ABSTRACT
In monetary terms, video games are easily competitive with the largest media. The opening day sales of Call of Duty: Black Ops exceeded $360 million worldwide, easily exceeding the largestever weekend movie gross through mid-2012 (The Avengers) and the first-day sales of the final Harry
Potter book (TechWeb 2010; Thorsen, 2009). Additionally, videogame franchises are themselves becoming hot media properties, with such series as Resident Evil, Bioshock, Fallout, HALO, and Mass Effect spawning multiple sequels, websites, videos, downloadable games, and physical content ranging from action figures to comic books to coffee mugs.
