According to a recent Ipsos Reid report, the average age of adults playing video games here in Canada is now 40.3 years-old. That’s up from the results of past years where the average has been 32 and 34. Another study, performed by PriceWaterHouseCoopers finds that families around the world are now spending $48 billion each year on video games, more than they do on DVDs or music. This year also brought a shock for Nintendo who has discovered that 48% of the people buying and using their portable Nintendo DS video game system are female. In the video game business everything has changed, the demographics have become turned around, forcing Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony to change their business models and adopt a new focus on families and the now very important 40 year-old gamer.

At this year’s E3 Media And Business Summit in Los Angeles, that change was reflected in the presentations made by Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft where much of their time was devoted to demonstrations of party games, music-based titles, and online experiences designed with whole families in mind. Gone were the teen-aged and hip twenty-somethings to demonstrate the latest titles, and in their place were middle-aged models, dressed as parents, to take the stage and play in front of the assembled crowds.

Microsoft

The image that best sums up this change was to be found at Microsoft’s E3 presentation where three middle-aged models walked out on stage to play a new family-oriented game called “You’re In The Movies”. Dressed in slacks and corporate casual shirts, the three gyrated and twitched in a laughably un-cool, parentally un-hip display that would seem inconceivable for an Xbox 360 event, but was positioned by Microsoft with all the emphasis and importance that they normally reserve for one of their Halo games.

“You’re In The Movies”, which won’t be released until later this year, is a game in two parts. Family members begin by first performing in front of a webcam. Similar to Sony’s EyeToy games, the camera can follow the movements of players in front of it, allowing them to swat at virtual bugs, dance a boogie, and run through obstacle courses. During these mini-game challenges, the camera also records video of the players during their performances. These clips are then assembled by the game into a final movie where player actions are taken out of context and placed within the plot of a B-Movie. After a night of jumping around the living room, the family can then sit down and watch themselves become the stars of their own film.

This Fall Microsoft will introduce “Avatars”. Similar to Nintendo’s Miis, avatars are customizable characters that players can use to represent themselves, both within selected games, but also online for a new party experience. In addition to playing casual games such as Uno or Texas Hold ‘Em Poker, this online party experience will offer social activities for up to eight people. You can gather online to chat while listening to music or in an interesting twist, to watch a movie. Much as people in the past might sit on the phone and chat while watching the same movie on TV by turning to the same channel (think Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan in “When Harry Met Sally”), eight people can now do this with the Xbox 360 by wearing headsets and selecting the movie of their choice with Microsoft’s online video store.

Inspired by the success of singing games such as Rock Band and Sony’s SingStar series, Microsoft demonstrated a new game called “Lips” that uses two light-up microphones and allows both couples and solo performers to sing-along with the lyrics and floating on-screen bubbles that represent the changes of pitch. The twist is that Lips can be used with any song, even those in your own personal music library. You can connect an MP3 player up to your Xbox 360 and select any song from it for use in the game.

Nintendo

President of Nintendo America Reggie Fils-Amis warned hard-core players at his own presentation that there are “tens of millions of people around the world ready to get into the game that we all love.” He should know as the success of the Nintendo Wii and its motion controls along with the recent trend in accessible titles such as Brain Age, Guitar Hero, and Rock Band, have been attributed with capturing the interests of an older market. According to Nintendo, the Wii version of Guitar Hero III outsold the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions.

Nintendo also made sure to feature older performers in their demonstrations. When 21 year-old Olympic Snowboarder Shaun White stepped out on stage to showcase his upcoming game which uses the Balance Board from Wii Fit to simulate the act of snowboarding down a mountain, it was to offer tips to Nintendo exec Cammie Dunaway as she herself jumped onto the board and tried to balance her way through the moves. Standing next to him in her corporate suit, the older Dunaway almost looked like his mother, an image that, considering the latest studies state that 57% of parents are playing games alongside their kids, is one Nintendo isn’t afraid to project.

Much of Nintendo’s success with parents comes from the Wii Sports and Wii Play bundles that offer varieties of games and activities. Building upon that for next spring, Nintendo showed off Wii Resort, a virtual vacation that will include ten new activies and make use of a new accessory called the Wii MotionPlus. Once fitted to the end of the Wii Remote it allows actions made by the wrist and forearm to be included. While Nintendo is still deciding which set of activities to include, they did show off three examples – a Frisbee game where you toss the disc out over the sand for a little dog to catch, a jet ski activity where you can race against others our on the water, and a sword dueling competition where two players can exchange soft blows with virtual rapiers.

But for this coming holiday season, Nintendo’s big family title will be Wii Music, an experience where the entire family can pick up their Wii Remotes and use them to simulate any of 60 different musical instruments, from violins, pianos, trumpets, drumsets, and more. The game is more about sharing the experience of playing together rather than competing for scores or avoiding bad notes and so the hope is it will prove to be more accessible than the already popular Guitar Hero and Rock Band games.

Sony

Of the three major companies, Sony’s focus on families was more indirect, the emphasis instead was on providing a wider range of online experiences, and more casual online content.

This fall they will launch a new $400 version of the PlayStation 3, one that offers 80 GB of storage. All of the PlayStation 3 models come with a hard drive for storage of online content, but the introduction of this large model reveals their intent to expand their online store outside of the usual catalog of arcade-style games.

Sony will be the first to produce smaller, downloadable adventures based on game franchises that have proven popular to a casual market. Ratch & Clank Future: Quest For Booty will be a short adventure starring the popular bobcat-like hero and his robot sidekick. There is a growing audience of players now who don’t have the interest to spend thirty or forty hours to finish a game, and so “Quest For Booty” is designed to satisfy that casual interest.

Like Nintendo’s Miis and Microsoft’s Avatars, Sony also plans to offer customizable characters, but realistic and sophisticated designs that are part of a bigger, virtual world called HOME. Here players can create and customize their own apartments, explore shopping malls and resorts, and use them to throw online parties where players can share music, photos, and movies. Players will be able to use items found in games to decorate their virtual apartments, but also include ordinary items such as patio furniture and bar-b-cues. Originally intended for release last October, Sony has delayed the launch of HOME in order to expand on its features and experiences and distinguish it from the offerings of its competitors.

Sony’s biggest success in reaching adults and parents has been through the entertainment capabilities of its PlayStation products. Many who bought a PlayStation 2 did so for its DVD drive, and many who have purchased a PS3 have done so for its Blu-Ray player.

Last week Sony expanded those offerings by launching a new online video store (in the United States only, Canadian details are still to come), one where PlayStation 3s can connect to both rent or purchase movies for download. The service also includes TV shows and offers the choices of both Standard Definition and High Definition content. Videos downloaded from the store can also be transferred over to the PlayStation Portable and watched while travelling.

The All Important 40 Year-Old Gamer

For companies like Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft, catering to the 40 year-old gamer is more important that merely recognizing and serving a new segment of their markets. The older demographic is less likely to pirate their content, is more likely to be satisfied with games produced with a smaller budget, and their different interests force game designers to explore new avenues of creativity and push for innovation in a way that hard core gamers, constantly driven towards better graphics and refined combat, have failed to do. Parents offer access to families which provide different social dynamics and help video games as a cultural medium discover more experience.

For an industry that has been built on delivering what’s cool to a counter culture audience, devoting their annual industry show towards middle-aged interests and parental players can be considered a dangerous move, they risk boring or alienating their devoted fans, but clearly the stakes are high enough to make it worth their while.