Video games grow up as adults jump into game fray

Video games aren't just for kids anymore. More than one in three U.S. adults who go online, or 37 percent, own a video game console and 16 percent own a portable gaming device, Nielsen/NetRatings said Tuesday.

The majority of those console owners, 71 percent, are married, and 66 percent have at least one child in the household.

"As game consoles have become increasingly sophisticated, families have incorporated them into their centralized home media centers, which include the television, digital recording device, digital music player and the PC," said Carolyn Creekmore, senior director of media analytics at Nielsen/NetRatings.

[power of Green]

Yah! tell that to the young rabid teens and kidz on XBL, they get pretty nasty when they get owned by a person that they find out isn't a teen. lol i'm a level 60 in Lost Planet some boy wanted to learn a not so nice life lesson from me.

[PinkPrincess83]

I dont believe the kiddies would like this article. Can you imagine when you were young and getting your @$$ kicked by your mom! How embarrassing, they see it the same way!

[Shrek]

The younger gamers did have to get a little older sometime. I don't believe a true gamer would just give it up out of the blue. In fact the older gamers tend to have the money to decide to get the better systems.

[spacetoilet]

I've been gaming since the Zx81. And I bet not allot of you here remember that lol. Then it was a 48k spectrum, then a whopping 64k C64 (which rules all history) and so on up to today and I'm still gaming. $hit, when Im an old b@stard with one foot in the grave, I'll still have a console or two. I mean, I don't want to play bingo with the rest of the old folks.

***Bonus points**** To anyone who remembers boarding, and flying, a peice of cheese on C64 mercenary. Or Turbo Esprit on the zx spectrum.

[no_more_heroes]

I've only ever played the NES, N64, ps1, ps2, ps3, xbox and 360, though I don't own any of the next-gen consoles, having only played my friend's 360 and played the demo of Motorstorm. I grew up on Mario games, Donkey Kong games, Crash games and Spyro games. I've only just heard about those alien consoles you mention about two years ago. Yes, I know I'm late, but thats all I knew

[SmokeyMcBear]

Grown up playing games, first the NES, then Genesis, then PSX, PS2, and now the glorious PS3. Have a career with money in the bank, decided to drop a wad on the nice ol ps3 (already had 150 bucks invested due to ps2 warranty... thanks best buy). This is the exact reason I chose sony, so much more than games. True the only real game I play on PS3 right now is resistance, but oh the possibilities for this system. Right now I use it as my media center, waiting on that tv tuner to implemented. I have around 30 and counting dvds ripped and playable via the ps3. When watching tv and the nieces and nephews wanna watch nickelodean, just remote play the psp and have toy story or ice age or some other kid friendly movie to keep em entertained. The Gamers don't neccessarily grown out of gaming, they just find more uses for it.

[techie]

I had the mastersystem...Sonic all the way. But yes I think games are growing up in content...ie. more violent, but are the games growing up in issues - eg. I can see the story of Too Human to be very intelligent story wise, but generally a lot of games seem to be a bit dim.

[SmokeyMcBear]

I remember the master system, with those little cartriges. My friend used to have it. Wasnt there a karate ala kung fu type game (awesome game on nes by the way). I think I played baseball also that system too.. good times.

[techie]

I dont know - I was very young...like 6 or something lol. And my dad would only get me a few games - my brother had a gameboy and I had the master system 2 - which had pre installed on it - Sonic 2!!! How cool is that!? the first mastersystem had some lame game installed on it. I remember playing a game with a dolphin in that used Sonar...was kinda cool, you had to push blocks around to go through mazes n stuff...

[Bathyj]

My Master system had Alexkid installed on it. Ahh memories ! I'm so old.

Hey, if gamers are growing up, why are forums becoming more and more immature?

[SmokeyMcBear]

memory lane.. that game was called echo, i played it.. good game.. good times

[PinkPrincess83]

Why do we have to glorify the PS3. What about the other systems? ie Xbox, Nintendo?? That guy said the glorious PS3? Make me GAG. I wanted it to be about every system not just the PS3.

[PinkPrincess83]

I miss the NES. Thats the best system ever!

[Bathyj]

Commodore 64 was my favourite system ever. I had literally hundreds of games and after making my bone on Atari 2600 is was so state of the art with its massive 64k of memory. Awesome.

N64 is great but it was like Gamecube and like what Wii looks to be. A handful of brilliant game over its whole lifespan and not much else. Dont get me wrong, I love my Nintendos and still have/play them. They've just always needed more game and maybe some good ones that weren't by Nintendo or Rare. Just so you know I'm not a hater I still think Perfect Dark 64 is the best console FPS of all time and Mariokart 64 is the best multiplayer. I always hoped MK64 would become an olympic event so I could bring home gold.

