Nielsen report reveals average game console usage

Regardless of the price of the console, I think a gamer spends what he/she puts into their console. If you prefer the game selection on the 360, then you will likely buy more games for that console. If you prefer PS3 games, the same thing happens. The additional expenses (such as wifi, headsets, etc) are negligible since they do not apply to all gamers.

If you are simply focusing on initial price of a console, then you are clearly dismissing the biggest expenditure which is game software purchases.

The Wii is only used a game console by gamers...and as a fun distraction twice a month for the other 90% of Wii owners.

On an Average my PS3 is in use for 16 hours.

9am-5pm - TV (occasionally watching programs I recorded the evening before).
5pm-6.30pm - Blu-Ray, collection of 35 films and growing so there's plenty to watch
6.30-1am - Games (often online) (40 games so again, plenty of choice)

Lucky for me the Ps3 does all of this, The Wii and box 360 dont and cant, So the £360 I spent on an upgradable Blu-ray player, Recordable Tv and top quality games system kind of puts the other consoles to shame.

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I'm not saying everyone will find the Ps3 great value,
But if you add a Freeview recorder & blu-ray player to the Wii or 360 your going to be spending alot more than the PS3

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And for the 360 Fanboys, lets do some calculations shall we.....

80gb PS3 (£300) , Play TV (£60), online play (free),

60gb 360 (£170), decent Freeview recorder (£80), upgradeable Bluray player (£150) online play (£40 per year, approx 3 years (£120))

So thats...

PS3 - £360 (Irony)
360 - £520 (£440 if you want to be petty with 1 year online)

(and I wont mention the built in Wifi on PS3 & £70 adaptor for 360)

My point is, the Wii is a differant ball games, "Gamers" play the Ps3 / 360, your Grandma & children play the Wii.

The 360 & Ps3 are both great consoles, the 360 has been around longer so has a larger fan base,
The Ps3 gives more out of the box. and if your the type of person to want all the extras, it works out alot cheaper..

If however you want a cheap console, and cant afford a "Full" console, then I hear Ebay are still selling Core's, and the PS2 is dropping soon :D

i use my XBOX 360 way more then i use my PS3 and they have about the same amount of games.

For me it's PC>DS>PS2>SNES>PS1>Wii

ps3: most of the time, main gaming console. sf4, kz2, rb2, etc. . . good stuff
wii: hadn't played ANYTHING on it since smash bros last year, really was just collecting dust not even hooked up. connected it a few days ago to mess around with homebrew . . . but i can play roms on my laptop too so =\ (already beat most of the good stuff that came out earlier on, then sold most of the games)
ps2: i never did play it much back in the day (it's the giant brick version still, not a slim =P), and i started buying games i missed out on -- awesome system. just recently beat GoW, MGS3, bought the DMC pack for $20, borrowed GoW2 from a friend . . . hell yeah

Well what do you know, I follow the trend.
360: Played the most. The last two months have been devoted to TLAD, SFIV, and RE5. Multi-platform games on this system.
PS3: Played moderately. Loved MGS4 and both Resistance games. Will start KZ2 any day now. Games played are PS3 exclusives only, but Blu-ray movies are watched several times a week.
Wii: Hardly played at all anymore. Haven't bought a game since Mario Kart. Will buy No More Heroes next, and will wait until HotD:Overkill and MadWorld drop to $20. Have high hopes for The Conduit, but little else in the next six months.

Just like i've been saying, the wii is only good for collecting dust.
Not sure what does it better, the wii or the sharper image ionic breeze.
The nintendo marketing crew is brilliant, they sold millions of something that barely anyone uses.

As far as the 360 vs ps3, i'd say for the most part the systems are fairly close in games and graphics, but the ps3 is just too expensive.
There is no justifying the extra $100 it costs to get the system.
You hard core ps3 guys can defend it all you want, but the only reason most people here don't have a ps3 is because it's cost is too much.
I don't dislike the system, i dislike the price.

Preaching the bluray aspect is pointless. The discs cost more to buy and now cost more to rent through netflix too. The future is not bluray, I don't even know anyone who has a bluray player, other than people with a ps3.
It's a convieniant extra on the ps3, but not a buying point.

eNrique + joystiq comments = a jackass that nobody cares about
@ Duke - vindication must feel pretty good right now ;)

All I can say is that I play the shit out of my PS3.

I have all three systems. My breakdown for gameplay is probably something like 95% on the 360, 4% on the PS3, and 1% on the Wii. That being said, my PS3 gets more attention than that as I regularly watch Blu-ray movies on it.

