Reader Brenna sent us PDF files containing the Sony survey, which begins with the following bit of text:

Sony is considering offering a premium PlayStation Network subscription in the future. The subscription offering would provide new premium features you could choose to pay for and are in addition to the features currently available for free such as access to online multiplayer gaming (current features would remain free).

Following the introduction is a series of definitions of terms such as Token Wagering - a set number of tokens given to subscribers per month that can be used to be on games and exchanged for PSN content - and Cloud Storage Space for Games, which would allow players to save their game online rather than on their hard disk, protecting their data.

Other notable services listed as potential premiums include loyalty reward programs, automatic updates, member-exclusive Facebook Connectivity, an online music service and music video service, Hulu TV catch-ups, member-only game content, discounts, demo-sharing (sharing exclusive member-only demos from your full games with friends), and Netflix without a disc.

By far the most attractive premiums are full title trials, which give the user one hour access to full PlayStation 3 games, and free access to PSOne Classics, PSP minis, and premium themes.

The list also indicates that some eagerly awaited features could be subscriber only, such as cross-game voice chat. Having waited so long for the feature, I doubt fans would be particularly happy to have to pay for it.

The chart below details four potential plans, with three costing $69.99 a year or $9.99 a month - more than an Xbox Live Gold subscription, and one running $4.99 a month and $29.99 a year.

We've contacted Sony for comment on the survey, but have yet to hear back as of press time. Just keep in mind that companies regularly test the waters by sending out questionnaires like these, and they by no means represent any concrete plans on Sony's behalf.

It seems as if they simply want to gauge customer reaction to the various plans and features. Your reactions, please?

"Have you played (insert game here)?" It's a question most of us have asked when considering a video game purchase, and the answers given are often more influential than marketing campaigns that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. A study released today by study released today by global integrated communications agency Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at the University of Southern California, and Harris Interactive. Industry trade groups, surveyed 507 adult gamers between June 6th to July 27th of this year, finding that 33% of those who had purchased a game within the six months prior to the study cited word of mouth from family and friends as the biggest influence on their purchase.

More powerful than friends are a subset being called "Influence Multipliers," friends who are more connected to other gamers, therefor having a much larger say in what other players play. Of the 507 surveyed, 21% were identified as "Influence Multipliers"

"Compared to all video gamers, Influence Multipliers are a hyper influential subset of friends who are also far more connected to other gamers," said Dan Gallagher, senior vice president, Insight & Analytics at Waggener Edstrom Worldwide. "As a result, Influence Multipliers have an outsized network influence effect on their gaming colleagues. By targeting the media channels that Influence Multipliers rely on, marketers can optimize their marketing spending."

Gallagher's advice here is something that politicians have been using for ages. You don't have to influence everyone - just the ones who influence everyone else. Words to market by.

The remainder of the chart shows that advertising and promotions accounted for a mere 11% of influenced purchases, beaten by game reviews, demos, and retail presence.

I'd say that actual advertising is most effective for non-gamers, with gamers being so connected these days that we don't need advertisements to know a game is coming out. We don't need to be made aware of a game's existence, just its quality, and for that, we turn to each other. Group hug, everybody!

President Barack Obama better start boning up on his Wii Bowling skills. The survey, commissioned by video game retailer Game Crazy, polled 1,005 boys and girls between the ages of 8 and 17, asking them what celebrity they'd like to take on in a video game battle. President Obama took the top spot in the boys' list, with 25% of male respondents choosing him as their ideal opponent. The President triumphed over New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who scored 14% of the vote, as well as actor Seth Rogen, aquaman Michael Phelps, and the Jonas Brothers, each tied for third place with 12%.

The President didn't fare quite as well with females, taking second place with 13%, losing to Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers, both garnering 23% of the vote. Lady Gaga took third with 9%, while Tomb Raider Angelina Jolie brought up the rear with 7%. I've an odd feeling that Angelina would have scored much higher with the 18-35 year-old male demographic.