PinkPrincess83
Why you be hating?
I'll use most of the features on PS3, but if its not for you just dont get it. Some people like that it has extra stuff like BR and big Hard Drives, but like I said, its not for everyone.

[PinkPrincess83]

I dont want to give a system props that dont use half the stuff they put in it. What a waste of peoples' money.

[SmokeyMcBear]

ahhh yess.. glorious.. such a cool work, cmon say it with me. I actually paid 450 for mine, and got what i wanted out of it. home entertainment center, using ever penny out of it. what doesnt it use by the way?

[lilwingman]

Why are you complaining? You didn't "waste" you're money on it obviously, so it doesn't concern you. Let the people who actually own one judge its worth.

[Shadow Flare]

so princess are you getting every pennies worth out of your 360's features? Been using its dvd drive to death? Been using the uh...uh nope thats its only feature. Xbox Live isnt a standard console feature since you have to pay extra. Uh lets watch a dvd then [disc tray opens], uh no! Its set fire. And thats your moneys worth right there

[Covenant]

Your average gamer is now about 30. A growing number of gamers are now over 50. Games aren't just for kids anymore, nor are they only for "geeks," "nerds," and the like. Older people have latched onto things like Brain Age and Big Brain Academy, and poker, Bejeweled, and other similar games for the PC. Many women have joined the ranks of WoW, and I have encountered more women on Xbox Live than I would have anticipated (though I'm not complaining). Families as a whole love the Wii.

Now, here's the question: Are these changes good for gaming, or will games end up being diluted to meet the needs of the casual gamer? Will this be the end of games that appeal to the hardcore fan--particularly the teenage/young adult hardcore gamer?

Probably not, but those are questions worth asking.

[timmyp53]

lol..jk..or am I.

[Smoove808]

I was about 5 when my father brought home an Atari 800. Had no idea such things existed. Pac-man, Pole-position and typing on the blue screen was all the fun for me.

NES was where it was at!, but throughout my gaming years I would have to say that Sega was above all(for me). I had to have Genesis, "Welcome to the Next Level", Sega CD, 32X, CDX, NOMAD. Skipped the Saturn and cheated with a PSX, that b!tch was hot. I hopped on again for the Dreamcast and she left me for software, what a chump!. Seriously though, I was saddened when Sega dropped out of the console race.

I too will be gaming until my ending days. I would really like to know who the oldest gamer is out there. Maybe some grand kids have turned there gramps and grams into trash talking sons of guns. Just looking back gaming as a youngster was unlike any other feeling I could imagine, until I got me sum of that P*$$y, mmm hmmm!

Don't mean to make you uncomfortable Pink Princess. Just expressing my manhood. We can talk about it over some games...:)

[OldSchoolGamer]

Wow I feel old, but that was some fun racing, smurfs had like 4 levels but looked really good graphically, and qbert come on he had his own cartoon!

[Boink]

but the first game I played was an asteroids type game that was on the vic20.

:)

[lilwingman]

Well, compared to most people here, my first console was the NES, so suddenly I don't feel that old anymore :)

Go "Blades of Steel"!!

[vertigun]

What's a hardcore game? I haven't seen one in a long time. Games have become way to easy.

[OldSchoolGamer]

Games like Master Blaster where you had to play through it in one sitting, no saves no codes, and that thing was LONG, I mean your talking easily like 8-20 hours on a good run, and there were plenty of games like that, many games that sucked the hours away all so you could say you beat it. Now, they are all save anywhere, 5-10 hour romps unless you play a grinder RPG. Funny how an underpowered system like the NES could offer gamers 100's of hours of fun (original Zelda anyone) where you played a game over and over again, and the difficulty just shot through the roof, Friday the 13th (had to beat repeatedly for small difference endings), or Ninja Gaiden.

[Martin]

there's no beating the good old speccy (48/128), that patient waiting and then the slightest tinkering with the azimuth on the tape deck - just to load that pernickety game. Then to find out the anticipation was greater than the actual game!

The good old days, kids - what do they know about games? :)

[Keyser]

I started with the Coleco pong game on my parents Telstar. They bought me an Atari 2600. I played my cousins Nintendo and my buddies Gameboy and another buddies Genesis. I got my Playstation before I started college about 2years after it came out and loved it like it was my first child (no kids). Moved on to the PS2 in college and then the Xbox. I now use my 360 mostly and later this week my PS3 will be taking over the living room.

[FirstknighT]

Excuse me but the Sega Genesis was the easily the best...Streets of Rage, Shinobi, Sonic, and of course....a bloody Mortal Kombat! :)