cash prizes.
For Brenda Webber, 47, finding an hour a day to play online games is her "Oprah."
Ms. Webber, a mother of three in Manhattan Beach, Calif., said it is easy to play a quick game in between surfing the Web or doing paperwork for her home-based jewelry business. "If I need to pick up my son in half an hour or 45 minutes, it may not be enough time to get into one of my projects, but it's enough time to play," she said.
Ms. Webber plays card games, but also puzzle games, such as Bejeweled 2 and Zuma, two titles that are particularly popular now. In Bejeweled, players must sort gemstones into matching groups of three. Zuma, one of the more peculiar titles, has players controlling a spinning frog that spits colored balls. Both games can be accessed quickly over a high-speed connection, and are played with a computer mouse.
For some, the challenge can be pulling themselves away from the games. Stacy Moran, a 35-year-old office manager in Chico, Calif., said she has become "addicted" to the games on iWin.com, and plays as much as 25 hours a week. One of her favorite games is mahjong, a Chinese tile game similar to dominoes. Ms. Moran said she finds herself thinking, "One more game and then I'll do the dishes, or one more game and I'll go to work."
"It's easy to look at the clock and get involved in a game, and the next thing you know, it's three hours later," she said.
网络休闲游戏逐渐大行其道
53岁的琳达?戴维斯(Linda Davis)已经退休了，现在住在纽约Highland Falls。她每天都要在电脑屏幕前坐上好几个小时，全神贯注地玩网络游戏。最爱玩的就是纸牌游戏canasta，还经常玩其他游戏，特别是一种名叫Qwerty、类似拼字的游戏。她说：“游戏可以让你的大脑不停地运转。”
戴维斯是网络休闲游戏众多狂热玩家中的一员。网络休闲游戏虽然只是视频游戏行业的一小部分，但发展势头迅猛。当传统视频游戏销售一蹶不振的时候，包括拼图、棋盘游戏和简单的arcade等低技术游戏的市场却在不断扩大。行业管理人员称，这是因为这类游戏的受众面比较广──休闲游戏玩家中一半以上都是妇女，很多玩家都在三、四十岁。
很多网站都可以免费下载这些游戏。它们很容易学，对时间和手脑灵敏度的要求也不像Xbox 360机器上的复杂游戏那么高。很多休闲游戏都是大家熟悉的checkers等棋盘游戏或红心大战、接龙等纸牌游戏的网络版。网站可以帮助玩家寻找游戏对手。
广告是网络游戏行业的主要收入来源，但这些网站也逐渐开始提供各项增值服务以及更多精妙游戏，并收入相应费用。根据总部设在圣迭戈的调查公司DFC Intelligence的信息，今年休闲游戏在北美的收入将从去年的3.14亿美元上升到4.58亿美元。现在约有5,700万人每年至少玩一次这类游戏，高于四年前的3,400万人。
RealNetworks Inc.游戏业务部门的高级副总裁麦克?斯兹勒(Michael Schutzler)称，游戏“已成为一种全球现象，但是多数人还没有意识到这一点”。身为游戏网站RealArcade.com运营商的RealNetworks上个月同意以2,100万美元的价格收购荷兰游戏公司Zylom Media Group BV。该公司称，去年的游戏收入较前一年激增63%至5,630万美元。
网络公司提供游戏
戴维斯1998年从信息技术领域退休后开始玩网络游戏。她患有慢性关节炎，行动很不方便，有时甚至没法出门。游戏是一种令人愉悦的解脱方法，戴维斯通过很多游戏的在线聊天功能认识了一些朋友。戴维斯说：“当你整天在家里呆著的时候，游戏是个不错的伙伴。”
戴维斯通常在早上帮助丈夫和小儿子收拾妥当去上班后，开始玩游戏。她喜欢视频游戏巨头电子艺界(Electronic Arts Inc)旗下网站Pogo.com上的游戏。如果用户不介意各种广告的话，他们可以在Pogo网上免费玩约85个游戏。该网站推出的名叫Pogo俱乐部(Club Pogo)的收费服务为玩家提供30种额外游戏，没有任何广告，玩家还可以通过竞争获得现金大奖以抵扣30美元的年费。该公司发言人说，Pogo俱乐部有100万会员每周玩游戏的平均时长为14小时。
戴维斯说最能吸引她的是获得“奖章”的机会。这种奖章是用来奖励那些成功克服游戏中各种挑战的玩家。她现在的目标之一就是达到网上canasta游戏的48级，这个游戏共有50级。戴维斯说，以前她和其他网友比赛，但最近改成网站控制的虚拟对手“dots”。她说：“我已经变成了一个好斗的玩家，大多数的人不喜欢这样的玩家。”
用户兴趣与日俱增
近几年来，雅虎(Yahoo Inc.)、微软(Microsoft Corp.)及时代华纳(Time Warner)旗下的美国在线(America Online)等公司都已加强了游戏网站的建设。原因之一就是游戏为网站吸引了了大量用户，这些用户对广告商有著重要的影响。根据ComScore Media Metrix的信息，从流量来讲，雅虎游戏(games.yahoo.com)是最受欢迎的网站，二月份的唯一访问者达到了1,830万。
最近几个收购案例充分反映了大家对这个行业不断增加的兴趣。这个月媒体控股公司Liberty Media Corp.支付了1.95亿美元购买Fun Technologies PLC的多数股权。后者为美国在线及微软MSN提供网络游戏，并经营网站SkillJam.com。这个网站组织游戏锦标赛并设现金大奖。
对于现年47岁的布伦达?韦伯(Brenda Webber)来讲，每天能有一小时玩网络游戏简直就像上了奥普拉(Oprah)节目一样。
韦伯是三个孩子的母亲，住在加州Manhattan Beach，在家里经营珠宝生意。她说，在浏览网页或做书面工作的间隙，玩一个小游戏十分轻松。“如果我需要在半小时或45分钟后接儿子，这段时间用来处理一个项目显然不够，但要是玩游戏就足够了。”
韦伯经常玩纸牌游戏和拼图游戏，如最近特别流行的宝石迷阵2和祖玛。宝石迷阵要求玩家把三块同类宝石配成一组。在名字很特别的祖玛中，玩家控制一个可以旋转并能吐出彩球的青蛙来进行游戏。这两个游戏通过高速互联网连接很快就可以玩，而且都是使用电脑鼠标来玩的。
对另一些人来讲，从游戏中抽身却成了挑战。加州Chico现年35岁的办公室经理丝塔茜?莫兰(Stacy Moran)说，她对iWin.com的游戏“上瘾”了，每周最多能玩25个小时。她最喜爱的游戏之一是一种类似于多米诺骨牌的中国游戏──麻将。总跟自己说“再玩一个游戏，就去做饭”或“再玩一个就去工作。”
“看一眼时间，然后投入游戏非常容易。不知不觉，三两个钟头就过去了，”她说。
