If sales and revenues from the sale and rental of electronic games live up to expectations, they will exceed those of the film industry for the first time. Many adults over 30 are stunned to discover that the gaming industry has become bigger than Hollywood. The only failing grade awarded in this year's report card went to game producers and distributors who offer samples of their games on the Internet for play or purchase. Doing this allows the player to insert images of real people and places thereby making the games even more realistic. As these games continue to be associated with the string of recent school shootings, the concern of the effects of this phenomena continues to grow.
Recent research suggests that such concern is justified.
I hope that this year's report card will act as a spur for more research and highlight the video and computer game diet of children. To compile the 1999 Video and Computer Game Report Card, the National Institute on Media and the Family visited 25 arcades in 3 states, conducted a telephone survey of 53 retail and rental stores in 13 states, and reviewed marketing techniques used in stores, publications and on the Internet. They also had panels of 6 trained media raters view samples of 78 electronic games and compared their ratings with those assigned by the Electronic Software Rating Board.