Video games are attracting more people than ever.  Traditionally the realm of younger males, gaming has grown increasingly popular among women, older players and other demographic groups.  And while the weak economy has had an effect on many forms of entertainment, video games have shown an amazing resilience, with sales of both gaming consoles and games continuing to show healthy growth.  These are just a few of the findings of a new comprehensive report on PC game and video game console usage from Nielsen Games.

In addition to gaming consoles such as PlayStation and Xbox, PC gaming is alive and well, while new platforms like mobile phones offer new possibilities for game developers.  More than ever before, video games encompass a broad spectrum of genres, platforms and price.

Other key findings from Nielsen's report include:

• PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 attract the more engaged users, who are less likely to be watching prime time TV that users of other consoles.

• PlayStation 2 still leads all other consoles in total minutes of usage, but continues to have the highest downward trend.  Data suggests that the PS2 will lose the top usage spot within the next few months.

• Females 25 years and older make up the largest block of PC game players, accounting for 46.2 percent of all players and 54.6 percent of all game play minutes in December 2008.

• The most played games on the PC are card games from Microsoft, with Solitaire being the most played game in December 2008 with over 17 million players.

"Gaming, once the domain of kids and a small group of core fans, is now more mainstream than ever.  As the number of platforms continues to expand, we would expect that more people will be drawn to the entertainment video games can offer.  Along with this, the evolution of gaming consoles into multimedia devices has changed consumption habits of traditional media such as TV, movie and Internet content," said Bradley Raczka, Marketing Manager for Nielsen Games.

View the complete State of the Video Gamer report here.