360 Tops Nielsen Ratings
Interesting. According to the latest Nielsen research, gamers are gaming more this summer than last, up 21%, with the average gamer logging 768 minutes this June. That's almost 13 hours, which actually does seem average for a month's worth of gaming. I feel like most of us probably put in quite a bit more. Oh, but in addition, Microsoft is boasting that their console is getting the most play time. The Xbox 360 has the greatest percentage of active users, making it the first current generation console to beat out the PlayStation 2 in user hours since Nielsen began tracking the data in April 2007.
Microsoft believes that their console is the most popular because of the entertainment package they're offering on the 360, from games to streaming movies and TV shows, and other online offerings. But my theory is that the 360 has established itself as the console for the more hardcore gamer. The Wii errs on the side of the casual, so those gamers probably won't use it as often. But people playing the 360 will play with their friends on Xbox LIVE and play hard. And a lot. Personally, my Wii has seen a resurgence of late with Wii Sports Resort, although my 360 does usually get the most love. What about you?
Wootini
Posted to Video Games on 11 August 2009
· Comments (6)
Other stuff like this: microsoft, nielsen ratings, playstation 2, popular, xbox 360
omigod! i loved 'popular'!! christopher gorham was/is soooo cute!
By far I game on 360 the most. Oblivion alone has claimed months of my life.
I usually game on my 360, mainly because of Fallout 3.
I bought both the wii and later an Xbox 360. Guess which console is collecting dust! The 360 just has the better line up even though the whole micro-transaction BS is getting on my nerves (WTF you can *pay* for gaining levels in Tales of Vesperia).
Or having to buy a game twice over to play all the content *that came on the disc*, yeah yeah _Downloadable_ Content...
God I wish they did present Popular! Mary Cherry was the best! Too bad the WB decided to make it into some nutty after-school special at the end of the second season.
The 360 really has hit upon the formula for "sticky". So sticky that people will pay 50 bucks a year just to play games on it with their friends, on top of the 300 bucks or so for the console itself. Until the Beatles Rock Band game, there hasn't been a game on the 360 compelling enough for me (a platformer/retro fan) to drop the cash on one, and the Beatles game will be available for the Wii, which I already have. But all my gaming friends have 360s and Live subscriptions, so that's the version I need if I want to play with my friends. It's worth the extra 300 bucks to me just for that one game, and the hope that there'll someday be another one (since most of my friends play games involving bloody headshots and that stuff got old for me in 1997.) I'm not at all surprised by the Nielsen ratings.
On the other hand, I can't figure out what the point of Nielsen ratings for games are, since most games are still not advertiser-supported. Who is even buying their reports other than maybe Gamasutra or gi.biz? Does it matter to Nintendo if people are dropping 80 bucks on Wii Fit and then letting it gather dust as long as they still spent the money on it? Does it matter to Take Two if people buy Carnival Games and then only take it out at family gatherings (as I do)?
I'm pretty sure it doesn't, making this yet another statistic to make teens and fratboys feel validated while having no effect on the economics of the videogame market. The "See? The Wii was a fad after all!" posts I've seen attached to this story elsewhere are pretty funny, and will remain that way until the 360's life-to-date sales exceed that of the Wii. (If the sentiment is coming from PS3 fans, it'll just always be funny regardless.)