A recent survey of 13,000 consumers in 13 countries found that more than 20 percent of respondents said they spend up to half of their leisure time playing video games. Conducted by market research firm GMI, the poll found 30 percent of those surveyed in India and 20 percent of respondents in Mexico spend up to half of their leisure time playing games, compared with respondents from the U.S. (24%) and Germany (24%). Eighty percent of all consumers surveyed said they believe people will spend more time playing video games over the next ten years. "Relatively unexploited markets in Latin America and in Asia such as India offer new growth to the videogame industry," said analyst Billy Pidgeon. While 58 percent of consumers overall don't think games are a good form of social activity, this thinking is reversed in India and Mexico, where 4 percent and 64 percent of those surveyed, respectively, play games to socialize -- compared with other nations like the Netherlands and France, where only 14 percent and 20 percent of respondents, respectively, said they played games socially.
Try to imagine this scenario, that General Motors and Ford were given exclusive franchises to build America's interstate highway system, and also all the highways that connect local communities. Now imagine that, based upon a financial crisis, these troubled companies decided to convert all "their" local arteries into toll-roads -- they then use incremental toll fees to severely limit all travel to and from small businesses. Why? This handicapping process reduced the need to invest in building better new roads, or repairing the dilapidated ones. But, wouldn't that short-sighted decision have a detrimental impact on the overall national economy? It's a moot point -- pure fantasy -- you say. The U.S. political leadership would never knowingly risk the nation's social and economic future on the financial viability of a restrictive duopoly. Or, would they? The 21st century Global Networked Economy travels across essential broadband infrastructure. The forced intro...