PS2 the Most Played Console In 2008

An anonymous reader writes "In terms of console usage, the aging PS2 still leads the competition, according to data from US research firm Nielsen. Data the company compiled between January and October 2008 shows that the PS2 commanded 31.7 percent of the total number of minutes spent playing consoles. Only 37.9 percent of play time took place on current-gen systems, with the Xbox 360 (17.2 percent) leading the Wii (13.4 percent) and the PS3 (7.3 percent). Users even spent more time playing on the original Xbox (9.7 percent) than the PS3, while Nintendo's GameCube (4.6 percent) wasn't far behind Sony's new console either." World of Warcraft once again topped the most-played PC game list by a large margin. Tetris was the top mobile game, followed by Bejeweled and Guitar Hero III.

Comments

And some of us

[reboot246]

are still playing on the old Atari 2600. :)

Minutes spent correlation to items

[Thanshin]

During 2009 people have spent large amounts of time in apartments, compared to palaces.

We consider that odd, as we thought living in a palace would be more enjoyable for most of people. We aparently were wrong, people would rather live in 150m than in 5000m.

Re:Minutes spent correlation to items

[feepness]

I know the PS3 is expensive but, come on, a palace joke?

I think he is referring to the PS2 vs any next generation console. Compared to all the next generation consoles the PS2 is significantly cheaper in both hardware and games. While the PS3 has dropped 33% and the 360 has a stripped down $200 box and the Wii is still $250, the price is still way higher than the previous generation in TCO.

Re:Minutes spent correlation to items

[FredFredrickson]

As somebody who does mostly PC gaming, I did just this. Stopped at gamestop (oh the horror) and picked up a used game cube.

Sure, it's last weeks breakfast, but man, for somebody who doesn't really play consoles to begin with, I had a good time with Smash Bros, Zelda games, and DDR Mario Mix.

I'll probably get a WII in 4 or 5 years when the next gen comes out... that is, if they're not as scarce then as they are now.

The interesting thing I found about the old gamecube is that I spent just about $50 on the thing, which is good- but the used games were still damn close to $60 each. PC games that old either get removed from the shelf, or cost about $19.95 at your local game store. Not neccessarily a good thing.

Also- I can't imagine PS2 games being terribly cheaper than PS3 games (however I don't price them regularly, seeing as I don't own either), but it seems that a lot of the major titles (rock band, guitar hero) are being developed for both platforms. Seems game makers are not terribly interested in the piddly market for the PS3, and so there is no demand to upgrade to the PS3, because PS2 still plays a lot of new games.

Re:Minutes spent correlation to items

[skeeto]

Right on. Riding just behind current gen for consoles is the best way to do it. Everything is really cheap, and all the games have been played by lots of people, providing a solid quality filter when making selections. Today, with $100 you could get a PS2 and around 15-20 games for it. PS3 costs don't even come close.

My fiance did this; she picked up a used PS2 and now we can grab new games for a couple bucks at a GameStop. She also has an old Xbox, so I picked up KotOR 1 and 2 for $~5 each. And I am not even a real console gamer (I generally despise consoles for crappy controls).

Re:Minutes spent correlation to items

[halcyon1234]

The interesting thing I found about the old gamecube is that I spent just about $50 on the thing, which is good- but the used games were still damn close to $60 each.

I hear you. It seems that the good gamecube games are kept high in price because you can play them on the Wii. So Paper Mario isn't an 8-year-old game for an ancient console-- it's a title for a current gen system featuring the company's flagship character. So it's "expensive"

Used PS2 games are kept a bit high because the console is, as the article mentions, still quite around. Having visited a lot of EB/Gamestops over the holiday, they're average $10-$20 for the "older, not bad" games. This is probably also factoring in the fact that some people have a backwards compatible PS3, and it's possible that sometime in the future, all PS3s can become backwards compatible with the right firmware update.

Original XBox, on the other hand, is more or less an abandoned console. There's some backwards compatibility, but Microsoft seems to be going the downloadable-content route for popular older games. I was picking some really good Xbox games for less than $5 (Doom 3, most any Project Gotham game, any Silent Hill I could find), and in some cases $1 or less (Cold Fear as a prime example, Brute Force). Even though they were released at the same time as their PS2 counterparts, and often for the same price, there just isn't a current demand for the discs.

