Nintendo's Wii is the home console that sees the least amount of use in the US, according to new research by Nielsen.

In the company's State of the Video Gamer report for the month of December 2008, the Wii had an average usage of five days, compared to 6.8 for the PlayStation 3 and 7.1 days for the Xbox 360.

The average usage session clocks in at 58 minutes for Nintendo's home console, while the PlayStation 3 records 64 minutes and the Xbox 360 78 minutes.

The report also collected GameCube, original Xbox and PlayStation 2 data usage, finding that the Wii and GameCube show very similar patterns.

"Predominant users of the Wii and GameCube are likely to use these consoles at most once a week and for fewer minutes and the fewest number of sessions compared to the other two groups of consoles," noted the report.

The study also found that the largest demographic for PC gaming was the female gamer, aged 25 and over, and Microsoft's Solitaire is the most played game, with over 17 million players during the month.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...nt-gen-console ...

Nintendo's Wii is the home console that sees the least amount of use in the US, according to new research by Nielsen.

In the company's State of the Video Gamer report for the month of December 2008, the Wii had an average usage of five days, compared to 6.8 for the PlayStation 3 and 7.1 days for the Xbox 360.

The average usage session clocks in at 58 minutes for Nintendo's home console, while the PlayStation 3 records 64 minutes and the Xbox 360 78 minutes.

The report also collected GameCube, original Xbox and PlayStation 2 data usage, finding that the Wii and GameCube show very similar patterns.

"Predominant users of the Wii and GameCube are likely to use these consoles at most once a week and for fewer minutes and the fewest number of sessions compared to the other two groups of consoles," noted the report.

The study also found that the largest demographic for PC gaming was the female gamer, aged 25 and over, and Microsoft's Solitaire is the most played game, with over 17 million players during the month.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...nt-gen-console ...

SingStar players have uploaded over 96,000 videos to the game's community pages using PlayStation Network.

Altogether those videos have been viewed over 10.7 million times, and nearly 160,000 pieces of content, including photos, have been uploaded in total, Sony told Eurogamer.

The company also offered a glimpse into the popularity of downloadable content, revealing that total downloads for the week ending 3rd April were over 10,000.

The most popular song download in the UK was "Run" by Leona Lewis. See below for a full top ten countdown.

SingStar has been available on PlayStation 3 since the end of 2007 in Europe, where Sony recently launched wireless microphones for GBP 34.99.

According to series director Dave Ranyard, speaking to Eurogamer, London Studio is likely to reveal new gameplay features later this year. Support for voice controls should launch as soon as this month - as part of SingStar Vol. 4 and as a free download via PSN.

The UK's top ten SingStar downloads for last week follows:

01. Leona Lewis - "Run"
02. Queen - "Bohemian Rhapsody"
03. The Ting Tings - "That's Not My Name"
04. Dizzee Rascal feat. Calvin Harris - "Dance Wiv Me"
05. Vanilla Ice - "Ice Ice Baby"
06. Billy Joel - "Tell Her About It"
07. Phyllis Nelson - "Move Closer"
08. Outkast - "Roses"
09. Elvis Presley - "Suspicious Minds"
10. P!nk - "Just Like A Pill"

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...eos-uploaded_8 ...

Users are playing games on the iPhone for the same amount of time as on traditional handheld devices such as Nintendo's DS and Sony's PSP.

That's according to the findings of ng:moco, the specialist iPhone publisher carving out a niche on Apple's handset, and proof for CEO Neil Young that the iPhone is a serious new-generation console.

While traditional mobile games are played for around six minutes at a time, ng:moco's own analytics show that titles such as the recently released Rolando are engaging consumers for far longer.

"You look at the other end of the spectrum with Rolando and the average play session is 22 minutes. The average player is playing the game ten times. That's a very different type of behaviour," said Young in an interview published today.

"That's the type of behaviour you'd expect to see from a DS or PSP or a traditional console gameplay experience. Why do I believe this is different? Because I believe people are playing the games differently. And that's enabled by what the device is able to do."

