Few can question the legacy The Beatles left on the music world in the 20th century, but will millennial video gamers (most born long after the band’s split 40 years ago) be abuzz with Beatlemania?

How have gamers responded to the recession? While much of the conversation has focused on fluctuations in new game sales, a new study “The Value Gamer: Play and Purchase Behavior in a Recession” by the Nielsen Company shows there is much more to the story. Over the past several months, the number of hours that gamers claim to be playing is at an all time high, part of a rising trend in gameplay that began in 2007. Additionally, gamers have increased their purchase of used games to record-breaking totals since …

Resident Evil 5 maintained its lead as the top title in unaided consumer awareness, as 10.6% of respondents cited the game in Nielsen’s latest weekly Video Game Tracking survey. Buzz around the game has remained strong, even three weeks after its March 13 release. Guitar Hero: Metallica moved up two spots to take second place at 7.7%, likely due to its March 29 release date and the rock band’s Rock And Roll Hall of Fame induction. The recently released Halo offshoot, Halo Wars, took third with 7.1% of respondents identifying …

The choice of which gaming system to buy can be difficult: Wii, Xbox 360 and PS3 all have their pros and cons.  But according to recent metered usage data from Nielsen, each console tends to appeal to different demographic groups.
“All three of the consoles have their fans, and sales of consoles and games have been some of the few bright spots in an otherwise bleak retail environment,” said Bradley Raczka, Marketing Manager for Nielsen Games.  “It will be interesting to watch the continued migration to the current generation consoles in 2009, and see how releases …

Figures released earlier this week by Nielsen Mobile estimate that 19 million people (7% of wireless subscribers) have downloaded mobile video games.
Newcomer “Guitar Hero III” and classics like “Tetris” and “PAC-MAN” were among the top-selling games for Q1 2008, according to Nielsen.
The research also shows that since December 2007, total purchases of “Guitar Hero III” have increased each month, making it the most successful game in the fast-growing rhythm game genre.
Overall Top 5 Game Titles (by revenue share):
1.  Tetris
2.  Bejeweled
3.  Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?
4.  Guitar Hero III
5.  …