GameCyte

Here at GameCyte, we don't typically post Top Ten lists. Why? With few exceptions, the vast majority of such articles are meaningless filler, only serving to provoke fanboys and flamers and generally denigrating the reputation of the website which hosts them. However, as long as the firm continues to make them public, one of those aforementioned exceptions will likely always be reserved for the annual Nielsen ratings, because they paint a picture of the U.S. gaming market that you can't get anywhere else.

Don't get me wrong, sales data is great, and I always love pouring over the monthly NPD reports to see just how much more money Nintendo has managed to print; and when I hear that World of Warcraft has passed the 11.5 million subscriber mark, it certainly makes a mental impact. But the questions always remain: "When people bring that Nintendo Wii home, do they actually play it?" "Just how dedicated are these WoW players?"

And thanks to the Nielsen ratings, which measure usage for the Top 10 PC titles and all major consoles, partial answers to both those questions and more await you after the break.

WoW declines

Just as in 2007, World of Warcraft reigned supreme among PC titles, with The Nielsen Company estimating that over 0.7% of all U.S. PC gamers are playing WoW at any given minute. But in the months before the Wrath of the Lich King expansion graced our computers in November, WoW usage actually declined from 2007 levels. Where MMO fans practically made a part-time job out of WoW in 2007, averaging 17 hours of play per week, this year the number was closer to 11 hours.

One in one thousand heed the Call

Released on November 6th, 2007, the online FPS phenomenon Call of Duty 4 didn't appear on Nielsen's 2007 ratings. But you'd better believe it pulled its weight in '08. According to Nielsen, CoD4 was the number 2 PC title, with over one in every one thousand PC gamers unlocking perks in an average minute. And if you were in that lucky 0.16 percent, you were dodging near-death nades 6.7 hours a week on average.

One in two thousand raid the 2Fort

Other than CoD4, the only other newcomer to the Top Ten list is Team Fortress 2, which at number 8 manages to pull in only .063 percent of PC gamers, but engrosses each for an average of six hours a week.

Each game has a smaller active audience and commands less play time, but old games die hard

Where 8 out of 10 games in the Top Ten list last year pulled in at least one out of every one thousand PC gamers in an average minute, in 2008 only WoW and CoD4 managed that feat. The rest have a significantly smaller audience, on average, than the Top Ten did in 2007. Furthermore, the amount of time spent on these games per week has also significantly declined.

Where in 2007 an average game on the top ten list commanded over 8.5 hours of a player's attention in an average week, in 2008 a Nielsen top ten title engaged the player for just over 6 hours. Even discounting World of Warcraft, there's still a average difference of two hours from year to year.

Of course, this type of progress is to be expected -- one would think that the longer PC gaming is around, the more games will be created and the more directions a gamer's interest can be diverted. However, aside from CoD4 and TF2, we can see that there's nary a new title on the chart:

In fact, it's much the same list of games as last year; and it was the newer (Halo 2, Madden NFL 07), rather than older games that got pushed off the chart for 2008. It's hard to believe that the original 2003 Halo, 2001 RuneScape, and 2000's Diablo II and The Sims are still eating up the chart, but there they are, timeless classics that still get plenty of play.

Let's talk console.

Last-gen's still got it, and PS2 leads the pack

On the console side of things, gamers who've yet to upgrade to a shiny new Wii, PS3 or Xbox 360 can find consolation in the fact that they're not alone. According to 2008 Nielsen findings, over 62% of console playtime is not conducted on any of the next-gen machines -- and nearly one-third (31.7%) of console gaming sessions are actually still spent on the good ol' PS2.

Not all Wiis get stuffed behind the couch

But even though they've trounced the Xbox 360 in sales for over a year, they don't command quite as much eyeball time, either. Nielsen estimates that while the Xbox 360 claims about one-sixth of console minutes (17.2%), the Wii comes closer to one-seventh (13.4%).

The original black Xbox gets more play than the PS3

Now, the original Xbox was certainly a worthy progenitor -- it gave birth to Xbox LIVE, and played host to the original two Halos, Ninja Gaiden, Riddick, KOTOR, Splinter Cell, Forza and many more. But following the release of the Xbox 360, Microsoft left original Xbox owners out to dry, discontinuing support almost completely. Even the Nintendo GameCube had a longer lifespan, with the likes of Twilight Princess, Baiten Kaitos, Naruto: Clash of Ninja and Lego Star Wars II gracing the console to its grave.

So why, three years later, does the original Xbox command a 2.4% greater share of gaming minutes than the PlayStation 3? I suppose a worldwide install base of 25 million can't hurt...

But perhaps the better question is why Sony's monolith only grabs 7.3% of console gaming time, period; under half that of the Xbox 360 and only slightly over half that of the Wii.

But hey, all the next-gen machines, especially the PS3, have gained since last year -- when the PS2 and Xbox alone accounted for over one-half of screen time.

And if the last category in both charts, "Other," is any indication, just like with PC software, the general populace is nowhere near as fixated on the latest and greatest as core gamers might like to think.

Thanks to Seeking Alpha for the tip.