The survey also asked kids which famous rivalries they'd like to see settled by video game competitions. 43% of boys picked the NBA's LeBron James versus Kobe Bryant, while 34% of girls played the Twilight card, calling for a duel between Edward Cullen and Jacob Black for Belle's love, proving once again that there is something seriously wrong with the majority of girls aged 8-17.

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I'd probably fall into both categories had KRC Research, who surveyed 1,001 U.S. adults earlier this month, had bothered to ask me. They didn't, though they did get a hold of a nice little cross-section of people, 52% who felt that video games were a good gift option given the current economy. The popularity of video games continues to grow, with the giving/receiving figure up 9% from 2007, with the number of women intended as game recipients jumping 31% from two years ago, or 47% of respondents.

"Computer and video games are topping holiday lists because they provide a superior entertainment value for the whole family," said Michael D. Gallagher, president and CEO of the ESA... "With 68 percent of American households playing computer and video games, U.S. consumers value the creative and innovative products the entertainment software industry produces and are seeking them out for themselves and to give as gifts."

Of course to most of us, these numbers mean nothing. I've been giving video games as gifts since I bought myself my first Sega Genesis. Wait, does gifting yourself count?

The original "Gaymer" survey was created to "quantify the existence of an invisible minority." Now that we know that they do indeed exist, it's time to find out what they like. Paul Nowak, a masters student at Full Sail, has created the new survey in order to make an in-depth study of what "gaymers" want from their games.

Ideally, I want to learn what exactly it is that gaymers want from their games and how that differs from their heterosexual counterparts. I'll take that information to develop guidelines the industry can use when trying to make gaymer inclusive games that don't become offensive or insulting to any gamer regardless of sexual orientation. If someone had done the same kind of research when the industry was trying to reach out to female gamers, girls wouldn't have had to suffer through the wildly unsuccessful attempts of games like "Mary Kate & Ashley's Winner's Circle" pony racing. I'm hoping to help the industry avoid the same mistakes as it reaches out to gay gamers.

I've gone through the survey myself, seeing as it is open to gamers of all sexual orientations. Aside from the initial question about sexual orientation, it mainly concerns itself with questions about content, genre, and game features, before slipping into more specific questions about homosexual content, using games like Enchanted Arms, Bully, and The Sims as examples.

As for the survey's motivation, I find myself a bit conflicted. I've just never thought of gaming as a pastime that sexual orientation figures into. Nowak makes a valid point about the industry's stumbling first attempts at reaching a female audience, but are homosexual gamers that much different from everyone else that they need to be catered to specifically? I'm not saying they shouldn't be...I suppose I am asking if they really want to be.

New Gaymer Survey [Full Sail via Joystiq - Thanks Alexander]

The Centers for Disease Control examined 500 adults across all majority ages (18 and up) in Seattle, because its Internet usage is highest in the United States and it's one of the largest media markets. Forty-five percent of respondents reported playing video games. Of them, CDC found that gamers' average age has gone up to a what-am-I-doing-with-my-life 35, and body condition, health and emotional state have followed suit.

All is not lost; girl gamers my age have it worse. CDC found they reported "greater depression and lower health status than female non players." Unsurprisingly, "male gamers reported a higher BMI and a greater reliance on the Internet than non-gamers.

"Health risk factors, specifically a higher BMI and a larger number of poor mental-health days, differentiated adult video game players from non-gamers," he said.

"Video game players also reported lower extraversion, consistent with research on adolescents that linked video-game playing to a sedentary lifestyle and overweight status."

Feel like crap yet? You should, according to this study.

Video Gamers 'Older Than Thought' [BBC]

The Value Gamer: Play and Purchase Behavior in a Recession also shows that gamers have increased their purchase of used games to "record-breaking totals" since Nielsen began tracking used game sales.

"Overall, the uncertain economy has not hurt gameplay and may have accelerated it as gamers look to get more value out of the games they own," The Nielsen Company says.

