USA Today and PC World are reporting on Nielsen's findings that the PS2 was played almost two times more than any other console including the Wii and 360 in 2008.

     Now, I have frequently had arguments with both Wii and 360 fans that neither console's game library is that strong in comparison to the PS2's library of games, and I often use sites like Metacritic or Game Rankings to support my point of view.  Usually the Wii fans just say that reviewers simply "don't get" the games on their system and that games like Wii Sports despite having an aggregate review score of 7.6 is actually one of the best games of all time and the same with Wii Fit, etc, which are supposably bringing games to a whole new demographic of gamers.  360 fans though less vehement in their assertions still oftentimes do say that lower 8 etc, scored games on their system are actually considered to be among some of the greatest games ever.

     Well, I think that this report from Nielsen indicates that the PS2 is still considered by most gamers to be the most worthwhile system to play due to the quality of its game library and that accounts for the fact that it is played almost two times more than any other system including the supposably ultra popular Wii with its new demographic and the hardcore gaming beast the 360.

     What do you guys think these Nielsen results indicate?

Link: http://www.pcworld.com/article/156259/nielsens_top_10_pc_games_and_consoles_of_2008.html

It must be bull crap. I mean, I know more people are playing ps3's than original xboxes.

      I can see how more people would be playing original xbox games more than PS3 games.  You can play original xbox Live games and stiil even get free patches for certain original xbox games on Live.  And even though it is true you can play many of those games on 360 as well, I think Controller S is more comfortable than the 360 controller.  Also there are a few popular original xbox games that don't work on the 360.  eg.  Dead or Alive Beach Volleyball.

?

      I was saying the original Dead or Alive Beach Volleyball which is considered to be the best version of the game isn't playable on the 360.  Another original xbox game that I have that isn't playable on the 360 is Voodoo Vince, so I would think that some of the original xbox games that don't work on 360 do play a part in the fact that the original xbox is still played by almost 10% of gamers.

Well, if nothing else, I think it shows that the most important things to gaming are *not* cutting-edge tech or graphics, because the PS2 is obviously underpowered compared to systems like the Wii.

Gamers must want "good games," which seems to be something independent of graphics...

Who knew!?

or people just play what they are handed down or what they can afford. A 20$ xbox sounds loads better than a 200$ x360.
A 60$ ps2 sounds waaay better than a 400$ ps3.

In fact, when i was littler, I used to play a sega genesis and sega master system (also an atari 2600)
Then, later on, maybe 3 years into the N64's lifecycle, I got my N64.

I'm sure most of the people who play on the ps2 or xbox are people who never upgraded their console(to ps3,wii,xbox 360)

The current gen sales are still much lower than total PS2+Xbox+GC sales... People are still playing games even if they don't own a Wii/360/PS3.