KEY POINTS:
LOS ANGELES - Video games aren't just for the kids anymore. More than one in three US adults who go online, or 37 per cent, own a video game console and 16 per cent own a portable gaming device, Nielsen//NetRatings said today.
The majority of those console owners, 71 per cent, are married, and 66 per cent have at least one child in the household.
"As game consoles have become increasingly sophisticated, families have incorporated them into their centralised home media centres, which include the television, digital recording device, digital music player and the PC," said Carolyn Creekmore, senior director of media analytics, Nielsen//NetRatings.
Microsoft Corp. and Sony Corp. are positioning their Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles as entertainment hubs for gaming, music and photo viewing amid a fierce battle for dominance in the US$30 billion global video-game market.
Sony in particular is making a huge bet on the living room, having installed a Blu-ray high-definition DVD player in each of its new PS3 consoles, which are available for US$500 or US$600 in the United States, depending on the size of the unit's hard drive.
Nintendo Co. Ltd. competes with the Xbox 360 and PS3, but is selling a more basic machine with a motion-sensing controller that has won raves from gamers and non-gamers and introduced new audiences to video games.
Nintendo's Wii console sells for US$250, half the cost of the high-end Xbox 360, and in January was the top-selling console in the United States.
Going into the current console war, analysts had predicted that adult gamers who grew up with the Japanese game maker's products -- dubbed "Nintendads" -- would want to introduce their children to Nintendo games and be a key market for its new machine.
- REUTERS