More interesting, I think, is what type of gamers Nielsen seems to think is driving this increase in play.

"Primarily, we believe mainstream gamers are playing more of the broadly appealing games (i.e Wii Fit, Guitar Hero and Rock Band) pushing their hours of gameplay up," said Michael Flamberg, director of client consulting, Nielsen Games. "The social aspects of these games have engaged them. We don't believe hardcore gamers are driving up the usage averages we've observed. Second, gamers may be looking to stretch their entertainment dollar further through playing games they own more. The importance of value for them is evident in the findings on used game purchase."

Gamers are also making more use of rental services like Gamefly, according to the survey.

The results seem to show that developers need to continue to concentrate on making ways to extend the life of their games if they want to increase sales and lengthen the time a person holds on to a title. New downloadable content, episodes and, of course, strong multiplayer elements all seem to help that.

The Value Gamer: Play and Purchase Behavior in a Recession [Nielsen]

Research studies sound like a great deal of fun. You get to arbitrarily assign values and definitions and then cull data based on those arbitrary assignments in order to get obvious answers! Take this University of Arkansas study, which was presented at the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies on Monday, surveyed 137 students - 87 females and 50 non-females, you know, to preserve balance...somehow. They then separated the results for excessive gamers from the casual or non-gamers, defining excessive as those who spend more than 7 hours a week playing computer games or using the internet.

My mother spends over seven hours a week using the internet. By this study's standards, my mom is hardcore.

Principal investigator Amanda Woolems indicated that previous research has determined that excessive gamers spend less time in bed. True, though I'd say that depends on the frequency of save points in whatever game I might be playing at the time and whether or not I've fallen asleep in my recliner. This study's findings?

"Our statistics revealed that those who admitted addiction scored higher on the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (sleepiness)," said Woolems. "It surprised us, however, that of the people who admitted being addicted to gaming, only about a third of them recognized an interference with their sleep."

The Epworth Sleepiness Scale is based on a test in which you rate your likeliness to fall asleep in several different situations, such as reading a book, watching television, or stopped at a particularly long intersection. It's the sort of scale I'm surprised doesn't come into play more often, like when you're calling in sick for work. "Sorry, I'm about a 22 on the Epworth Sleepiness Scale boss."

As for the results, one has to look at the numbers to have them make more sense. The study found that only 12.6 people admitted to being addicted to gaming, while 10.81 reported that gaming interfered with their sleep. That's 17 and 15 people, rounded up. One also has to keep in mind that they are polling university students on their sleep habits, and basing their findings against the American Academy of Sleep Medicine's recommendation that adults get 8 hours of sleep per night and adolescents get 9. I'd say that to the vast majority of us, those numbers are a bit unrealistic. Eight hours of sleep is what I get if I pulled an all-nighter the previous evening. From what I remember of my college days...well let's just say I don't remember much, probably due in part to lack of sleep.

In case you were interested, those 15 people who reported that gaming interfered with their sleep spend 1.6 hours less than other gamers, while those 17 who claimed to be "addicted" slept one hour less on weekdays. To put that into perspective, between work gaming and recreational gaming, I probably average about 5 to 6 hours per night, though I generally average less during the weekdays, making up for lost sleep by falling asleep at particularly busy intersections.

Anyway, the study still stands. Excessive gaming, especially gaming that interferes with sleep, can make you tired...as can excessive listening to music, excessive watching of entire seasons of Weeds at 2am, and excessively writing up the results of research studies.

Excessive Gaming Associated With Poor Sleep Hygiene And Increased Sleepiness [Science Daily via CVG]

The Reputation Institute releases an annual report which looks at how the public rates 1,000 companies in over 20 industry categories and more than 25 countries. The report looks at many aspects of company reputation, from performance and products to innovation and citizenship in determining the reputation of any given company. While companies like Ferrero, Ikea, and Johnson & Johnson top off the list, Nintendo makes a strong showing in their first year of polling, coming in at number 6, just above Christian Dior.

