Know that economic crisis America is going through we discussed before? And remember how video games laugh in the face of it (sales are up 43 percent since 2007, by the way)? Laura Sydell provided her own take on this peculiar situation, paralleling it to the Great Depression, when Americans would flock to the theater in droves:

As the stock market tumbled and loved ones went off to war, Americans disappeared into dark theaters, where Shirley Temple sang and tap danced her way into their heavy hearts.

Now, as the nation faces arguably the worst financial crisis since the Depression, video games may be playing the role movies once filled in hard economic times.

And evidently, movie sales aren't up much at all. So why video games? More bang for you buck, say sources. Which actually brings up an interesting side note: I know some people complain the price of video games is too high. Sometimes I feel like one of the few that has no real issue with this. I mean, a theater ticket costs about 10 bucks, a DVD/Blu-ray disc costs about $20+. Depending on the game of course, you can get tons of play value and length for about 50 bucks (I'm averaging PC, console and handheld titles); I recall putting well over 90 hours into a few RPGs, for example. I mean, there are games from the 80s and 90s I still play now and then. Do the math!

Sydell concludes: "if gas prices continue to rise, and more Americans are forced to scrimp and pinch, nights at home with your family and the game console will start looking better and better."

Ironic then that war being a large factor in the cause of this depression, people will be spending more time playing war video games and shooters in general.