Neilsen: CORRECTION - People buy Wiis and actually DO USE THEM

[mike_intellivision]

Here is what the corrections to the graph are:

-- The points for Xbox 360 and Wii usage were reversed in January 2009 only in the original.

-- The lines for GameCube and PS3 were reversed in the entire graph.

What the graph is telling me.

Over the course of a year, the PS2 has lost a lot of playtime -- it went from more than one-third of all usage to less than one-quarter. It still is the most used machine, but probably not for long.

The Wii and PS3 have seen almost a doubling in usage. The PS3 now holds 8-9%, up from 5-6%. The Wii holds 21%, up from 12%. These two consoles appear to be benefiting the most from the decline of the PS2.

The Xbox saw slow but steady growth but appears to have leveled off at 19-20%.

Older systems still see playing time. Roughly one-sixth of usage is on other systems (DC, PSX, N64, classics ....). Meanwhile, the Xbox and GC have seen small drops recently after being mostly stable through 2008.

What the chart is not telling me is how much people are GAMING!

That's right. It talks about how much they are using their consoles. If you use your PS2 as a CD player or your Xbox as a DVD player (like I do) -- that shows up as usage. The article notes this. Most posters do not.

This point is particularly important with regard to the use some of the newer consoles. Both the Xbox 360 (streaming) and the PS3 (BR-DVD) have enhanced movie viewing capabilities. That entertainment use may distort their usage statistics -- and even Nielsen notes that.

Mike from Morgantown