So how did the other console manufacturers do?

Microsoft takes up the number 30 spot on the list, up 7.53 points worth of Pulse score, which the Reputation Institute uses to measure reputation. Meanwhile Sony takes up the rear as number 126, down 5.78 points from the previous year.

Of course the factor to keep in mind here is that Nintendo's primary focus is games, while Microsoft and Sony are being judged from several different angles. Still an impressive showing from Nintendo, really highlighting the effectiveness of their campaign to woo non-traditional gamers. Adding the fact that they're the only completely gaming-centric company within the top 200 only makes the listing that much more profound.

World's Most Reputable Companies: The Rankings [Forbes via VG247]

The findings of a survey conducted in February by E-Poll Research, indicate that iPhone and iPod Touch owners purchased an average of 4.57 games over the past 12 months, more than any other gaming system. The next closest platform, surprisingly enough, was the Sony PSP, with 4.12 games per owner per year, followed by the PlayStation 3 with 3.99. Palm PDA's came next with 3.70, with the Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, and DS taking up the rear with 3.55, 3.44, and 3.39 respectively. Not exactly unexpected, considering that most iPhone titles cost under $10.

The survey was also used to determine which factors influenced gamers' buying decisions, with price coming out on top and online multiplayer taking up the rear.

Survey: PSP, iPhone owners buy more games [GameSpot UK via Evil Avatar]

The console leader for online gaming is, not surprisingly, the Xbox 360 which dominates the survey with 50 percent. I was more than a little surprised to see that the survey shows that Nintendo's Wii, and not the Playstation 3, is in second place with an amazing 29 percent. The PS3 rounds out the group in third place.

Looking at the demographics, online gamers ages 13 to 17 increased from 17 percent in 2008 to 22 percent in 2009, while the percent of 18 to 34 year olds, as well as those 35 to 54, decreased slightly.

"Online gaming is enjoyed by a diverse group of players," said Anita Frazier, industry analyst, The NPD Group. "The sheer variety of content and ease of access makes online gaming attractive to a much larger demographic than what we typically see in retail."

Finally, the survey shows that Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 owners are downloading more content than owners of other systems. But, overall downloading has slowed compared to last year.

It is important to keep in mind NPD Group's methodology when looking over these numbers. The report is based on online survey responses from more than 20,000 members of NPD's online consumer panel ages 2 and older (respondents age 2-12 were captured via surrogate reporting).

The survey data was then weighted to represent the U.S. population of individuals ages 2 and older. Fieldwork was conducted from January 6–26, 2009.

Microsoft's Play Smart, Play Safe study polled children and parents in the UK on different aspects of the parent/child gaming experience. While the poll did reveal that 75% of parents feel that video games can be beneficial to their children and families, some of the other results cause me to question how many of them considered babysitting as one of those benefits. When 69% of children want their parents to be more involved in checking what games they play and 47% saying that their parents check on them either "never" or "not enough", it makes one wonder.

74% of parents feel gaming is educational. Perhaps, but not as educational as Microsoft survey results. We continue.

Parents scores have improved in several areas over last year's survey, most notably in the area of awareness of parental controls (73%) and feeling they are personally responsible for checking age ratings (94%). Of course, looking at the children's numbers above, things still don't quite add up. Add to that the fact that 96% of children are aware of parental controls, with 92% aware of rating systems as opposed to their parents 60%, there's obviously a communication issue happening here. Even with all of the parental awareness, 64% admit they sometimes let their children play games outside of their age range. Tsk.

76% of UK children are playing online games at least once a week, which has 43% of parents understandably worried that their children are interacting with people older than they are online. The fact that 95% of children say they've not encountered anything that worried or frightened them while gaming should calm parents down a bit, until they realize that the number indicates that 5% of children have encountered scary things online.

So what do all of these numbers tell us? Parents are becoming more and more aware of age rating systems and parental controls, but don't seem to be worried about them, despite knowing it's their responsibility to do so. That, and older men and women in the UK aren't doing enough to scare young children in online games.