The iPhone is also a format that enables developers to approach game design differently, with those working with ng:moco able to assess user experience and tweak gameplay accordingly.

"We can see that people are stuck in Topple on world four, for example, and so we can change the level so players get to see world's five, six and seven," detailed Young. "We make little tweaks and tunes when we see people get stuck or a drop off in usage."

Before founding ng:moco, Young had been with Electronic Arts for 11 years, but has found that himself and other more traditional videogame makers are adapting to the iPhone format quickly.

"The biggest thing with the device is that it's got a unique set of functionalities and interface. The first place people go to is 'let's put some buttons on the screen.' We're always trying to encourage ourselves and others we work with to not think that way," said Young.

"I don't think Nintendo would go that way. They would think about making a Zelda game that entirely uses touch. We have to think the same way if we want the games to truly take advantage of the iPhone."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-to-ds-and-psp ...

Users are playing games on the iPhone for the same amount of time as on traditional handheld devices such as Nintendo's DS and Sony's PSP.

That's according to the findings of ng:moco, the specialist iPhone publisher carving out a niche on Apple's handset, and proof for CEO Neil Young that the iPhone is a serious new-generation console.

While traditional mobile games are played for around six minutes at a time, ng:moco's own analytics show that titles such as the recently released Rolando are engaging consumers for far longer.

"You look at the other end of the spectrum with Rolando and the average play session is 22 minutes. The average player is playing the game ten times. That's a very different type of behaviour," said Young in an interview published today.

"That's the type of behaviour you'd expect to see from a DS or PSP or a traditional console gameplay experience. Why do I believe this is different? Because I believe people are playing the games differently. And that's enabled by what the device is able to do."

The iPhone is also a format that enables developers to approach game design differently, with those working with ng:moco able to assess user experience and tweak gameplay accordingly.

"We can see that people are stuck in Topple on world four, for example, and so we can change the level so players get to see world's five, six and seven," detailed Young. "We make little tweaks and tunes when we see people get stuck or a drop off in usage."

Before founding ng:moco, Young had been with Electronic Arts for 11 years, but has found that himself and other more traditional videogame makers are adapting to the iPhone format quickly.

"The biggest thing with the device is that it's got a unique set of functionalities and interface. The first place people go to is 'let's put some buttons on the screen.' We're always trying to encourage ourselves and others we work with to not think that way," said Young.

"I don't think Nintendo would go that way. They would think about making a Zelda game that entirely uses touch. We have to think the same way if we want the games to truly take advantage of the iPhone."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-to-ds-and-psp ...

Users are playing games on the iPhone for the same amount of time as on traditional handheld devices such as Nintendo's DS and Sony's PSP.

That's according to the findings of ng:moco, the specialist iPhone publisher carving out a niche on Apple's handset, and proof for CEO Neil Young that the iPhone is a serious new-generation console.

While traditional mobile games are played for around six minutes at a time, ng:moco's own analytics show that titles such as the recently released Rolando are engaging consumers for far longer.

"You look at the other end of the spectrum with Rolando and the average play session is 22 minutes. The average player is playing the game ten times. That's a very different type of behaviour," said Young in an interview published today.

"That's the type of behaviour you'd expect to see from a DS or PSP or a traditional console gameplay experience. Why do I believe this is different? Because I believe people are playing the games differently. And that's enabled by what the device is able to do."

The iPhone is also a format that enables developers to approach game design differently, with those working with ng:moco able to assess user experience and tweak gameplay accordingly.

"We can see that people are stuck in Topple on world four, for example, and so we can change the level so players get to see world's five, six and seven," detailed Young. "We make little tweaks and tunes when we see people get stuck or a drop off in usage."

Before founding ng:moco, Young had been with Electronic Arts for 11 years, but has found that himself and other more traditional videogame makers are adapting to the iPhone format quickly.

"The biggest thing with the device is that it's got a unique set of functionalities and interface. The first place people go to is 'let's put some buttons on the screen.' We're always trying to encourage ourselves and others we work with to not think that way," said Young.

"I don't think Nintendo would go that way. They would think about making a Zelda game that entirely uses touch. We have to think the same way if we want the games to truly take advantage of the iPhone."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-to-ds-and-psp ...

