Not even the economy can stop Mario from saving the princess from King Koopa.

Communications professor David Gunkel said video games are only getting stronger as time goes on.

“Video games are a fast growing sector of the entertainment industry,” he said.

According to the Associated Press, revenue from video game hardware rose from $481.4 to $532.7 million in February, going up 11 percent.

Gunkel said during bad economic times, people make changes to their spending habits.

“As a result of the recession, the public generally cuts back,” he said.

But Gunkel also said entertainment products are not affected by this.

“People don’t make cutbacks on entertainment, including video games, because they’re a fairly cheap distraction,” he said.

Gunkel compares video games being used as distractions from tough times to the Great Depression when people turned to another form of entertainment.

“In the 1920s and 1930s, people went to the movies as a distraction of what was going on,” he said. “And now people turn to video games to distract themselves from the economy.”

Nick Voelker, senior computer science major, said he thinks unemployment adds to more people looking to entertainment.

“A lot more people are spending time at home because they don’t have jobs and are using that time toward playing video games more and watching TV,” he said.

Voelker said he personally has not altered his spending routine regarding video games.

“My spending habits have stayed about the same as of right now,” he said.

Sophomore geography major Joel Engelhardt said he feels with the video games out right now and future releases, it is hard to pass on buying them even with a bad economy.

“There are so many good games coming out and people are willing to pay for them,” he said.

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