68% of US households gaming, youth usage rises

According to two new studies, more Americans are hunkering down on their family room couches and personal desk chairs, hammering away to play video games, with children's bedrooms increasingly the scene of game-related activity.

Amid the flurry of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the Entertainment Software Association released information from a report titled "Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry 2009". It found that 68 percent of American households play computer or video games. By contrast, in 2008, 65 percent of American households were gaming, marking a 3 percent rise over the past year, the ESA stated.

The ESA not only announced that more households are gaming, but that the demographics of video gamers are also shifting. The average adult gamer has been playing for 12 years, which is a drop from last year. The ESA attributed the declining average to an influx of new gamers in recent years.

However, the abundance of new gamers isn't limited to adults. A June report by the NPD Group, titled "Kids & Consumer Electronics Volume 5," revealed that one in four kids have their own personal game console, and 37 percent of kids who use portable gaming devices have their own. According to NPD analyst Anita Frazier, 64 percent of kids are gaming on consoles or portable devices. Of those kids who have their own device, nine out of 10 acquired their device brand new. Parents might be happier with the game selection, too: The ESA report found 45 percent of video games sold at US retailers have been rated E by the ESRB.

The average age a child first uses a video game system is 6.5 years old, Frazier said. Nonetheless, the average gamer is still well beyond adolescence, at 35 years of age, according to the ESA.

According to a 2007 Nielsen report, 45.7 million American households had game consoles jacked into their televisions in late 2006. By contrast, it was only 38.6 million in 2004.