Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Nielson Results Reveal Consoles on the Rise

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the hard-not-to-like-those-apples dept.

eldavojohn writes "Nielson ratings are in and the results are that gaming is continuing its steady trend upward. A study released Monday entitled 'The State of the Console,' describes America as an increasingly game-centric country. 'Nielsen Media Research found that 41.1 percent of households with televisions in the U.S. now have gaming consoles. That number represents an 18.5 percent increase since 2004, according the research firm, who used a sample of 12,000 TV-viewing households for its report.'"

20 comments

  1. It's better to play video games than watch TV. by master_p · · Score: 1

    At least with video games one gets increased hand-to-eye coordination and the brain gets to move a little (and the body too, if you play on Wii). And the brain washing is minimal with video games.

    1. Re:It's better to play video games than watch TV. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      On the other hand there really are no educational console games, while there are countless TV programs that try to teach you (with varying degrees of success) everything from history and science to foreign languages. Just because many people watch crap doesn't make all TV crap.

    2. Re:It's better to play video games than watch TV. by 7Prime · · Score: 1

      Define "Education"

      Unfortunately, pretty much all educational TV is based around force feeding people facts, instead of inspiring them to think for themselves. Video games, on the other hand, often develop problem solving skills and mental accuity. I'd argue that this is much much more important than simply learning various facts, as it teaches people how to more accurately identify and interpret information. Obviously, learning facts is part of the equation, but if one is not very capable of interpreting pieces of knowledge, than what's the point? Bottom line, simply knowing facts isn't going to get you very far in life; how people deal with the information they're given is much more important.

      However, TV can accomplish this as well: a good mystery can stimulate similar thinking patterns; a good drama can inspire philosophical thinking and psychology, which are other high-level mental functions that should probably be stressed more in modern education. But these things are also being explored in games, if at a slightly more primative stage of developement.

      In the end, though, I think that video games, as a whole, tend to inspire excersise in mental accuity a great deal more than TV does. Simply because a fewer percentage of games are deemed "edutainment" doesn't really mean anything.

      --
      Multiplayer Gaming (defined): Sitting around, discussing single-player games with my friends, at the bar.
    3. Re:It's better to play video games than watch TV. by king-manic · · Score: 1

      I'd argue games teahc you a lot. You learn hwo to use search engines (FAQs/cheats), you learn about viruses *sic* (cracks/hacks), you learn real world economics (MMORPG phishing and gold devaluation due to farming), They learn about biology (GTA hot coffee, Gods of war, hentai games), about physics (gravity gun HL2), They learn about languages (1337). over all a very round education.

      --
      "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
  2. Big surprise? by Xiph · · Score: 2, Funny

    This cannot possibly surprise anyone, seeing how 3 new consoles have just been launched, and loads of advertising dollars have been pumped into it.

    i wonder who comes up with stuff like that, but I've been inspired...
    The days of the next summer will be warmer than the nights of next winter.
    Cars will not start driving in reverse on highways.
    Solar electricity will do during summer than winter, especially in countries far from the equator.
    water will run downhill, or evaporate.
    war will break out somewhere.
    I will get frustrated by non-news

    --
    Blah blah sig blah blah blah irony blah blah
    1. Re:Big surprise? by rtb61 · · Score: 1
      The whole nielson rating thing stinks to high heaven. What the game console manufacturers can't count the number of game consoles they have sold and have to rely on B$ statistical manipulation.

      Let me guess the nielson statistic also suggest that twice as many households have game consoles then have been sold (those pesky aliens are at it again).

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    2. Re:Big surprise? by Dogtanian · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The whole nielson rating thing stinks to high heaven. What the game console manufacturers can't count the number of game consoles they have sold and have to rely on B$ statistical manipulation. I own a TV-based games console. It's a late-70s/early-80s "Prinztronic" console with a single cart containing several Pong-like "sports" games. Does this count?

