Last year, a bunch of people were talking about how down movie ticket sales were, and how this was ushering in the end of the movie theater experience.

The Avengers just made $1 billion in two weeks at the box office. Something tells me that Dark Knight Rises might make the same sort of cash. And, we have had a LOT of other big movies this year already, and a lot more coming up.

This year's box office is up almost $700 million above what it was at this point last year.

Why?

Simple -- studios made movies the public wanted to see.

Game sales were down this month compared to last month last year?

Why?

Simple -- game studios made games the public didn't want to play as much this year.

Look, the public is a fickle thing, and one of the things that so many people even in the industry don't understand is that it isn't like people go, "Wow, I don't want to see a movie this week. Well, I have $10 and nothing better to do, I'm going to go settle for one anyway." I've worked in the entertainment industry, and it is fascinating to watch how a lot of people think that is what the public does. If you don't want to see the Avengers, does that mean that you're automatically going to go see The Three Stooges? Absolutely not.

If you aren't interested in playing Prototype 2, it isn't like you should be expected to go drop $60 on some other new game because it's April. You'll buy something when it interests you.

And, as for people complaining as usual that no new IP can get any traction, let's see here... ALL of these were new series for the latest generation:

Prototype
LA Noire
Alan Wake
Red Dead Redemption
Left 4 Dead
Uncharted
Resistance Fall of Man
Gears of War
Bioshock
Mass Effect

...and that is just the ones I can think of offhand, only thinking of the PS3 and 360. Yeah, not every new IP hits with all markets, but honestly, not every IP deserves to hit with all markets, and that market changes and changes quickly, so you should never expect a 'sure fire hit' to actually be a sure fire hit until it has landed.

Alas, so many analysts and industry executives feel that entertainment is like food -- well, if you don't eat a taco for lunch, you still gotta eat *something* -- and so a lot of the analysis out there is going to flip between doom and gloom and roses all the time.