Consumer Confidential: Best cities for singles; video game sales

Here’s your fortunate-son Friday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

--Are there better cities for singles? Our friends at Kiplinger’s Personal Finance crunched the numbers and found that there are, based on such stats as how many households are single versus married, whether those households are affluent enough to date, and just what a date might cost. The top city in the country to be single turns out to be Ann Arbor, Mich. More than half of the city’s population is single, thanks in part to proximity to the University of Michigan. And the cost of a night out on the town is a mere $24. Following up Ann Arbor in the top five are Bloomington, Ill.; Santa Cruz; Baltimore and, last but not least, Los Angeles. Who knew? (Moneywatch)

--Are we getting over video games? U.S. retail sales of video game hardware, software and accessories fell a whopping 34% in January from a year earlier to $751 million due to the lack of new game titles, according to market researcher NPD Group. Sales of titles released before the holidays were down 31% in January compared with a year ago. Activision’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 remained the top seller for the third consecutive month following its early November release. And if anyone can tell me how to get my kid to cut back on Modern Warfare 3, I’m all ears. (Associated Press)