PlayStation 2 Still Most-Played Console

Sony's venerable gaming console may not be the biggest seller anymore, but it's by far the most-played console in United States, according to the latest Nielsen numbers. Any guesses for the next most-played console? Hint: It ain't the Wii.

Next Gen got its hands on the new Nielsen survey, which looked at how often—and for how long—U.S. gamers fired up their respective consoles in the past seven months. And while all the buzz is around the latest next-gen gaming consoles—and especially the red-hot Wii—the old PlayStation 2 still comes out on top, snagging a whopping 42 percent of gaming "minutes" between April and November 2007. Impressive, yet not all that surprising when you consider that a total of nearly 40 million PS2s have been sold in North America.

So which console comes next? The Xbox 360? The fast-selling Wii? Nope: It's the original Xbox, which accounts for about 13.9 percent of U.S. gaming minutes. Coming in at number three is, yes, the Xbox 360, with 11.8 percent, followed by the old Nintendo GameCube at 7.1 percent. Lagging behind at fifth and sixth places are the Wii and the PlayStation 3, with 5.5 and 2.5 percent, respectively.

So what does it all mean? Are gamers simply not playing their Wiis? Well, not exactly. As I mentioned above, older consoles like the PS2 get the edge in the survey because of the sheer number of boxes out there. Gamers may love their Wiis and play them all the time, but as of October, only about 5 million Wii consoles are in U.S. homes, versus 40 million for the PS2. That said, if you were thinking about getting a PlayStation 2 for the holidays but wondered if it was a dying console...think again.

Related:
Nielsen: WoW, PS2 Remain Top-Played [Next Gen, via CrunchGear]