July 8, 2006

16 Comments »

1. Yeah. He puts up with a lot of crap too. He’s the bullseye for fan frustration at lack of games, blown release dates, etc etc. Don’t know how he does it.

   Comment by brad — July 8, 2006 @ 2:22 pm

2. It’s simply a matter of consumption and passion. All gamers do is consume content and talk about their passion. Real geeks have to study and manage their time wisely, so most will not devote time to trolling Blogs and forums.

   Anyway in Major’s case there is going to be a proportion of his ordinance that treat XBox owners as the enemy and are only there to learn about what the other side is doing. You don’t get that so much with real geeks as we have enough trouble keeping track of our own specialised areas as it is.

   Comment by Brook — July 8, 2006 @ 2:42 pm

3. His content is unique, though limited to a very specific topic. He has some exclusive inside information that he’s able to share from time to time. Even though I don’t own a 360, I read his blog regularly.

   Comment by Dileepa P — July 8, 2006 @ 2:46 pm

4. @Brook: Many gamers are “real geeks” too. Really!

   Comment by Dileepa P — July 8, 2006 @ 2:47 pm

5. When I started reading his blog a couple years ago, he’d do something random like take a picture w/ his new cameraphone and we’d all chat about it. Or discuss the iPod. Today his blog is a veritable monster.

   The person who handles the back-end (”Litheon” as he’s known) is kind of an unsung hero.

   Comment by Matthew — July 8, 2006 @ 3:03 pm

6. I read his blog and have linked to it, but remember his demographic is mostly teanage boys.

   Comment by paul — July 8, 2006 @ 5:50 pm

7. Guys like to brag about how big things are, whether it’s their blog audience or parts of their body. These claims are often exagerated. So 300,000 downloads, 500 comments, 14 inches, whatever. It helps if you’re the one holding the ruler.

   Comment by Nab — July 8, 2006 @ 10:36 pm

8. lol @ Nab. I just want to say that even if Major Nelson’s audience is mostly comprised of teenaged boys and even if he’s, uh, rounding up just a bit, those are still some healthy numbers. Definitely some good content to be found there.

   Comment by TheBizofKnowledge — July 9, 2006 @ 2:20 am

9. Random Bullet Points

   1. Gamers are, ummm, obsessive, and he dangles inside info as a come-on…but even then not as “inside” as say Xbox-Scene.
   2. Mostly American demographic footprints, not pulling in much from Europe, Japan and ME.
   3. I doubt it’s all unique’s, it’s the same circular group checking over and over again. Howard Dean redux.
   4. 360 still undersells PS2 (in the macro scope).
   5. It’s not so much a blog as it is Newsbits and Info (in a bloggish format).
   6. He plays the poke PS3 in the eye game, controversy for controversy sake, which brings out the flamewars (and I guess numbers).

   But he’s a Vegas’er…although Soundforge and Acid seem better choices if just pure audio.

   Still getting XBMC on the 360 would be incredible.

   Comment by Christopher Coulter — July 9, 2006 @ 3:14 am

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    Pingback by Ancora Imparo : Major Nelson Is Rocking — July 9, 2006 @ 5:28 am

11. I’m pretty sure that http://messengersays.spaces.msn.com is probably just as popular if not more popular than his blog. 300 to 500 comments on a blog post are not out of the ordinary for that blog either.

    Comment by Dare Obasanjo — July 9, 2006 @ 10:36 am

12. Sounds like quite good numbers to me though. And while the Xbox may underselling Sony, still it is not doing that badly. At least according to blog interest I would think.

    Comment by onecoolsoul — July 9, 2006 @ 11:05 am

13. At least according to blog interest I would think.

    Billions upon billions in the hole…blog interest is not the performance indicator, nor is even marketshare (which they don’t command either), rather profit. And Xbox won’t make that for 10 years…if ever. The calm before the storm as Sony seriously struggles, won’t be enough long-term.

    If you look at the numbers, a coming video game bubble adjustment is quite nigh. Game outlets, game developers, all gonna suffer.

    blog interest = the NEW eyeballs? Hahahaha.

    Comment by Christopher Coulter — July 9, 2006 @ 2:17 pm

14. I run my Xbox blog which is getting about 200-250 visitors daily and I wish I could atleast get half of what he gets.

    Comment by Thrills Killa — July 9, 2006 @ 2:27 pm

15. A couple of comments re the above comments:

    I’m a big fan of Major Nelson and have been for a long time;

    “Teenage boys” - I’m a 35 year old, married with 3 kids. A lot of poeple at the OXM 360 UK forums where I moderate are in the mid 20’s, teenage kids are not the only demographic.

    “Mostly American” - No real way of being able to tell about this but the podcast is done for a global audience and I live near Glasgow in the UK.

    “I guess a few people have purchased Xbox’s in the past year, huh?” - yes but also it a fantastic blog. It gives us the game fans a bit of inside knowledge, puts a human face on MS but most importantly: Larry is obviously a guy who is passionate about what he does and that comes accross. If the blog sucked it wouldn’t matter how many Xbox had been sold.

    Comment by shinesevens — July 11, 2006 @ 5:31 am

16. Major Nelson gives a great window into the XBOX and XBOX Live teams. His speaks honestly and is proud of the job that he and his co-workers do. Sometimes it looks like he picks a fight with the Sony fans, but I really beleive that he always means well.

    Oh, and I copied some facts over from http://www.videogamevoters.org about the people who are all “teenage boys”.

    The average game player is 30 years old and has been playing games for 9.5 years.
    Seventy-five percent of American heads of households play computer and video games.
    Fifty percent of all Americans play video games.
    Sixty percent of online game players are male. Forty percent of online game players are female.
    Adult gamers exhibit a high level of interest in current events, with ninety-four percent following news and current events, and seventy-eight percent reporting that they vote in most of the elections for which they are eligible.
    Fifty-three percent of game players expect to be playing as much or more ten years from now than they do today.
    The average game buyer is 37 years old. In 2005, ninety-five percent of computer game buyers and eighty-four percent of console game buyers were over the age of 18.
    Adult gamers have been playing an average of 12 years.
    In 2004, nineteen percent of Americans over the age of 50 played video games, an increase from nine percent in 1999.
    In 2005, more than 228 million computer and video games were sold, almost two games for every household in America.

    Comment by Jake — July 12, 2006 @ 6:04 am

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