A recent NPD Group study dispels several myths:

• Nobody’s buying anything
• Software moved offshore
• Games are bupkes

This boom comes home to Michigan when you consider the groundswell of local game development and shameless consumption demonstrated at the recent Penguicon fest, which was generously underwritten by Google.  The good folks at Stardock are growing leaps and bounds.  And simulation companies like gForce Technologies create custom “games” to help train tank drivers and airplane de-icers…

Michigan retained a lot of interactive talent from the MediaStation diaspora, which came apart in 2002, and whose alumni are jonesing Arbortext, Compendia Biosciences, iDashboards, Merit Networks, Siemens and Soar Technologies.

Oh yeah, we’re not just playing games here.