Entertainment research firm Nielsen have released a fresh set of usage statistics, giving us an insight into not how many consoles are out there, but how long they're actually being used.
There are all kinds of charts and colourful graphs contained within the report, but the key findings were:
- That the PS2 is still the most-played machine out there (though this is of course steeply declining)
- "Active Users" who own an Xbox 360 or PS3 play them a lot more (nearly 2x as much) than people who own a Wii play on one.
- Of six consoles listed (PS2, PS3, 360, Xbox, Wii & GameCube), the Wii has the lowest percentage of active users, the shortest average playtime session, the lowest number of average daily play sessions and the second-lowest number of average days used per month (only the GameCube trails).
Make of those findings what you will. Though it should be noted, those "usage" stats include time spent using the 360 and PS3 for other things, like as DVD players. That won't account for the gulf between usage, but it will have contributed. Maybe Nintendo can make some ground up on that front later in the year!
Also released at the end of the study was a list showing the ten most-played PC games amongst Nielsen's study group. If you think the chart will be topped by Dawn of War II, Left 4 Dead or even World of Warcraft, well, you're wrong.
Broken into two charts - one for men, and one for the ladies - Solitaire tops both charts, while World of Warcraft comes in at #7 on both. The only other "proper" game on the list was Half-Life 2 on the male charts, presumably for all the Counter-Strike players out there.
You can check out the full report, including all those pretty graphs, below.
[Nielsen]