The survey queried more than 15.000 NFL fans, testing their knowledge in categories ranging from game situations to the rules and business of sport. On average, NFL fans who played Madden regularly were found to have a 60% higher football IQ than the average football fan.

“For 20 years, EA SPORTS has been committed to delivering a truly authentic football experience with the Madden NFL franchise,” said Peter Moore, president of EA SPORTS. “The findings of the Football IQ study demonstrate the authenticity of the game and how much smarter gamers have become about the sport because of it. It also represents the impact this iconic game has had on the way football is played and experienced, both by players and fans.”

The study also found that the more someone plays Madden, the higher their football IQ. The point of all this? Everyone should buy and play Madden NFL as much as possible. Somebody give the U of O sports marketing department a gold star. They marketed the hell out of this one.

Oh wait...is that an Eagles poster up there? How did that get up there? That was for my story on how hard Arizona can bite me...

SURVEY FINDS PLAYING EA SPORTS MADDEN NFL INCREASES FOOTBALL IQ

University of Oregon Survey Indicates Playing the Award-Winning Video Game Improves Football Intelligence

What does it mean to bring an 8th man into the box? If you're looking for the correct answer, you're more likely to receive it from an EA SPORTS Madden NFL player than from someone who doesn’t play Madden. EA SPORTS, a label of Electronic Arts Inc., (NASDAQ: ERTS), announced today the results of a new survey by the University of Oregon’s Warsaw Sports Marketing Center, that determined fans who play the Madden NFL video game series are more knowledgeable about the game of football than people who don’t play the game. The survey found that Madden NFL players’ football IQ was 60 percent higher than people that don’t play Madden.

The study, which surveyed over 15,000 EA SPORTS Madden NFL players and NFL fans, tested respondents in five categories of football knowledge: Game Situations, General Knowledge, History, Rules and Business of Sport.

“It’s amazing to see how much football knowledge Madden NFL players have especially when you compare it to people that follow and know the sport well,” said Paul Swangard, Managing Director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon. “We also found the more time they spent playing EA SPORTS Madden NFL the higher they scored on the survey.”

Out of a total of 36 questions, Madden NFL players answered on average 22 questions correct while people who do not play Madden NFL answered only 14 correct. Madden NFL players scored higher in each survey category, most notably in the General Knowledge and Business categories, where Madden NFL players scored 79 and 63 percent higher, respectively. Questions where Madden NFL players scored particular higher include:

* What does it mean to bring an “8th man into the box?”
o Madden Players – 83% correct
o Non-Madden Players – 47% correct
* What is the purpose of sending a man in motion before an offensive play?
o Madden players – 59% correct
o Non-Madden Players – 19% correct

“For 20 years, EA SPORTS has been committed to delivering a truly authentic football experience with the Madden NFL franchise,” said Peter Moore, president of EA SPORTS. “The findings of the Football IQ study demonstrate the authenticity of the game and how much smarter gamers have become about the sport because of it. It also represents the impact this iconic game has had on the way football is played and experienced, both by players and fans.”

The More You Play, the Smarter You Are

The survey also shows a correlation between the total hours of playing Madden NFL per week and football IQ, as scores increased the more a gamer played Madden NFL. A Madden NFL gamer who rarely plays the game attained an average score of 20.4, less than one hour a week scored 20.9, one to five hours per week scored 21.4, six to ten hours per week scored 22.4 and a Madden NFL gamer who plays more than ten hours a week earned an average score of 22.7.

About the Madden Football IQ Survey

The Madden Football IQ survey was conducted by University of Oregon’s Warsaw Sports Marketing Center in conjunction with Electronic Arts Inc. in July, 2008. The study included more than 15,000 surveys that were completed online. Survey results are nationally representative, and the margin of error for is the survey is ± 3 percent.

