Streaming video on game consoles is up over last year, according to Nielsen. An October survey reveals that streaming and video-on-demand represent a larger share of usage on Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii compared to last year.

Nielsen’s Top 20 Games to Watch reveals the most anticipated games of the 2011 holiday season, with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 the most coveted among active U.S. gamers.

Today’s video game consoles offer many entertainment options beyond gaming, including Netflix, ESPN3, Pandora, Last.FM and YouTube on some or all platforms. As part of understanding the potential audience for services like these across the entire family, it is important to think about the household location of gaming platforms.

As U.S. consumers eye a selection of video game consoles this holiday season, their choices offer an increasing array of entertainment features in addition to traditional offline gaming.

With Black Friday rapidly approaching, parents may want to get up early Friday morning to find deals, as a recent survey shows their kids are eyeing some wallet-stretching electronics this holiday season.

Half of all U.S. households own a video game console or handheld system—and despite the stereotypes about teenage males, gamers are not monolithic. While gamers spend most on new games, game rentals provide an extra conduit to spark sales.

Nielsen video game data released today shows that Video Gamers are playing more this summer than last. Total video game console usage minutes in June 2009 went up 21% from the the previous June. The average console gamer played 768 minutes on consoles during this year’s June reporting month.

Nielsen Games released its March 2009 data for top console usage and PC game titles with Playstation 2 and the role-playing game World Of Warcraft again topping their respective lists.

Nielsen Games released its January 2009 data for top console usage and PC game titles with Playstation 2 and the role-playing game World Of Warcraft topping their respective lists.
Top Game Consoles January 2009

Rank
Console
Usage
Minutes %

1
PlayStation 2
23.7

2
Wii
20.7

3
Xbox 360
18.2

4
PlayStation 3
9.0

5
Xbox
7.9

6
GameCube
3.3

7
Other
17.2

Source: Nielsen Games – GamePlay Metrics™
Usage Minutes % is the percent of all measured console minutes
“Other” consists of any other console systems found in the home

Top  10 PC Game Titles January 2009

Rank
Title
Publisher
Share
Avg. Min
Per Week
TMP%

1
World of Warcraft
Blizzard Entertainment
12.090
649
46.560

2
Dark Messiah of Might & Magic
Ubisoft
0.978
732
4.403

3
Second Life
Linden Lab
1.488
520
3.589

4
Warcraft III: …

Microsoft’s Xbox is the most buzzed about game console so far this holiday season, Nielsen Online reported Thursday.
The Xbox 360 garnered the largest share of online buzz between November 1 and December 9, with 41.6% of blog messages mentioning Xbox, Wii or Playstation.
In comparison, Nintendo’s Wii was mentioned in 29.8% of game console blog messages, while Sony’s Playstation ranked third with mentions in 28.6% of gaming-related blog posts.