A headline a couple months back stated that men spend more on video games than they do on music. Observing my own friends, I wasn't surprised. In fact, for me it was one of those 'non-news' news items. Video games rank second in forms of entertainment that men spend their money on, behind DVDs. The survey, conducted by Nielsen Media (the same company that tracks television ratings) also found that Hispanic and African-American males spend more on video games than their Caucasian counterparts.

The video game industry has $10 billion in annual revenue- the same amount as the American box office. Yet, while we watch news reports and look at charts to see which blockbusters topped the box office, we as a society generally do not follow the video game industry with the same fervor. Perhaps it is the lack of celebrity in the video game culture. While many die-hard gamers know who designed or produced the games they play, we don't pick up a copy of US Weekly and see pictures of the guys who programmed Halo 2 lunching at the Ivy in Los Angeles.

It's possible that game creators and some of the biggest movers and shakers in the game industry did lunch at the Ivy this week when they were in Los Angeles for E3, the foremost gaming expo. At E3, Microsoft unveiled the new Xbox 360, while Sony introduced their new PS3 gaming console, and Nintendo showed off its new console, the Revolution. In addition, gamers got sneak peeks at newer titles that will be coming out later in the year, many of which, like movies, are big franchises.

Microsoft will have their console ready by the end of the year, supposedly in time for the holiday shopping season, while Sony and Nintendo will release their new consoles in 2006. Console sales have been plummeting since 2002. The Xbox and Nintendo GameCube have been on the market since 2001, and the Sony PS2 has been on the market since late 2000.

The proliferation of video gaming is also evident in the success of the Sony PSP and the Nintendo DS. The portable gaming devices have sold well in the past year and the PSP allows gamers to take their other entertainment with them, including the ability to watch full-motion video on the PSP and the ability to carry music, photos, and games in your pocket.

With the growing audience for video games and the latest evidence of video gaming popularity among men, it is no surprise that advertisers are catching the video game bug. In fact, there are already a ton of advertisers that take advantage of the medium; like Motorola, Sony Ericsson, Puma, Pizza Hut, and Jeep. Sony's online-connected Everquest II game makes it possible to use a command to order Pizza Hut directly from the game.

However, when looking at the numbers, video game advertising dollars are dwarfed by television and internet advertising dollars, but the brand recognition factor is much higher. In fact, last year ads in games brought in $30 million, while internet advertising brought in $8.5 billion. That is bound to change though and there are projections that the value of video game ads will rise to $52 million by 2009.

Expect video games to become a more integral part of home entertainment as new consoles will support High Definition video and gaming and the Xbox 360 able to connect to Microsoft's Media Center PC's, taking computing out of the office and into the living room. I, for one, will be including both an Xbox and PS2 in my next home entertainment center.