This Man Paid $15,000 For A NES Cartridge

I've avoided collecting carts for a while — I always looked at them as a slippery slope, since there are just so many collectible carts out there to get. When I started, I concentrated on systems — I'm up to 130 now.

The Most Expensive Game Budget Ever

American Game Developers Make $73,600 (On Average)

Game Developer magazine has just published the results of their annual Game Developer Salary Survey. Their findings? The average American developer salary—excluding people like part time testers and richie rich studio heads—was $73,600 in 2007. That's up scant $284 from 2006. Other findings of note include:

• 18% of producers are women (that's high for the industry)
• Business/Marketing personnel made most, averaging $101,848/year
• QA testers made the least, averaging $39,063/year

But there are lots more fun facts and figures in the release after the jump. So enjoy! (Our apologies if you make less than average. It's time to ask for that raise. Just make sure to print the report on company paper.)

Video Game Currencies That Out-Value The US Dollar

Curious about how an investment in rupees, the currency in The Legend of Zelda, would have translated into real world profit? The financial wizards at Maxim have gone through the impressive effort of translating the in-game value of currencies to real-world dollars from a septet of classic and modern video games, a scientific pursuit that proves a single mineral unit from StarCraft is worth far, far more than a gold ring from Sonic the Hedgehog will ever be. Pulitzer for economic research, please!

7 Video Game Currencies Stronger Than the U.S. Dollar [Maxim]

Frostmourne For $379 Seems Cheap Now

Those of you who railed against the $379 price tag for the Epic Weapons official replica of the cursed World of Warcraft sword Frostmourne might want to reconsider after seeing what folks paid for a chance at the first 100 numbered weapons. 1,012 users paid the non-refundable $429 entry fee for the Frostmourne auction - that's $434,148 - with the top 100 bidders in order receiving swords 1-100. The top bidder? $20,700 - over 54 times the price of the sword. Suddenly the prospect of gathering up $379 doesn't feel so daunting anymore. Sure, it won't be the official #1 Frostmourne, but I'd trade a giant foam hand and my imagination for $20,700 any day of the week. I'll save my money for when they get around to their Simple Dagger replica.

Frostmourne Auction [Epic Weapons via Blizzplanet]

Ziff Davis Files For Bankruptcy

The publisher of EGM, Games for Windows: The Official Magazine and 1UP.com has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a Manhattan court today, in an attempt to restructure its sizable, long-term debt. Ziff Davis has, according to Bloomberg's report, filed papers indicating it has somewhere between $500 million and $1 billion in debt, with previous reports pegging the debt at around $400 million.

The company has tried to negotiate its substantial debt out of the courts before, following a missed interest payment last summer. Over the past four years, the company had shuttered some of its publications, including the Official PlayStation Magazine and GMR, but continues to publish print properties like eWeek and PC Magazine as well as nearly twenty technology and entertainment web sites.

While we don't know much about the financial health of its video gaming properties, we have heard that the 1UP Yours podcast will be scaled back to a lean three hours in an effort to cut costs. A temporary setback, we hope.

Ziff Davis Media Files for Bankruptcy to Cut Debt [Bloomberg]

In-Game Ads Predicted to Reach $650 Mil By 2012

According to the latest report by analyst group eMarketer, the in-game ad industry will grow to $650 million by 2012, more than doubling 2007's $295 million. eMarketer attributes the growth to the overall growth of the video game industry, with game launches overshadowing other big media events. Most recently, Halo 3 generated more in first day sales than the opening weekend of Spiderman 3 (the biggest opening weekend in history) and the first-day sales of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows (the final installment in the series).