Users are playing games on the iPhone for the same amount of time as on traditional handheld devices such as Nintendo's DS and Sony's PSP.

That's according to the findings of ng:moco, the specialist iPhone publisher carving out a niche on Apple's handset, and proof for CEO Neil Young that the iPhone is a serious new-generation console.

While traditional mobile games are played for around six minutes at a time, ng:moco's own analytics show that titles such as the recently released Rolando are engaging consumers for far longer.

"You look at the other end of the spectrum with Rolando and the average play session is 22 minutes. The average player is playing the game ten times. That's a very different type of behaviour," said Young in an interview published today.

"That's the type of behaviour you'd expect to see from a DS or PSP or a traditional console gameplay experience. Why do I believe this is different? Because I believe people are playing the games differently. And that's enabled by what the device is able to do."

The iPhone is also a format that enables developers to approach game design differently, with those working with ng:moco able to assess user experience and tweak gameplay accordingly.

"We can see that people are stuck in Topple on world four, for example, and so we can change the level so players get to see world's five, six and seven," detailed Young. "We make little tweaks and tunes when we see people get stuck or a drop off in usage."

Before founding ng:moco, Young had been with Electronic Arts for 11 years, but has found that himself and other more traditional videogame makers are adapting to the iPhone format quickly.

"The biggest thing with the device is that it's got a unique set of functionalities and interface. The first place people go to is 'let's put some buttons on the screen.' We're always trying to encourage ourselves and others we work with to not think that way," said Young.

"I don't think Nintendo would go that way. They would think about making a Zelda game that entirely uses touch. We have to think the same way if we want the games to truly take advantage of the iPhone."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-to-ds-and-psp ...

Consumer demand for the new Nintendo DSi is being hampered by a lack of unique software for the handheld, according Don McCabe, managing director of the UK independent retailer Chips.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, McCabe explained that the retailer sold out of DSi stock, mostly through pre-orders, however, free units were more difficult to sell than expected.

"We did get a couple of cancellations where people moved from deal to deal," he said, adding: "There's a few [retailers] that obviously didn't sell everything that they needed to and so consequently started doing a few deals, which was a bit irksome

"The ones that were cancelled, we weren't getting much interest in. It's a bit of a strange one really... because the feeling we get from customers is that they don't know exactly why they should buy it. It feels a bit PSPish - its got these capabilities, but you just don't see an app for it as such at the moment."

He continued: "I think it has sold because people love Nintendo, they think that anything that Nintendo does is good, I think people bought it but not knowing why they bought it.

"As far as the independent sector goes we were very tightly allocated, there wasn't a shed load of stock out there. But in some respects I think that wasn't too bad a thing, because had we been in a situation where we could buy freely I think I'd be sat on stock now."

McCabe said he had no doubt that the handheld would sell out for the immediate future, but it was the long term success that he was interested in. However, he also expressed his concerns that the Nintendo DSi Shop would impact on retailers.

"One of the things you've got to be very careful of is the applications store. If you flog a DSi and nobody ever comes back to buy a game but just buys them through the DSi applications store then you've effectively given your customers away.

"I thought it was quite cunning that Nintendo didn't actually roll out their DSi store until after the launch," he said, concluding: "It's a cautious approach on the DSi at the moment."

Figures provided by Chart-Track show that the DSi sold 92,000 units in its first two days on sale.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...ck-of-software ...

With all the doom and gloom stories we've seen about PlayStation 3 getting beat by Nintendo Wii, it's refreshing to have some good news for a change. For the first time in 16 months, Sony's console managed to best its motion-controlled competitor, 146,948 to 99,335 this past March in Japan, according to gaming research group / Famitsu publisher Enterbrain. The sales are undoubtedly helped by PS3 heavy-hitters Yakuza 3 and Resident Evil 5 debuting last month, and at this point we don't expect the trend to continue, but for now Sony, enjoy your victory and bask in the knowledge that you're still totally kicking Xbox 360's rear in your home country.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/07/p...ice-in-a-blue/ ...