This is stupid. When we had xbox360fanboy site. we never had this much of a fight!


booooooooooooooooooo


I WANT MY MCNUGGETS BITCH

I'd rate my usage like this:

Wii - 10%
PS3 - 5%
360 - 15% (Fallout 3 is my baby)
DS - 70%

DS is the highest, mainly because my wife is always playing animal crossing: city folk.

I don't have enough time to play video games that much anymore. Finishing up college, work, taking care of family. So if I paly any games, it's for a short amount of time and usualy on Wii.

If I had plenty of free time, then I play on Xbox 360 or PS3 for the RPGs or online.

I enjoy equaly however despite being two diffrent types.

think you forgot to mention how the long the study was, because it's not much use telling us the average usage if we don't know what it's out of.

ps3=45%
360=45%
wii=5% if that. Some months it doesnt even get turned on.

The order I use them in:

1st - Xbox 360 I like it's online gaming service best and most of my buds play on Live. Plus Netflix Streaming.

2nd - Nintendo Wii cuz I am trying to commit to the "wii fit vow" and I love Mario Kart

3rd - Playstation 3 cuz I need something to play my physical media on.

I guess I like them all for different reasons.

1st: xbox360 (currently HaloWars, GoW2 and L4D) at 75%

2nd: ps3 (currently Resistance2 and Flower) at 15%--also used for bluray movies and storing music

3rd: Wii (currently HouseoftheDead2+3 and WiiFit) at 10%

I play 360 every day.
TF2 on PC every other day.
I sold my Wii when I stopped caring after Brawl

Me, me... somebody look at me and value my opinion... please?

Ok here is the "TRUE" price comparison list.

PS3 = $399
wifi included
PSN is free
controllers charge free from any usb input
HDMI Cable $ 50
Bluetooth Headset: $30

Total = $480

vs.

360 elite = $399 360 Pro = $299
xbox wifi adapter = $100
Live = $50
Play and Charge Kit = $20

Total = $570 (elite) or $470 (pro)

OR

360 Arcade = $199
120gb Hard Drive = $160
xbox wifi adapter = $100
Live = $50
Play and Charge Kit = $20

Total $520

I even addes the cost of a Headset, a moderately expensive one, you CAN find one for 20 bucks but most stores pack them starting around the 30 dollar mark.

Sorry, we are NOT using "deals anyone" can find, because then, the PS3 is even cheaper, im helping you MS boyz out here.

WiFi is a factor. College kids. These are the ones that WiFi matter and i m willing to bet that is a HUGE majority of 360 sales go to. EVERYONE of the people i know that go to CSUN ( its the college right next to my work) have the MS adapter. In college dormrooms, space is a major factor. This is not including families that just don't want to have to wire 120ft worth of cable around their furniture.

The PS3 OVERALL has always had a price advantage. BUT, the 360 still has the "impulse" buy price advantage.

And here yall go, an unbiased view from both sides.

OVERALL PS3 is the better value. Period
IMPULSE buying, 360 currently has the better appeal. Period.

Games are subjective. But in terms of 1st titles, Sony ass rapes MS.

Ok here is the "TRUE" price comparison list.

PS3 = $399
wifi included
PSN is free
controllers charge free from any usb input
HDMI Cable $ 50
Bluetooth Headset: $30

Total = $480

vs.

360 elite = $399 360 Pro = $299
xbox wifi adapter = $100
Live = $50
Play and Charge Kit = $20

Total = $570 (elite) or $470 (pro)

OR

360 Arcade = $199
120gb Hard Drive = $160
xbox wifi adapter = $100
Live = $50
Play and Charge Kit = $20

Total $520

I even addes the cost of a Headset, a moderately expensive one, you CAN find one for 20 bucks but most stores pack them starting around the 30 dollar mark.

Sorry, we are NOT using "deals anyone" can find, because then, the PS3 is even cheaper, im helping you MS boyz out here.

WiFi is a factor. College kids. These are the ones that WiFi matter and i m willing to bet that is a HUGE majority of 360 sales go to. EVERYONE of the people i know that go to CSUN ( its the college right next to my work) have the MS adapter. In college dormrooms, space is a major factor. This is not including families that just don't want to have to wire 120ft worth of cable around their furniture.

The PS3 OVERALL has always had a price advantage. BUT, the 360 still has the "impulse" buy price advantage.

And here yall go, an unbiased view from both sides.

OVERALL PS3 is the better value. Period
IMPULSE buying, 360 currently has the better appeal. Period.

Games are subjective. But in terms of 1st titles, Sony ass rapes MS.