But this shouldn't come as any surprise. In fact, this estimate is more conservative than in the past. Join me on a trip down memory lane for just a moment, back to the wonderful world of July 2007. Back then, the Yankee Group said that by 2011, in-game ad revenue could reach $971 million. So while in-game ads are on the rise, they may not be growing as quickly as originally thought!

eMarketer: U.S. In-Game Ads Market to More than Double to $650M by 2012 [GameDaily]

Goodbye Gold Farmers, Hello Gold Frauders

Chinese Game Industry Deals 'Paralyzed'

British Bank Blocks WoW Payments

We have seen a significant number of fraudulent transactions through Blizzard's gaming sites. We have, therefore, blocked the majority of Visa/Mastercard transactions we receive from there in order to combat this. We do not believe the fraud is anything to do with Blizzard themselves, their sites or the integrity of their billing systems, rather it is site users utilising stolen credit card details to pay for subscriptions.

Police Fail To Retrieve Stolen Gil

If someone breaks into your house and steals your game console, you call the police, but what if someone breaks into Vana'diel and steals all your gil? When a 'friend' of former Blaine Wisconsin resident Geoff Luurs got hold of his username and password and then wiped his mage Sot's character clean, he went to the local authorities for justice. After determining his items were worth $3800 by looking them up on popular virtual goods vendor IGE, he went to the Blaine authorities with his complaint. They immediately went to the alleged perpetrator's house and shot him dead.

No, of course they didn't. Explaining that virtual goods have no real monetary value, they refused to do anything. This completely makes sense to me. What doesn't is the reaction garnered from educators across the country.

Big Actor Got Half a Million For Voicework, But Who?

Agents are under the misconception that there's a ton of money to be had for their clients. In a game, the entertainment is about the gameplay. The actor's contribution isn't as important as the gameplay.

Video Games Ready To Pwn Recession?

With the word "recession" silently pursed on everyone's lips, it's surprising to groups like Nintendo and Microsoft, dancing around in a full hoot and holler, banging pots with spoons in celebration of their profits. So BloggingStocks points out that, hey, maybe the modern video game market is recession-proof. During a time when people might not buy a $20,000 car, consoles appear to fall in a pricepoint sweetspot while offering many hours of entertainment for the investment (and to a heavy gamer, that can be far more hours a week than even a car to a heavy commuter).

But does this mean games are really recession-proof? While it's tough to imagine Nintendo doing much better, one has to wonder if the crazy numbers we're seeing in the video game industry could be even bigger in different circumstances, fueled in part by an American economy running a higher level of octane.

Can Nintendo withstand a recession? [BloggingStocks via Maxconsole][gettyimages]

Nintendo Made Trillions In 2007, Nearly Doubles Profits

If it hasn't been pounded into your skull yet that Nintendo is overachieving, selling hardware and software at alarming rates in Japan and the United States, maybe the Kyoto-based company's quarterly results will make it clear. Nintendo posted net sales of 1.3 trillion yen (about $12 billion USD) for the nine months ending on December 31, 2007, up about 85% from the year prior. For the full fiscal year, up on March 31, Nintendo is expecting 1.63 trillion yen in sales, unsurprisingly a big gain over the previous year.

Net income as of the end of the year, also known as the Bottom Line, was an impressive 258.9 billion yen (a bit over $2.4 billion USD), an impressive near-doubling of profits from the same period prior.

Nintendo pointed to strong sales of the Nintendo DS, which sold 24.5 million units worldwide in nine months, and the Wii, responsible for 14.29 million units sold. More staggering numbers, if you can stomach them, are available at the company's Investor Relations page, as is a Mario sprite in a business suit. Enjoy!

Investor Relations [Nintendo of Japan]

GameStop Holiday Sales Up 35%

"Driven by robust domestic and international sales, GameStop achieved the most successful holiday season results ever," said company chairman and CEO Richard Fontaine. "Video game software sales grew by 45%, while the next generation installed base is now triple last year's base and a very positive leading indicator for future sales growth."

Kwari's Five Steps

The Entrepreneur's Guide To Second Life Launch Party

Consoles Are Not Enough For ATI & NVIDIA

It's important to not forget the PC side of the business to innovation. The PC provides the revenue stream every year for the team. If it was only a console business, we [AMD and NVIDIA] would not be here...