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News

  Nielsen: Movie Games Earning Back Consumer Respect
by Leigh Alexander
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June 29, 2009
 
Nielsen: Movie Games Earning Back Consumer Respect
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It's the summer blockbuster movie season, and the high buzz around popular action flicks is having a positive effect on their tie-in games.

Nielsen finds that movie license games are topping the list in terms of both "online buzz" and player intent to purchase, and concludes that maybe movie license games are finally getting some respect from gamers.

At the top of Nielsen's purchase intent list is Activision's X-Men Origins: Wolverine for the week of its release, and it's joined by other games tied into big box office properties: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, also an Activision release, and the GRIN and Halcyon-developed Terminator: Salvation game.

It's not just that the current film season is driving proxy enthusiasm for the associated games. Nielsen says that a few months ago, Electronic Arts' Godfather II scored well on the purchase intent list even though the movie came out in 1974.

Two months away from its release, Eidos' Batman: Arkham Asylum is tied for second fifth place, and Nielsen expects it to hit number one by summer's end, while the Terminal Reality-developed Ghostbusters video game, released last week, topped the online buzz list and ranked fourth in terms of purchase interest.



Nielsen says that in terms of online buzz, Ghostbusters has garnered nearly a quarter of it over the last 60 days. The following chart shows several titles based on movies gaining equal attention in the mindshare arena.

 
   
 
Comments

Andre Thomas
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Its pretty sad that consumers aren't buying these games based on quality but rather name instead. Even so, I'm at least glad to see that SEGA had turned out some pretty high-quality and fun games based on a movie property; those being Star Wars Trilogy Arcade, Star Wars:Racer Arcade, and Jurassic Park: The Lost World Arcade.

Joshua Sterns
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Are movie games winning back respect, or are they being released at ideal times? I doubt any of these games could hold a candle to the big games coming out this holiday season. That said, I did find Transformers and Wolverine to be pleasant surprises.

Also what's the difference between "buzz" or "purchase intent," and the actual sales figures?


David Delanty
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This is much thanks to movie studios making it so much easier for software developers to create games better than their films. Hats off to Hollywood's inability to combine big budget blockbusters with novelty and engrossing storytelling! *Applauds*

Ethan Verrall
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Batman: Arkham Asylum seems silly to even put up there in my opinion, as to my knowledge it doesn't relate to any of the movies at all, more to the comic books....

Jamie Roberts
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This is all "relative" quality: Movie games are better (tolerable, playable), relative to how they used to be (complete and utter pieces of #%&)...


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