NPD survey says gamers unaware of their console's capabilities

love the sarcasm in the article.

Wait... 6 year olds? How much do you want to bet that the younger gamers survies were acculy filled out/anwered by there parents?


It's the only thig I can think of to explain this.

O____o

I'm glad someone did a poll on something like this. It shows exactly why the Wii is doing as well as it is.
Its so much easier for a casual person to see why buying a Wii makes sense (brand new motion control). But the idea that the graphics and online capability are lacking compared to the XB360 and PS3 doesn't seem as apparent to them. I wanna see how many people even know that the PS3 has its own motion controls, or that you can download old games on any of the systems.

I'm just surprised that so many people are willing to drop $250-$600 without knowing what you're really buying, or missing out on.

The vast majority of the public coudl care less bout DVD formats at all, let alone know whether a console has one or hte other. No surprise they woldn't know or care the PS3 has Blu-Ray when most don't know what Blu-Ray is.

As hard as it is for many on this site to believe, hardcore gamers who read gaming blogs are a VERY small part of the overall market.

There is a pretty big difference between being stupid and not caring about some esoteric bit of information that is totally useless to your day to day life. Most people buy game consoles to play games. They look at what games are available and buy based on what they think they will enjoy. Not caring what DVD format is ina console hardly makes them stupid. I would be willing to bet that I can coime up with all sorts of questions for you that would make you look ignorant compared to others and the same is true for me. Everyone has their own areas they care to learn about. The group on this blog cares a lot about games. For the majority of hte market, games are light amusements -- not lifestyles.

Only 28% are aware of the Wii's unique duct tape construction method.

This is a bigger problem for Sony then it is for Microsoft (PC gamer talking here, don't start calling me a fanboy).

Say Joe-6-Pack wants to play GTA4 (and probably Madden/Fifa). He goes to a retail store, and all he knows is that the store assistant has told him you need a 360 or a PS3 to play it. Joe knows the 360 is a shit load cheaper then the PS3. That is ALL he knows or cares about? Blu-ray? Live? What are they. The white box is cheaper then the black one that looks like a grill and they both play the same game. What one WILL he choose?

...and here I was getting all excited about a new YDKJ game...

I see this all the time when I'm shopping for anything tech related. Roam a Best Buy or similar store for a while. People hang on catch phrases like Bluetooth and such without ever knowing what they mean or caring to learn. I've had people tell me about how awesome Bluetooth was on their phone, only to find out that not only did they never use it, they didn't even know how it worked! As stated earlier, the average person in this country is far more ignorant than anyone wants to realize.

I think the ads are to blame. Nintendo are best at this, showing the product and what it can do and make the avrage Joe want to buy it. The only reason I don't have a Wii is because I come to sites like this and know it's a Game Cube with a boob and bugger all games for it. If I had the money, I STILL would want one.

Microsoft come second. Bar the odd arty ad, most of them show the games. Fair enough, but do you remember a 360, showing off Live? I can't. It's the platforms strongest feature, yet it's hardly mentioned.

Then their are the PS3 ads... Oh God, the PS3 ads. Nothing but a load of poncy art films made by pretentious wankers after an award. I can't remember a PS3 TV ad that actually showed the bloody PS3! Then you get all the nonsense with goats and shit! Yeah, that looks good on the news!

I have the feeling this means people buy on brand name alone.

"Hey, that ol' PS2 sure was fun! I wonder if they done gone made another one yet--WELL COLOR ME SILLY THEY DID! I might as well buy it now because I'm 100% certain they'll have just as many fun games as they had on their previous console!!!1"

... I tried.

Today whilst at work, someone was saying it was funny how people will spend $500-600 on gaming, in regards to the PS3. I simply replied, well it's also nice for HD movies as well, some people have nice theatre set ups to take advantage.

..

He replied, well regular DVD players will do that too.


/facepalm

Seriously, work in retail that deals in video games, you realize the popular that frequent online sights represents a fraction of a percent of the customers that shop in stores.

My grandparents bought a 1080p 42 inch plasma, and they had a DVD and Cable TV hooked up to it through composite... as a informed guy in regards to technology this ignorance pisses me off, but I've come to understand I'm the odd one :(

It's not a bad thing if people've been using features that they don't know of.
Instead of geekspeek "motion controls", they simply know of it as "I can shake it and the thing on the screen moves!"
Instead of BluRay, people just call it sharper movie quality.