Well I beg to differ with Nielsen on this false report as far as I'm concerned. Most of the people I know hardly play the XBOX 360 and they don't own a PS3 at all and the majority of them use their Wii every other day of the week and my best friend Erik plays with his PS2 occasionally while he faithfully makes good use of his trusty PSP.

As for i myself, I make good use of the Wii everyday, our entire family enjoys the Wii and my 14 year old sister spends almost all of the whole day on the Wii playing FIFA All Play 2009.

Our family knows a lot of people and our friends in turn know a lot people and we talk a lot and I also spend a lot of time online in various forums and from all these people that I know especially families, homeschoolers, book groups, teen forums and the is word that a lot more people use their Wii's and are loyal Wii fans never minding what Nielsen tries to pull over on us.

Besides on NBC Nightly News last month Brian Williams did a special report and discovered that a lot of households are eating up there Wii's as they provide the perfect family diversion from the bleak news around us.

The Nintendo DS also has a massive audience and loyal users to and I've noticed that Nielsen has not commented on that! I was blessed with a DSi this week and it's an incredible experience and Wired.com has made it clear that Nintendo is the king of the video game industry. As Barack Obama said of McCain so shall I also say of Nielsen, they are really our of touch!

Interesting report considering the last Nielsen study,what i also find interesting is David Hinkle's subtle 360 bias. "During that same period, those involved in the study played Xbox 360 10.2 percent and PS3 10.6 percent" "The PS3 ranked second place, with users spending an average of 6.8 days days, which leaves us with Xbox 360 -- the top dog in this category -- with an average of 7.1 days." "whereas the Xbox 360 and PS3 had much higher averages of 2.15 and 2.74 sessions, respectively."

Ok here is the "TRUE" price comparison list.

PS3 = $399
wifi included
PSN is free
controllers charge free from any usb input
HDMI Cable $ 50
Bluetooth Headset: $30

Total = $480

vs.

360 elite = $399 360 Pro = $299
xbox wifi adapter = $100
Live = $50
Play and Charge Kit = $20

Total = $570 (elite) or $470 (pro)

OR

360 Arcade = $199
120gb Hard Drive = $160
xbox wifi adapter = $100
Live = $50
Play and Charge Kit = $20

Total $520

I even addes the cost of a Headset, a moderately expensive one, you CAN find one for 20 bucks but most stores pack them starting around the 30 dollar mark.

Sorry, we are NOT using "deals anyone" can find, because then, the PS3 is even cheaper, im helping you MS boyz out here.

WiFi is a factor. College kids. These are the ones that WiFi matter and i m willing to bet that is a HUGE majority of 360 sales go to. EVERYONE of the people i know that go to CSUN ( its the college right next to my work) have the MS adapter. In college dormrooms, space is a major factor. This is not including families that just don't want to have to wire 120ft worth of cable around their furniture.

The PS3 OVERALL has always had a price advantage. BUT, the 360 still has the "impulse" buy price advantage.

And here yall go, an unbiased view from both sides.

OVERALL PS3 is the better value. Period
IMPULSE buying, 360 currently has the better appeal. Period.

Games are subjective. But in terms of 1st titles, Sony ass rapes MS.

How exactly do they get this data? I've never see anyone in a lab coat holding a clipboard waiting for me to turn on my ps3.

I just bought a Wii, so my activity is a bit skewed. Though I do still get quite a bit of multiplayer Soulcalibur 4 in.

It's weird on this site sometimes, people seem to forget how garbage the PS3 controller is, how little amount of PS3 games are worth a second of time devoted to them, and how the 360 is a fantastic console that is ahead in every way in my opinion.

Must be a heavily loaded PS3 fanboy based site. Either that, or PS3 fanboys find it necessary to defend their really bad system to the death. 360 owners are for the most part just happy to play great games on a great console with a controller that is actually made for human use.

Oh and all the console war comments are just asinine. One group does a report which shows a separation of TENTHS of a percentile and people are breaking out price to value comparison spreadsheets. Does Microsoft or Sony pay you guys per post for this bs?

When I play games, I'd say I play 360 90% of the time, Wii 8%, and PS3 2%. Wii is really only used for Wii Fit, and PS3 is really only used for watching Blu-rays.

The only system I own is a PS3. I use it, and the PSP, primarily as a mutlimedia entertainment server. Instead of watching television or TiVoing television, my computer downloads torrent files through RSS, and then TVersity shares them over to my PS3.

What now, Nielson?