Re:Minutes spent correlation to items

[Malevolyn]

All I know about journalists is that they're usually somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs begin to take hold.

Re:Minutes spent correlation to items

[philspear]

Well, if you're implying that the reason people played the PS2 more than current gen systems is because they're all poor, I'd say that's probably not the major cause. After all, it's not like playing games on the PS2 is free while playing them on the wii is an arm and a leg. It's cheaper yes, and the games too, but it doesn't SEEM like it's a gap that means most people can't afford it.

Of course, it does strike me that the order PS2, wii, 360, PS3 is increasing in price and decreasing in playtime, but I still think it's more related to game library, with the wii being an exception due to the controller.

Re:Minutes spent correlation to items

[mattack2]

"over $300k"? Really *much* over $300k. You can get some 1 bedroom condos in the $300k range. $500k+ is where houses are in the SF Bay Area, and that's after the prices having gone down.

Wow

[sleeponthemic]

Congratulations to Nielsen on their fully accurate statistical analysis. Particularly obtaining data for predominantly offline consoles.

Re:Wow

[ravenshrike]

Considering that Nielsen doesn't publish their exact methodology, it's not like you know any better. This was almost certainly a survey. Especially seeing as playtime as apparent to the user is not actual playtime.

Re:Wow

[Dadamh]

I really have to say that combining the phrases "pulled out of someone's ass" and "fudge factor" makes for a really distasteful image.

PS3 Can Play Games?

[craznar]

I've had one for a year as a Blu-Ray player and media centre - I never realised you could play games on it. Learn something new every day.

Re:PS3 Can Play Games?

[Anonymous Coward]

• LittleBigPlanet is at best a tech demo. It plays like shit, and most of the user-created levels suck.
• Valkyria Chronicles is a mediocre tactical RPG. What's worse is that they're pissing on the legacy of Skies of Arcadia, which was easily the best JRPG of last generation.
• Mirror's Edge is overrated as all hell, and is available for the 360.
• The Rock Band series is fun if not particularly unique, I enjoy playing it on my 360, PS2 and/or Wii.

Yeah, the PS3 is a waste of money as a game system. Enjoy your long load times and shitty online play!

Re:PS3 Can Play Games?

[Hatta]

I can't keep up with all the games from the 90s I'm interested in playing at the moment.

Re:PS3 Can Play Games?

[Anonymous Coward]

How the hell is the parent flamebait? Hurt a poor Sony fanboi's feelings?

LittleBigPlanet is at best a tech demo. Strip out the whiz-bang 3D graphics and realize that the amazing physics engine really isn't amazing, and you've got a sidescroller that compares with Super Mario Bros. and is about as controllable.

Then you've got the level editor. Great. The most amazing levels have been, essentially, mechanical computers, and they're only amazing because of the shear amount of abuse required to make the level work. The rest of the community levels seem to be devoted to earning trophies with as little effort as possible.

The sales of Valkyria Chronicles speak for itself. There's a reason no one is buying it.

If you've played the Mirror's Edge demo, you're aware that it's crap. If you haven't, let Yahtzee educate you.

And if you like Rock Band, you're playing it on the Xbox 360, the platform it was designed for. Every other platform is a port. (Just ask Harmonix themselves - they write for the Xbox 360 first, and then port to other platforms.) If you bought a PS3 to play Rock Band, you're an idiot, pure and simple. The Xbox 360 is cheaper and Rock Band is designed for it. The PS3 version is an afterthought, and the PS2/Wii versions have issues with downloadable content - the Wii mainly with incredibly restrictive available storage space, and the PS2 with the lack of a harddrive on any current model.

Not surprised

[shrykk]

I'm not really surprised - the PS2 has a huge software library, plus most owners have several peripherals that still prove useful. This weekend I played some Singstar and Guitar Hero III with friends, and I'd be more likely to buy more PS2 games that use the guitar and mikes, than to buy new peripherals (extra functionality and downloadable content notwithstanding).

In fact the Singstar game we played was a brand-new copy of the recently-released Singstar ABBA, and everyone loved it.

You can pick up used PS2 games for a pittance. I remember chatting to a store assistant in a games store, saying he was still always seeing parents come in and picking up PS2s with a bunch of games for the holidays. Console and a load of games well under 100 UK pounds, for which you can't really get another console (perhaps a DS or PSP with one game).