It like when you take a dump, you flush it when you're done, you don't have to know where your shit goes or the name of the parts involved in the process.

Let's not beat around the bush anymore guys:
Most gamers are not that bright.

Now, I know what you're thinking. "Who are you to say what makes someone stupid? Not everybody cares about gaming the way we do."

I think Beans said it perfectly when he mentioned the golf analogy. I don't care if my grandma doesn't know about video games, she's not the one buying it. However, if you are going to spend thousands of dollars on an HDTV, video games system, LIVE, accessories, and of course the games, shouldn't you have a clue what you're spending that money on?

When I got an Xbox 360 I thought that the two best features was that it was the first High-Def system and Xbox Live. Then when I worked at Gamestop (don't worry I've been clean almost a year now), you wouldn't believe how many people bought an Xbox 360 without an HDTV. Fine, I know some people get systems for reasons that aren't important to us. But how could you get an Xbox 360 and not even know about Xbox Live? I mean isn't the defining feature of the system?

I'm not expecting everyone to know about technology. Heck, my grandma can barely figure out to send an e-mail. But she's not buying an Xbox 360 because she can play the next Madden(which is actually WORSE on next gen systems) on it. And you'd be surprised how many people do buy systems for that reason.

Now I personally own an Xbox 360 and a Wii. I have my reasons for not getting a PS3. I don't really have much money, I haven't traditionally played Playstation franchises(Final Fantasy, MGS), and I have no interest yet in making a decision in the Hi-Def movie war. However, I will play the devil's advocate when people talk about how expensive it is. A system that comes with a 60G hard drive, can play games at 1080P, comes with free online, and a Blu-Ray player? At $500 it's a deal just for the Blu-Ray player itself.

A person can then say "Fine, I have a general idea what the product is and I still am/am not interested in buying it." But please, have an idea of what you're doing before you do it.

This poll just shows that people buy consoles because they want to play games. Period.

Hardware remains some kind of secret mumbo-jumbo contraption the average consumer never has to care about.

I don't have a car (yet) and I still have no idea how the parts go in it and work altogether (despite knowing how pistons work). Do I need to know how it works (assuming I have enough cash to pay the repairman whenever I need to)? The bottom line, if you're not geeked about the subject, is that you buy a car because you just want it to roll its wheels so that you can have a means of locomotion.

As long as your product works, it's good for anyone. (on my behalf, I might have to get more interested in car mechanics ;) )

Consoles aren't targeted at people who care about specs. If they did, the PS3 wouldn't have been obsolete two weeks before it released (Nvidia said it themselves when they put the 8800GTX on the market ... they make the chip in the PS3 for those who don't know). Those who care about what is in their system go for the high-end PC gaming scene and get their stuff from Falcon Northwest or put them together themselves. Consoles are just plug and play affairs. Put it in, it works, end of story. No wonder a large number of owners have no clue as to their capabilities.

This is where Nintendo did get it right. They didn't pack in their system with a load of now outdated technological gadgets that the bulk of consumers have no way to use. Put in too many features and many of them are bound to be missed by the mass market. All people see are Xbox and Playstation. They don't associate that with all these newfangled cords or playing special movies. They associate it with no hassle gaming.

Common sense is common, that is why its called common sense. Remember, common sense was created as an insult. Commoners don't know better, thus why it is common sense. These people have plenty of common sense, its just that it isn't a good thing.

this does not surprise me in the least. last semester, my spoiled ass roommate bought a Playstation 3 because we saw it in Walmart. he bought it solely based on the previous Playstation 2 because he has absolutely no idea what the thing could do and i had to go down the list of things with him and explain them to him. after i told him all the stuff it could do (blu-ray, linux, PSN, web browsing, hdmi, music, video, etc.) he actually asked me, not the biggest PC gamer, if i wanted to "install Linux on his PS3 so i could play Battlefield 2 with him while he plays on his PC". he basically had a $1000 impulse buy that day with all the games and controllers he bought. must be nice.

and alot of the girls i work with have Wii's and most dont know about the online capabilities and basically stick to Wii Sports. and the ones that amuse me the most are the ones who try to debate games with me now because they own a video game console now.