PS2s Still Getting Most Play

It's been nearly two years since the Xbox 360 launch and almost a year since the release of the Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3, but many gamers haven't been showing these consoles much attention. A recent report from Nielsen found gamers used their previous generation PlayStation 2 console 42% of the time during the month of June. With the largest install base of any current or last-gen system, PS2s have every reason to be the most-played console based on accessibility alone. Even the trailing console of last generation, Nintendo's GameCube, garnered more of gamers' time--5.8%--in June than both the Wii's 4.0% or last-place PS3's 1.5%. The second-most-played console, the last-gen Xbox, only captured 17% of gamers' time, while the Xbox 360 took third place with 8.0%. The ongoing popularity of the seven-year-old PS2 is certainly helped by abundant software releases, with 2007 seeing 80-something new games retailing for the system to date. In contrast, releases for both GameCube and Xbox have slowed to a crawl, with each console receiving a trickle of 2007 releases that barely make it into the double digits when combined. The continued popularity of the PS2 surprised even Sony, who saw a 16% increase in PS2 sales during the quarter ending in June. The company expects to sell 10 million PS2s during the current fiscal year--a million more units than they expect the PSP to reach, even with the availability of the newly slimmed down version coming in September. The survey collected data from approximately 33,000 individuals, according to Nielsen.