NBC gives fair and balanced take on the average video game player

In this brave new age of enlightenment, video games are getting a better rap than ever.

We haven't had slap a WRONG badge on anyone for months. (Well, except the Daily Mail. But if they stopped, surely the apocalypse wouldn't be far behind.)

Politicians, newspaper columnists, TV personalises - at last, they just seem to be 'getting it'.

... oh, wait. We didn't reckon on the rigid-cheeked co-hosts of NBC's Today Show, Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb - nor their gesticulation-happy guest, Donny Deutsch.

Deutsch, author of a get-rich-quick book - The Big Idea: How to Make Your Entrepreneurial Dreams Come True, From the Aha Moment to Your First Million - was on the show last week to contribute to The Other View, the episode's relationship advice section.

The curiously frown-free Gifford and Kotb were sent a question by one of their 5 million viewers, Elizabeth, who asked: "What's up with men and video games? Do you think it's okay for men to play video games in their 30s and over?"

Gifford quickly replied: "No, that's weird... Xbox."

Deutsch, who has something of a history within the anti-gaming camp, added: "No. The answer's no... When you're in your thirties, there should be something more on your mind, your attention, than video games."

All three then agreed that playing games with your kids is fine, but, as Kotb put it (complete with prom-queen-eating-cockroach disgust): "But what about those guys... [I'm] talking about those weird ones in the basement."

The trio then held hands and sung Kumbaya - in a ritualistic scene far more surreal than anything you'll find in Deadly Premonition.

Now, according to ESA research, the average US gamer is 37 years old. That's a lot of basements.

Meanwhile, the most frequent game purchaser is 41 years old.

Even more exceptionally, 42 percent of all gamers are women - and females over the age of 18 represent a bigger segment of the game-playing population (37 percent) than boys age 17 or younger (13 percent).

In addition, Gifford, 57, and Kotb, 46, will surely be thrilled to hear that 29 percent of Americans over the age of 50 play video games. There's time for you yet, ladies.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...in-a-basement/