Genetically engineered chickens have become killing machines, invading Dubai, Egypt, Lebanon and the rest of the Arab world. You can only stop them by shooting them and destroying their eggs. Luckily this dystopian nightmare is not coming to a street near you, but is the storyline behind Birdy Nam Nam, an Arabic mobile game which was downloaded more than 250,000 times within a week of its release in September, and ranked number one in the Arab world on the iTunes store. This is just one example of Lebanese talent tapping into the profitable computer gaming market, which, with a projected annual global growth rate of 12 percent, makes it the largest growth sector of the media industry. Digital games can be played online (on PCs or game consoles) or on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. In revenue terms, such games earn $56 billion annually; at least three times
