Along with traditional board games, online casinos and role-playing games, there are also home video-game consoles, web-browser games and mobile gaming titles to keep us entertained. There’s never been so much choice when it comes to our leisure time, and the gaming industry brings in more money than Hollywood these days.
The landscape of gaming is changing every year, and the most recent game-changer is mobile gaming, with its free-to-play financial model and in-game purchases. Despite this, there are still affordable gaming options for the savvy consumer. Casino free slots are just a few mouse clicks away, and how can you ignore the excellent free Role-playing game promotion which is held each year?
The real heavy-hitters seem to be on home gaming-consoles, with some of the bigger titles earning billions of dollars in revenue. Launch day release sales for big titles such as the Halo series and Call of Duty installments are the envy of Hollywood and other entertainment industries.
The reach of successful video-games is growing, with bigger titles getting spin-off products such as movies, books, toys and even online slot machines. Go to any of the bigger gaming sites, such as slots.com, and you can find gaming and movie themed slots online.
Mario & Super Mario
The Mario and Super Mario games have sold a staggering 722.26 million copies worldwide since the first Mario game appeared in 1981. Mario has become the mascot for Nintendo of Japan, and has appeared in movies, spin-off games in other genres such as racing and role-playing games, and is more recognised than Mickey Mouse.
Pokemon
The Pokemon games are another hit for Nintendo, and the 66 Pokemon titles released since 1996 have sold 219.28 million copies. The cute character designs, in-depth folklore and collecting mechanic have been a hit with gamers since the first appearance in 1996, and titles are still regularly released to satisfy a whole new generation of Pokemon addicts.
Ratchet & Clank
The Ratchet & Clanks games were Sony exclusive games that were coded by Insomniac Games and released on the PS2 and PS3 consoles. Over 155 million copies have been sold since the first title was released way back in 2002. The crazy weapons, quirky humor and dynamics between the two protagonists has seen this franchise become one of gaming’s most well loved.
The Sims Franchise
The Sims has been a huge hit thanks to the unique game-play on offer, which allows players to oversee the everyday lives of virtual humans, called Sims. The micromanagement and customisation options are seemingly endless, and the franchise is the most successful PC franchise of all time. The 3 main games in the franchise plus multitude of expansion packs and spin-off games have sold over 150 million copies combined.
Grand Theft Auto (GTA) Franchise
Rockstar Games have built a gaming empire on the back of their hit GTA series, and are set to release the 5th title in September 2013. In addition to selling more than 125 million copies, the series introduced the concept of open-world games. Just as there are many varieties or versions of games when you play online slots, hit video games are also in the same situation. For GTA, there have been imitators, such as the zany Saints Row games from THQ, but GTA stands alone as being a unique and well-crafted gaming experience.
Tetris
This unassuming puzzle game has sold an amazing 125 million copies since it first appeared in 1985, and can be found on a variety of gaming platforms, from consoles to calculators!
Call of Duty
The Call of Duty FPS series has been a money-making machine for EA Games since it was first released in 2003. The franchise has generated 100 million sales since then, and the yearly updates and excellent online code see the games regularly appear on best-seller lists.
Halo
Halo is a multi-billion dollar game franchise owned by Microsoft studios. Gamers weren’t surprised when the gaming giant recently unveiled a teaser trailer for a 5th game in the series, which will be released on the next Xbox gaming console – the Xbox One. The games have been widely acclaimed as some of the best first-person shooters available for home consoles, and this praise has seen the franchise sell over 50 million copies to date.
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