Report: 55 percent of Americans play video games

That's the word according to a new survey, which found that nearly 170 million people in the U.S. indulged in some form of PC, console, or online gaming last year. Amazing.

GameSpot has the scoop on the NPD Group's 2009 "Gamer Segmentation Report," which surveyed about 21,000 Americans and applied statistical sampling to draw conclusions about the U.S. gaming population as a whole.

As it turns out, our gaming populace is big—really big—and growing like a virus. About 169.9 million Americans picked up a gaming controller, fired up a PC game, or played an online match in 2008—a figure (as GameSpot points out) that accounts for a good 55 percent of the U.S. population (not to mention an increase of 4.3 million from 2007).

Among the largest of seven gaming "groups" identified in the NPD reports is "secondary gamers," a 33.6 million-strong club (or about 21 percent of the overall U.S. gaming population) of "mostly female gamers who play less than four hours a week and don't own a console," according to GameSpot. Next up: console gamers, who account for about 19 percent of the pie (and growing rapidly, GameSpot reports). After that, you've got your "heavy portable gamers," followed by "extreme gamers" who lock and load nearly 40 hours a week.

All well and good, but I'm still astounded—and pleased—by that 55 percent figure, which goes to show how rapidly video gaming has entered the mainstream.

It's also interesting that casual gaming—lead by the "secondary gamers"—is making such headway. The Wii, of course, has a lot to do with that (although it appears that the "secondary gamers" down own consoles at all), while other casual games—I'm thinking the "1 vs. 100" online trivia game on Xbox Live—blur the line between gaming and watching TV (an activity in which, I'd guess, about 99.9 percent of Americans partake practically every day). Also, consider the popularity of online Scrabble and Sudoku, or the New York Times crossword on the iPhone. Just goes to show—you don't have to be a "Grand Theft Auto" fan to be a gamer.

Now, do I still get strange looks in mixed company when I admit that I play "Call of Duty" on a regular basis? Sure. But I'm seeing far fewer raised eyebrows than I used to.

So, what do you think: will we ever get to the point when, say, 90 percent or more of Americans play at least one video game in a given year? And if you're one of the 45 percent who didn't play a game last year, well ... why didn't you?

Related:
US gamer population: 170 million – NPD [GameSpot]