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Nielsen Launches GamePlay Metrics: Playstation 2 Rules; 'WoW' Unconquerable »
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Nielsen Launches GamePlay Metrics: Playstation 2 Rules; 'WoW' Unconquerable

Sony’s PlayStation 2 accounted for 42% of videogame console usage in June, and PC gamers played World of Warcraft more than four times as much as any other PC game, Nielsen reported today as it launched Nielsen GamePlay Metrics, which tracks videogame console usage and games played on PCs.

Among the GamePlay findings:

• Some 68.1 million individuals used a videogame console in June, playing an average of 7.5 days during the month.
• On the days they played, Xbox 360 users logged an average of 2.2 sessions, with an average session length of 61 minutes.
• PlayStation 3 users logged an average of 1.9 sessions, with an average session length of 83 minutes, on the days they played.

“Ultimately, GamePlay Metrics will establish a metric that can be used for buying and selling dynamic and static advertisements in PC and console videogames,” Nielsen said in a statement.

PC game rankings from GamePlay:

• World of Warcraft from Blizzard Entertainment was the most played PC game in June, according to Nielsen’s GamePlay Metrics, outpacing  the next most-played game by four times the total minutes played.
• Other Top 5 PC games for June were Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2 from Microsoft Game Studios; The Sims from Electronic Arts; and RuneScape from Jagex.
• Legacy blockbuster franchises with strong customizable communities (”modders”) like Grand Theft Auto and Counter-Strike rounded out the Top 10.

Some additional findings from Nielsen GamePlay:

• There are seasonal use patterns of game play: In April, Wii’s peak usage hour was 5 p.m., and now, during summer break, Wii usage peaks at 8 p.m.
• Wii households are upscale: They are more likely to earn more than $100,000 income per year.

About Nielsen GamePlay Metrics: The service uses console data collected from the Nielsen’s People Meter TV sample combined with Nielsen GamePlay Metrics’ proprietary audio signature library that matches the unique audio signature of every game tracked on the six most widely available videogame consoles, including PlayStation 2, PLAYSTATION 3, Xbox, Xbox 360, Wii and GameCube. The user sample includes more than 12,000 households with approximately 33,000 individuals. Nielsen GamePlay Metrics also uses PC data collected from the Nielsen’s Videogame Tracking Survey,  a weekly online survey of 1,200 gamers 7 - 54 years of age.