About the James H. Warsaw Sports Marketing Center

Established in 1993, the James H. Warsaw Sports Marketing Center is one of the world’s premier sports education and research programs. Housed within the University of Oregon's Charles H. Lundquist College of Business, it has become a model for sports-business programs across the country. The program offers degrees at both the undergraduate and graduate level and is active in industry outreach through its consulting, research and annual events including the Women in Sports Business Symposium.

The study, conducted by Wakefield Research on Nintendo's behalf, basically comes to the conclusion that about 20% of the nation's school children could really use a copy of Personal Trainer: Math, the fun and easy way to overcome the math anxiety that's trodding on the toes of kids around the country. 18 percent called math "boring." Another 13 percent called it "torture." What happened to the magic of learning? Apparently Nintendo has found it.

“Personal Trainer: Math provides a fun antidote for math anxiety,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “People can keep their math skills sharp while tracking their progress every day to see how they improve.”

All marketing cynicism aside, I wholly approve of titles like Personal Trainer: Math. When your product is in the hands of some many people around the world, providing tools to help said people improve themselves is a very responsible thing to do. Check out the release below for more marketing and math anxiety facts!

One in Five Kids Think Fame is More Likely Than Math Proficiency
Personal Trainer: Math for Nintendo DS Turns Learning Into a Game

REDMOND, Wash.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—A new survey, conducted by Wakefield Research for Nintendo, confirms that math anxiety is alive and well among U.S. kids. In fact, of 400 children surveyed, one in five believe that they are more likely to grow up to become a professional athlete, actor or singer than they are to get A’s and B’s in math next year. Other results of the survey conducted Dec. 12-23, 2008, include:

More than one-third of kids surveyed say that math is their most difficult subject.
Nearly one-third of kids have very negative feelings about math: 18 percent called it “boring,” while 13 percent actually called it “torture.”
86 percent of parents surveyed say that math is important to their careers, even though more than half of them admitted they thought they’d never need the math they learned in school.
These results demonstrate that math remains perceived as a difficult but important skill. Building on its legacy of training brains and getting people moving with fitness games, Nintendo introduces Personal Trainer™: Math, new software for Nintendo DS™ that provides a fun and rewarding way for people to improve their basic math abilities.

“Personal Trainer: Math provides a fun antidote for math anxiety,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “People can keep their math skills sharp while tracking their progress every day to see how they improve.”

Personal Trainer: Math includes 40 fast-paced exercises, from basic addition and multiplication to more extensive multiplication tables and calculation ladders. Daily math drills keep skills sharp, while attendance records provide ways for users to see how they improve week to week and month to month. The Nintendo DS touch screen interface allows users to input their answers quickly and easily. Using wireless DS Download Play, up to 16 players can compete to finish their problems with the fastest time, even if only one player has a game card.

Personal Trainer: Math marks the second in Nintendo’s Personal Trainer series of titles that are designed to help people enrich their lives in fun and creative ways. Personal Trainer: Cooking already has turned thousands of Nintendo DS owners into budding chefs.

For more information about Personal Trainer: Math, visit www.PersonalTrainerMath.com.

The data used in the original survey has been pared down a bit for this new report, which studies gender difference amongst the unnaturally fit EQ2 populace. Along with echoing previous findings (females generally getting more into the games than men), lead researcher Scott Caplan of the University of Delaware explains that women who play MMO games are those more-likely to reject gender stereotypes. This conclusion is supported by the gathered data, indicating five times the amount of bisexuality among women in the game as compared to the general population.

Wow. That's a lot of physically fit bisexual women milling about, isn't it? It's as if they polled the population of any given college town.

"These are not people who are following strict gender stereotypes," said Prof Caplan.

"I think that the game itself is right now a very non-traditional activity for women, and so I think what you would find in this population are going to be people who are in other ways less traditional than the majority population."

Of course i have to stress once again - these are the results of a voluntary study in which participants received a free in-game item for participating, so I can't really see how they can even begin to pretend that they tallied accurate results. If I was told to complete a study in order to receive a free in-game item, I'd complete that puppy so fast that I might have wound up one of those hardcore bisexual raider women.

