"More people are playing games now than at any other time," says Joseph Olin, president of the speaking at the here this weekend. And adults and kids both are pondering questions such as which two games they'll buy this holiday season?

Gamer Influences

The pacing of games has changed dramatically over the past decade--and Olin credits the social networking boom, the prevalence of micro-entertainment on everything from cell phones to YouTube, and the changing face of how an entire generation consumes entertainment with the shift that's more and more evident in today's games.

"Five years ago we didn't have Facebook, MySpace, YouTube. [Kids'] consumption of entertainment has changed--their tolerance is shorter and shorter and shorter. Their whole world is a screen," Olin says. "Game makers are trying to reflect the world around them, and as such, they're creating online play patterns that fit the short rhythm of today's world."

For example, not everyone is willing or able to commit 25 minutes to scale a virtual hill and reach another. So some game developers set up shorter tasks, or set a sequence of smaller actions that lead to the hill. "That reflects the immediacy of the real world; it also reflects how people want to consume their entertainment," Olin says. "Look at Grand Theft Auto 4; it's really a bunch of short missions and episodes."