The fun is back at the annual video-game extravaganza E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo), which begins today in Los Angeles. After a few years of media-only invitational conferences, the industry is going back to allowing public access to its showcase of upcoming video games. Big news is being created by The Beatles: Rock Band,  Mass Effect 2 and a motion-controller for the Xbox 360. Check out the official E3 Insider and Minneapolis-based Game Informer for the lastest info.

Meanwhile, the NPD Group passes on these stats related to game downloads from E3, based on the industry tracker’s research:

* 18 percent of Xbox 360 users who also have an Xbox Live Gold membership regularly download digitally from Xbox Live Arcade.
* 10 percent of PS3 users regularly download a game digitally from PlayStation network.
* The number of Xbox Live Gold subscribers in the United States increased by 24 percent from the first quarter of 2008 to the same period in 2009.
* 1 in 5 gamers subscribe to a video game subscription (i.e., an MMO, online website, XBL Gold, online rental subscription).
* 17 percent of games purchased by PC gamers were digitally downloaded.
* The total games subscription market grew by 18 percent in subscribers from Q1 ‘08 to Q1 ‘09.
* Bigfishgames, Steam and RealArcade account for over half (56 percent) of PC digital games sold from July to December ‘08 (including only digital only retailers).

See, now aren’t those stats fun? E3 runs through Thursday, by the way.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009 at 8:20 am and is filed under Video games. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.