They're still releasing new games for the PS2, a pretty clear indication that it's still alive. No-one sane would advocate playing a cut-down and graphically poor PS2 Force Unleashed, but it's clearly still economically viable to release it. Though some would say the same for the Wii version. And, I don't want to arouse any fanboy ire, but I have a sneaking suspicion that similarities in graphical capabilities between the Wii and PS2 might help the economics of releasing a PS2 port... Anyway, there are a ton of PS2 games that are well worth playing - a brilliant last-generation game beats a mediocre current-gen one.

Everyone commenting on gaming stories should disclose their console preferences to discourage fanboy-ism. My TV is currently hooked up to a Wii, a PS2 and a Sega Master System.

Re:Not surprised

[broken_chaos]

And, I don't want to arouse any fanboy ire, but I have a sneaking suspicion that similarities in graphical capabilities between the Wii and PS2 might help the economics of releasing a PS2 port...

The PS2 is graphically less capable than a GameCube. Any developer who is lazy enough to only dress up a PS2 game (considering the Xbox360 and the Wii both use DVDs - alleviating any storage space considerations) is not using the console to anywhere near it's full potential. Sure, it's not high-def (resolution equal to a DVD) or as powerful as the PS3 or 360, but it's not that far behind.

Re:Not surprised

[UserChrisCanter4]

And correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm fairly certain the Wii uses more or less the same graphics hardware as the Game Cube.

You're wrong. Although the official specs on the Wii's GPU (which is actally multiple chips on the package that handle I/O and sound in addition to video) are under wraps, it is definitely more powerful. Most indications point to it being based on the same architecture to maintain backwards compatibility, but it has a substantially higher clock rate (~240 mhz vs. 162 mhz on the Gamecube).

Even if we assume that absolutely nothing else changed on the Wii graphics hardware - which is a reasonable assumption - a nearly 70% bump in clock rate is a pretty big change if we're talking about the same architecture.

Number of games vs consoles vs time spent

[4D6963]

Translation : people spend the most time on the console they've got the most games for.

Would have been interesting if they tried to correlate the number of games owned per console vs. the time spent on each console, and see what the difference is between generations (i.e. if you have 10 Xbox 1 games and 10 Xbox 360 games you'll probably spend more time on the Xbox 360, but how much longer?)

In other news

[SupremoMan]

Scientists were shocked to discovered that when PS3 was released all PS2 consoles around the worlds did not spontaneously explode!

Maybe Sony should build them less sturdy? I mean who ever heard of electronic device that can lasts for 5, hell 10 years!

Not that surprising

[Spatial]

Considering how well it sells:
PS2: 140 million
Wii: 45 million
360: 27 million
PS3: 19 million

As of 2006, it was still the best selling console. I don't know about the last two years but I'm guessing it isn't doing too badly.

Re:Is this by console or by actual game?

[dontPanik]

I believe this is by console. I participated in a part of the survey by phone and the questions were directed towards hardware and not software.

PS3 got the shaft

[Jahf]

I've got a 360 (admittedly only because work wanted me to have it for a demo) and a PS3. I bought the PS3 for BluRay but I find myself playing on it more and more.

I have played on the 360 a good bit, but I find it is loud and I like having controllers on the PS3 that are rechargeable without buying more stuff. I also find that, oddly, the PS3 controller works better for me. I thought the 360 controller was better at first due to the way it seemed to fit my hands better. But it is heavier and the battery pack is attached in a way that cramps my fingers.

I also like the networking options on the PS3 better.

Overall I think the PS3 is a great box that never caught on. This past holiday season I noticed that the 360 and Wii had more than 2x the shelf space for accessories. And Rock Band 2 took a month longer to come out on the PS3 than the 360. So it is no wonder that the PS3 is essentially dying out. You can't sell people what they can't find.

I will definitely be sad if the PS3 goes into "unsupported land" as soon as it seems to be. But it will still be useful both as a BluRay and as a large-screen linux box (which I've found pretty darned handy) for some time to come.

My gf has a Wii that we played alot over Christmas and it has alot of family-style gaming capability. However they weren't games I'd pick to play solo. Hopefully someone in the "4th gen" realizes there is a market for both family-style/kid games AND a console with more potential as a media and networking hub.