Video games that watch back

November 28, 2006 Few gamers are aware that when they are watching their monitors while playing video games online, those games may be watching back, keeping track of their play habits and their likes and dislikes. Indeed, media mavens who use standard focus groups to test TV pilots or soon-to-be-released movies would be more than a little impressed -- and jealous -- of what leading-edge techniques game developers have available to them to test their products. The developer, Bellevue, Wa.-based Valve Software, uses an online "Gameplay Stats" tool to collect such real-time data as: length of average playing session, average completion time, total playing time, and what game options players enable or disable.

Subscribe to the Hollywood Reporter and see the entertainment industry from its best angle: the inside looking out. Complete access to real-time news and exclusive analysis that goes behind the scenes from film to television, home video to digital media.

   Subscribe now.