Think about that before you start fantasizing about that hot wood elf you saw running about Qeynos.

The virtual battle of the sexes [BBC - Thanks MaxS!]

It's yet another study on the subject, and it may not sound like an overwhelming number — 19 percent of youngsters now playing instruments or signing said a game inspired them to try it. But that amounts to 2.5 million Brit kids. And that's a pretty good figure for a phenomenon roughly three years old.

More than half of the 12 million UK children between the ages of 3 and 18 play musical games, the report found. Andrew Missingham, a music industry expert who carried out the study, said there is a direct line between that kind of gameplay and moving into more serious pursuits, helping to establish some "transferable musical skills, and even the development of performance confidence."

"This research for the first time shows conclusively that young people are being inspired to make their own music by games that first piqued their interest," he said.

As a social game, Rock Band and Guitar Hero and SingStar, where failing on notes is in a low-pressure, among-friends environment, I can see how it would help break down fear of failure or stage fright later on.

But left unsaid is how committed to musical pursuits these kids remain. There should be a name for the syndrome of playing Guitar Hero or Rock Band, getting all fired up and buying a real instrument, then realizing, no, in fact, it's much more complicated than pressing fret buttons or hitting drumpads.

Even so, music, or any kind of art, is a component of the well-rounded life many parents encourage their children to seek. (Mine paid for three years of piano lessons, and all I remember is Old McDonald on the black keys.) So any assistance getting them to at least try is a good thing.

Computer Games Inspire Children to Learn Musical Instruments [Telegraph, via Go Nintendo]

Still, players scored well on physical health compared to the rest of the nation. They reported exercising vigorously once or twice a week, as opposed to 62 percent of American adults who don't exercise for more than 10 minutes at any time.

They also found that MMO players are on average 10 percent leaner than the average American.

Okay, so I ran the story as it was presented, now let's take a look at how we run it in reality land.

MSNBC is running an interesting story on a recent survey conducted by researchers at the University of Southern California that indicates that MMORPG players rank amongst the most apt to lie on a survey about their physical fitness to anonymous researchers in order to receive a limited-edition in-game item.

Still, players scored well on physical health compared to the rest of the nation. They reported exercising vigorously once or twice a week, as opposed to 62 percent of American adults who don't exercise for more than 10 minutes at any time.

They also found that MMO players are on average 10 percent leaner than the average American, due to the fact that they are so disconnected from their physical bodies that they have no idea what lean was and guessed low.

You cannot expect me to take a survey seriously that asks people, anonymously or not, to divulge their weight. You could have photographs of the 7,000 people on a giant scale, and I would still suspect there was cheating involved. "Please remove the helium balloons before stepping on the scale sir."

There were some interesting, if a bit expected results, such as less women than men playing, but women playing much more intensely. I've certainly noticed a trend of women I introduce to gaming getting far more into the games we play than I do.

But the weight issue? Please. This is the internet, after all, where only the very prettiest people post pictures of themselves that aren't at least five years old or severely photoshopped. Have you poked around MySpace lately? It's like a freaking time capsule from the late 90's.

Kudos to the University of Southern California for getting their hands on all that data, but I know players who would sell their children for a free in-game item and not think twice about it. Your data is severely compromised.

Video gamers are surprisingly fit, says study [MSNBC - Thanks Zach]

According to the UGO post, Chinatown Wars focuses on "an outsider navigating the criminal underworld of a major city", with the player controlling "a young gang soldier involved in the internal power struggle for control of his gang."

The survey also allegedly spills details on what that Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection support will be.

Four different game modes, one of them a race mode, are said to be included in GTA: Chinatown Wars. Cooperative wi-fi multiplayer is also listed as a feature.

The alleged survey also notes that the game will feature "20+ hours of straight gameplay" over the course of 70+ missions, as well as stylus-based, contextual mini-games "such as assembling a sniper rifle to complete an assassination mission, and smashing locks and hotwiring cars to steal them."