      Does my Nintendo DS count (even though it's not a TV console)?
      --
      "Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
    3. Re:Big surprise? by DDLKermit007 · · Score: 1, Troll

      Thing is they are counting the previous generation's consoles in these statistics which helps this study mean dick. Only console thats selling at a better pace than the PS2, at comparable points of their lifespan is the Wii, and it's anyone's guess how long that'll keep up till the Sony hype machine brainwashes people again.

    4. Re:Big surprise? by teh_chrizzle · · Score: 1

      the nielson statistic also suggest that twice as many households have game consoles then have been sold

      i think the opposite might be true... at my house there are 3 adults (me, my wife, and my brother) and two children (i have two daughters ages 11 and 6). the living room has an xbox, a ps2, a gamecube, and an atari flashback and the girls' room has a ps1, a vSmile a GBA and a DS. there are also 6 pc's, countless romz, and a drawer full of those battery powered retro gaming appliances that you plug directly into a TV. not counting the PCs, i would wager the "consoles" outnumber the humans in the house by almost 2 to 1. PCs used to outnumber humans until i discovered VMWare.

      the adults in the house are currently addicted to the LOTR online beta, but once that subsides and the supply lines become more reliable, we may acquire a wii and/or a 360. if the family were to upgrade to next generation platforms, the console to human ratio may skew to 3 to 1 thanks to backwards incompatibility issues.

      --
      sarcasm:
      -noun
      1. harsh or bitter derision or irony.
    5. Re:Big surprise? by PFI_Optix · · Score: 2, Informative

      Err...they're counting console users, not console sales. So they should be counting Atari 2600s right along with PS3s.

      This is a survey about how many people are *playing* games, not buying them.

      --
      120 characters for a sig? That's bloody useless.
  3. It's Nielsen, you moron by csoto · · Score: 1

    It's even right there in the quote.

    --
    There exists no way of exchanging information without making judgments. --Bene Gesserit Axiom
    1. Re:It's Nielsen, you moron by f_raze13 · · Score: 1

      apparently we're descending from not reading TFA to not reading TF blurb

    2. Re:It's Nielsen, you moron by madprof · · Score: 1

      If you told someone this they wouldn't believe you. They'd think it was too silly to ever happen on such a successful site...

  4. Digital Metrics by ryanhornbeck · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If I remember correctly, Nielsen was fighting tooth-and-nail to avoid gathering metrics directly from users digitally. The reason for this was that once corporations found out that a large portion of modern television viewers did not watch commercials (Tivo, DVR, etc.), they'd realize the money they'd spent on ads was wasted. I can't blame them. Wonder how skewed the stats really are?

    --
    Vocal minorities are often confused with silent majorities.
    1. Re:Digital Metrics by BenjiTheGreat98 · · Score: 1

      My father has a Neilson's box and it uploads to Neilson automatically. I believe he was told that it polls what is being watched every 5 minutes or so and then at some point, early in the morning, the Neilson box will phone home and report the viewing habits.

      The installer told him that anything on the screen gets reported. I believe he told my dad that he represented 35,000 tv viewers.

      --
      :wq
  5. Leslie Nielsen says consoles are on the rise. by Rob+T+Firefly · · Score: 2, Funny

    Surely he can't be serious?

    --
    Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
    1. Re:Leslie Nielsen says consoles are on the rise. by KefkaTheMad · · Score: 3, Funny

      He is. And don't call him Shirley. I hear he hates that.

  6. Uh oh... by Kazoo+the+Clown · · Score: 1

    I see advertisements imbedded in video games becoming more and more commonplace after this. Can't let those impulse-buying eyeballs get away...

  7. No Wonder... by Bobfrankly1 · · Score: 0

    That explains why I can't find a Wii. Guess I'll have to wait for the black Wii to come out. I really wanted a white Wii though, cause I heard the black Wii is bigger.
    -
    Dogcheese