Seth Schiesel of the New York Times, reporting from the Electronic Gaming Summit held annually by Ziff-Davis, was invited there to a panel of news media. To hear him tell it, he stated on the panel the same thing that his article said: "the industry itself is at least partly to blame for gaming's geeky, uncool image". He explains thus:
Think about it. If someone asks you what you did this weekend, and you respond, "Ah, I was kind of tired and just hung out at home and watched a bunch of movies," that's normal. If you say, "Ah, I was kind of tired and just hung out at home and watched a bunch of sports on TV," that's normal. But if you say, "Ah, I was kind of tired and just hung out at home and played a bunch of video games," that is simply not a normal adult response in most social circles."
Schiesel thinks the industry incorrectly blames the mainstream media for its perception problem. Instead, he believes the industry needs to "[market] itself much more broadly... [move] beyond the boys in the bedroom." Interestingly, he says "Innovators like Nintendo get it. Most of the industry does not."
Expanding on this point, Carl Howe at SeekingAlpha opines: "Nintendo has the right idea in re-inventing the game controller to focus less on 'twitch' button reflexes and more on the types of motions used in real-world activities. And innovative new games like Dance Dance Revolution have proved that other genres can succeed. The question is whether the gaming industry can evolve its marketing to address more than the niche it grew up with. So far, the answer to that question has been no. Let's hope that 2007 is the year when the answer becomes yes."