While the graphical plummet from Grand Theft Auto IV to whatever the Nintendo DS can spit out will certainly make it a strain on the eyes, we're still interested in the handheld exclusive release. If these details pan out to be true — we're checking in with Rockstar to see if they feel like confirming — we'll be in for something swell, I'm sure.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars Details Revealed [UGO]

About 63 percent of the U.S. population play video games, and a majority of them see game playing as a way to alleviate stress and to help them unwind, according to a new study conducted by the NPD Group.

The report is based on online survey responses from 5,039 members of NPD's online consumer panel conducted from Oct. 11 to Oct. 18.

Of those who game, 30 percent said they are spending more time gaming this year than last year while another 30 percent or so said they are spending less time and nearly 40 percent say they are spending about the same amount of time. The heaviest gamers in the survey were 18 to 34.

"The new type of game experiences brought to the market over the past several years are succeeding in reaching a broader audience. The challenge for the industry is that consumers are a fickle group, and with the great variety of options pulling at their limited free time, they're going to be easily distracted unless something really compels them to stay with gaming," said Anita Frazier, industry analyst, The NPD Group. "To reach these less involved consumers, the industry has to work even harder, but doing so can produce great rewards."

PLAYING VIDEO GAMES VIEWED AS FAMILY/GROUP ACTIVITY AND STRESS REDUCER
New Study Busts Myths on Attitudes and Behaviors of Various Gaming Groups

PORT WASHINGTON, NEW YORK, December 12, 2007 - According to Expanding the Games Market, the most recent report from The NPD Group, while heavier gamers are much more inclined than lighter gaming groups to prefer playing games alone, both groups are equally inclined to enjoy playing games as a family, group or as a party activity, and both groups value gaming as a way to bring their families closer together. Notable also is that the majority of gamers, especially teens and older gamers ages 15 to 65 and older view playing video games as a way to alleviate stress and to help them unwind.

The report, which examines how consumer demographic groups are represented in the gaming world, also provides analysis on the attitudes and behaviors of various user groups, based on hours per week spent on gaming. It presents valuable insight into gamers and non-gamers to uncover potential areas for expanding the gaming market beyond the core, highlighting the most effective methods for reaching non-traditional gamers with demographic insight and information on genre preferences, system ownership, and use.

In terms of the number of gamers in the U.S. and the amount of time spent playing them, 63 percent of the U.S. population plays video games - defined as console and portable games, PC games, games on kid-oriented systems or games on devices like cell phones or iPods - with 30 percent claiming they are spending more time gaming this year than last year, close to 30 percent claiming they are spending less time and nearly 40 percent claiming they are spending about the same amount of time.

Gamers ages 2-65 and older were classified in this study by the number of hours spent per week on gaming. In terms of demographics and gaming behavior, the heaviest gamers are typically male, ages 18-34, who devote relatively significant amounts of time and money to gaming and focus primarily on more "hardcore" genres, as opposed to casual, lighter games.

By contrast, lighter gamers fall definitively outside the parameters described above; they are more concentrated on the lower and upper ends of the age spectrum and are defined primarily by their inclination toward lighter, casual games and their relatively high female representation.

"The new type of game experiences brought to the market over the past several years are succeeding in reaching a broader audience. The challenge for the industry is that consumers are a fickle group, and with the great variety of options pulling at their limited free time, they're going to be easily distracted unless something really compels them to stay with gaming," said Anita Frazier, industry analyst, The NPD Group. "To reach these less involved consumers, the industry has to work even harder, but doing so can produce great rewards."

Methodology
The report is based on online survey responses from 5,039 members of NPD's online consumer panel. Reponses for 2 to 12 year olds were captured via surrogate reporting, whereby the female parent/guardian, age 21+, was asked to bring her child in this age range to the computer to answer the questions, either with or without her assistance. The survey was fielded from October 11-18, 2007.