The game industry is now big business,  some say it is now bigger than the movie business.  It all depends on how you count the numbers, but there is no doubt that games are now a very large growth sector in entertainment.

From platform giants, like Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft, we have seen an explosion in game play potential, design and a widening of the traditional player base to the mainstream.

Outside of these platforms the casual online gamer and mobile game market has been growing exponentially.  South Korea, USA and Europe now have professional tournaments and players who make their living playing games.

Many of the above games and platforms allow communities of users to interact through the game play, regardless of where you are in the physical world.  Voice and video links for part of the game play and interaction.

Platforms are now incorporating virtual game communities into their online environments, where players can meet other enthusiasts and test new games together,  Sony home ( beta) is where the game community meets 2nd life.

Users can create their own player avatar and navigate built virtual environments, interact with each other, buy virtual goods, games, music and soon movies. Good fun even for the average game player.

So with all this going on in gaming, and with a vibrant developer and game community in Australia, why do we ignore this sector in our industry planning.  Games are not eligible for any of the traditional development and tax support mechanism that are afforded to the Film and TV sectors.  If the market is so large why ignore it?