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By Emily Gorton
Staff Writer
29 January 2010
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Sleeper-hit 'Just Dance' has held onto the top spot on the UK's game sales chart for the second week in a row, beating off hugely hyped shoot-em-up 'Modern Warfare 2'.
However, the surprising disparity has so far failed to be reflected on game rental sites, where so-called 'family games' are seemingly failing to make an impact on subscribers.
Just Dance?
'Just Dance', an action packed game involving exactly what the title suggests, was released eight weeks ago and has slowly crept up the charts.
With an interactive dance coach to follow, the game claims it can greatly improve your ability as a real dancer and with sensory technology, is a huge advance from traditional 'floor pad' dance games.
Last week, it finally claimed first position over 'Modern Warfare 2', despite the fact that the army-set bullet barrage had sold 4.7 million copies worldwide in its first 24 hours of release alone.
With 'Wii Fit Plus' and 'Wii Sports Resort' also making the top five, this could be evidence of a real shift in the market for video games today.
Elsewhere on the chart, the week's new entry 'Dark Void' from Capcom, an action-packed sci-fi adventure claims a noticeable 33rd.
As new technology - or, to be more precise, the Nintendo Wii - continues to spawning active and sociable games, it appears the family is now willing to embrace the gaming world.
Active games appeal to a larger audience - exercise is now a fashionable incentive for new video-game buyers - as do music and dance games and all, crucially, are being marketing directly at women.
This has meant the relatively limited gaming market of male-adolescent blood-lust has distinctly widened.
No Thanks, say Renters
This change has definitely proved itself on the selling charts, but it appears with rental gaming websites the situation is quite different.
Blockbuster hit 'Avatar' seems to have hit big on both charts, the game version of the movie hitting around 16th on gaming rental sites and 8th in the selling chart.
The Gamesfrenzy and Gamesmonster rental game charts, however, show an interesting trend towards more traditional, often violent games.
'Assassin's Creed II' tops both of these charts, with 'Left 4 Dead 2' - another apocalyptic zombie show-down - in second position.
Boomerang game rental, similarly, see these gun-filled classics topping their 'most rented' chart, including titles such as 'Gears of War 2' and 'Ghostbusters the Video Game.'
Games rental websites have traditionally appealed to the very sub-set of hardcore gamers most likely to remain unmoved by the 'Just Dance' craze but whether this means that 'selling' and 'renting' simply appeal to different markets or that games rental websites are failing to exploit the new family-game hype remains in question.
With Wii advertisements in particular focusing on the family angle, depicting games being played in scenes of domestic harmony, the campaign is definitely being taken care of from a selling point of view.
However, by the looks of it, rental gaming websites have not yet jumped on this recent surge, their charts reflecting a significant gap in their marketing.
With the games industry tackling new and previously unexplored markets, game rental sites will have to adapt themselves to appeal to these new consumers.
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