The main reason I bought the PS3 was to be my Rock Band Machine. Looking back, it probably would have been less expensive and a little bit wiser to have bought the 360... But as a medai server, my PS3 is left running A LOT. And I'm still using the original 60GB launch SKU with the full backwards compatibility, without any issues. a 360 would have long ago Red Ringed, or likely E74ed.

As much as I love ragging on the Wii, this study isn't really fair to it.

"Nielsen monitors not just television activity on all metered televisions but the usage of any device attached to the television including video game consoles – old or new. When a video game console is the detected source, we collect and process usage and demographic data for the console just as we would a television viewing source."

So that means that Nielsen counts any time the console is a detected source as time in use. That means the 360 gets credit for Netflix and DVD playback, and the PS3 gets credit for Blu-rays and DVD playback as well as folding (which some people leave on 24/7). The Wii doesn't playback DVDs, so that skews the numbers pretty badly.

... Useless statistics. Just to bring out people to bash one console
or another for their own pride (dam RRoD). Time for fanboy armor to
shine bright (F YLoD) to defend their sacred consoles like dragons
ready to spit fire.

All I see is someone who bashes the 360 (SH! disk scratching) who
wants one... or someone who wants a PS3 (wtf u mean I got to throw my
controller away when the battery dies?)...
Though I had a 360, I don't want another one. Wait... I just proved
an exception to my own rule. Move along people, nothing to see here.
Sorry to waste your time.
Here is my usage time (for laughs!):
PS3 - 79% (including movie watches, playing PS2 games its a 20gb
model)
360 - 1% (only at friends house, included it for kicks! Bring it
fanboys!)
Wii - 20% (My little bro loves to play it, sometimes I play Mario
Kart Wii with my cousin)
Now... If they were to factor in PC usage... Just maybe...
-side note, nothing is wrong with wireless. many gamers use it. Wii &
PS3 has it built in, don't feel to bad 360... [sarcasm] only losers use
wireless anyway [ /sarcasm]

Why does everybody assume if you buy a 360 that you have to buy a wi-fi adapter? I've had mine since release day and have always used a wired collection. I also use a wired connection for my PS3 even though it has wi-fi.

Problem is, gamers these days are all stereotyped into FPS-loving nerds who have nothing better to do than toe go frag each other in some FPS, that only really appeals to themselves, whereas past gamers really did enjoy more aspects of entertainment as entertainment, not an adrenalin rush. I haven't played a single "must-have" because it's been like all FPS, and I know that just doesn't cater to everyone, and usually those who don't like FPS, don't go for all the sex and violence found in other games. If that's today's standard of gaming, please, just call it something else.

this study makes me look terrible. hahaha

What is this actually proving? this has got to be the most worthless study I have seen on the topic.

I play my Wii about everyday and personally I don't care how long anyone else is playing.

Currently working through some of the games I missed buying upon release (Super Paper Mario and MP3) and im thinking of buying Madworld.

This report tells me nothing I didn't know already. When my wife comes home from work telling me yet another of her older female office buddies has bought into the wii hype I know it's destined to be stored away in a dusty cupboard next to their excercise bike.

Look, lets count Wii out this gen yeah? Different markets entirely. And that's from someone who had ONLY a gamecube last gen! (had a 360 and ps3 this gen - 360 died of course). PS3 going strong as game player AND bluray player :)

http://gonintendo.com/?p=78558

Hai guys, Nielsen screwed up, among current gen consoles the Wii is actually in first place right now, up from second. PS3 is dead last, of course. ;)

Funny how a "fad" seems to get played more as time goes on.

Haven't played any of my systems recently because I moved but now that I'm settled, here's how I was this past week:

Wii- Played on saturday since my sister brought over GH World Tour and its the only party friendly game I have.
360- Been playing GoW, Civilization and Spiderman 3 but haven't played it much.
Ps3- Turned on once to show off blu-ray at the party; put on dark knight
PSP- cant find it
DS- cant find it (both are in boxes somewhere)

The cost lists of the 360 and ps3 always use Microsoft branded accessories while ignoring Sony/ps3 branded accessories for the ps3. You can get controllers or batteries or other things for the 360 that are much cheaper if you go with non MS solutions, but they gladly use $10 motorola or jabba bluetooth headsets instead of the $30-50 Sony branded HDMI or Bluetooth headset for the ps3. That's where the lists get dishonest, just as a casual person (not gamer) might not scrounge Xbox accessory deals on Amazon et al, they're probably not going to even know that you can use any bluetooth headset with the thing, and certainly they won't know about Monoprice or Newegg for cheap cables/hard drives.