Nintendo, PlayStation And Xbox Very Much A College Lifestyle

With the release of PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo Wii, this week marks the first time Xbox 360 will have to compete with the other two major next-gen gaming consoles.

One of the groups most eagerly awaiting the release are college students.

Anderson Analytics' GenX2Z.com division asked 1,000 colleges students about their habits, spending and preferences in regard to gaming. Video games continue to be a major activity among students, with only 26% of students reporting not to play video games.

Among the previous generation consoles, PlayStation 2 has the largest share with 28% of the students reporting owning the system, followed by Xbox with 17% and GameCube with 12%.

To get an idea of how the 2006 holiday season would affect market share GenX2Z asked whether students already own or plan to purchase a next-gen console. The 3 major consoles are commanded similar favorability. 12% of students plan to purchase PlayStation 3, 11% said that they either own or plan to buy an Xbox 360, and 8% are interested in Nintendo Wii. Though GenX2Z anticipates the significant differences in price may somewhat favor the Nintendo Wii as students consider the differences.

Though the gaming console war is the main focus during this holiday rush, and online capability is one of the required features of next-gen gaming consoles, only 34% of the students report playing games online. What's more, among gamers, half report most frequently playing PC games, not consoles.

Overall, the most popular online gaming site is Yahoo! Games; and the most popular type of online game is online poker. In terms of other game favorites, the World of Warcraft is the most frequently mentioned online game. And surprisingly, among the shooter genre, after almost a decade, Counter-Strike remains more popular than more polished and modern iterations of the genre such as the Battlefield games and Halo.

Overall, 83% of the gamers report only playing 6 hours or less per week. However, there are significant differences between gender. While only 8% of the female gamers report playing more than 6 hours a week, compared to 25% of male gamers. Among the more devoted, only 1% of female gamers report playing over 10 hours a week compared to 8% of male gamers.

Regardless of how the console wars play out, one thing is clear, gaming remains an important part of the college experience for not only men, but for women as well.