NPD: 82% of American kids are gamers
Within my lifetime gaming has changed from being a niche hobby for geeks who were crap at sports and couldn’t get girlfriends to a mainstream pastime enjoyed by people of all ages, races, genders, and backgrounds. Quite how mainstream gaming has become is shown by the figures in the Kids and Gaming 2009 survey by the NPD Group.
NPD questioned 5,000 members of its community panels to discover that 82 percent of respondents aged between two and 17 class themselves as gamers. If representative of the United States as a whole that’s 55.7 million youngsters who play games on a regular basis.
The smallest segment is that of kids between the ages of two and five, with 9.7 million gamers, while those aged between nine and 11 counted for 12.4 million, the largest segment.
The 12-14 age range spend the most time playing games, with a 10.6 hours per week average. Half of all the kids questioned played online, while the average amount of consoles they own stands at 2.5.
In essence, this study shows that gaming is now a big part of a large percentage of people’s lives. And while the average age of gamers has increased over the years, kids are still a huge part of the scene. As anyone who has encountered one of the snotty-nosed brats playing online will report.
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16 Responses to “NPD: 82% of American kids are gamers”
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December 5th, 2009
Yes I’m the first one!! Pwned noobs.
One question Dave….how can someone own 2.5ths of a console?? Lol oh yeah RROD and a dormant Xbox harddrive 
December 5th, 2009
So I finally have a Bluray Player via my new laptop. Have I sold my soul? At least it’s a HP!
December 5th, 2009
nice move CAD.
December 5th, 2009
White Knight Chronicles coming out on Feb 2, 2010
“Over 50 disc-based online quests. You can complete these quests solo, or cooperatively with up to three other players to gain extra gear and experience. (That’s just on the disc. Wait until you hear what else we’ll have at launch!)”
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2009/12/white-knight-chronicles-international-edition-coming-to-ps3-february-2-2010/
December 5th, 2009
HP shoulda stuck with making LaserJet 4′s. The last great LaserJet.
December 5th, 2009
Hey PC Guys is this a good buy. Just wondering. And yes I know I need to get it upgraded to windows 7
HP Pavilion 17″ AMD Turion X2 Dual Core RM-74 2.2GHz Laptop (DV7-1261WM)
Base Features
Approximate Battery Life Dependent On Usage
Hard Drive Speed/Capacity 500 GB (5400 RPM) SATA
LED Backlit Display Yes
Optical Drive Super Multi LightScribe BD/DVD±R/RW DL
Processor Speed 2.2 GHz
Processor Type AMD Turion X2 RM-74 Dual Core Mobile
RAM 4 GB
Screen Size 17″
Graphics
Discrete Video Memory Yes
Expandable Video Memory No
Graphics Chipset ATI Radeon HD 3650
Integrated Video Memory No
Native Screen Resolution 1440 x 900
Upgradable Video System No
Video Memory 512 MB
Audio
Audio Chipset Altec Lansing With SRS Premium Sound
Audio Output Stereo
Digital Input No
Digital Output No
Hardware Volume Control No
Integrated Amplifier Yes
Integrated Microphone Yes
Microphone Input Yes
Speaker Wattage Information Not Available
Speakers Yes
Inputs/Outputs
Card Reader Yes
Card Reader – Compatible Memory Types SD, MMC, MS, MS Pro, XD
Composite Output No
ExpressCard/34 Input Yes
ExpressCard/54 Input Yes
HDCP Compliant Yes
HDMI Port Yes
IEEE 1394 Input/Output 1
IR Receiver Yes
Number of Touchpad Buttons 1
PC Card Input No
S-Video Output No
Type of Keyboard 101-Keys
Type of Modem 56k
Type of Pointing Device Touchpad
USB 2.0 4 (1 Shared With eSATA)
VGA Output 1
Webcam Yes
Networking
Ethernet Port 10/100/1000
Integrated Bluetooth No
Integrated WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n
Power
Battery – Capacity Information Not Available
Battery – Number of Cells 8-Cell
Battery Type Lithium-Ion
Computing Features
Processor Cache 1 MB L2
System Bus 1800 MHz
Software
Loaded Software 1 Microsoft Works
Loaded Software 2 HP MediaSmart
Loaded Software 3 Muvee Reveal
Loaded Software 4 Cyberlink DVD Suite
Operating System Language English
Pre-loaded Operating System Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit With SP1
Accessories
Headphones No
Remote HP Mobile
Product Features
Notebook Depth 39.60 cm
Notebook Thickness (closed) 4.22 cm
Notebook Weight (including Battery) 3.52 kg
Notebook Width 28.50 cm
December 5th, 2009
@ CAD
doesl the HDMI port is an input or output? What about the price?
December 5th, 2009
most likely output but I got it for $750 cdn
December 5th, 2009
@CAD
According to this link your Radeon 3650 got 8244 on 3DMark 06, thats compared to the 7800 in the PS3 getting 5686.
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/gaming-graphics-charts-q3-2008/3DMark06-v1.1.0-3DMark-Score,794.html
I thought you’d get a kick out of that
December 5th, 2009
CAD:
I could have found a million better deal then that.
Also HP laptop are all bloated with their crap. My sister bought one from them with Windows Vista for $1000. I like Sony for PC.
December 6th, 2009
“while those aged between nine and 11 counted for 12.4 million, the largest segment.”
I’m not surprised at all. Judging by the Wii and Halo sales, that makes perfect sense.
December 7th, 2009
“HP shoulda stuck with making LaserJet 4’s. The last great LaserJet.”
I really hope your joking. We had one of those at work and the dam thing broke down daily.
I am on my second HP laptop and the first one cost $3,500 and outperformed my $6,000 Alienware laptop by leaps and bounds. My new one was only$1,200 because I had to buy it myself. LOL. The videos card is built in and doesn’t play Far cry well, but it is still a good laptop with HDMI. CAD BR media is still very expensive. Just like DVDs and CDs were.
December 7th, 2009
Ivan, Sony laptops are way too much money for far less then everything else in the class.
December 7th, 2009
“I’m not surprised at all. Judging by the Wii and Halo sales, that makes perfect sense.”
Don’t forget DS. My kids each have DS lites and I’m getting them DSi’s for X-mas.
December 7th, 2009
ncaissie…Hold on for the DSi XL (Bigger screen).
it doesnt have a US release date but im sure it will eventually come out here
December 7th, 2009
“We had one of those at work and the dam thing broke down daily.”
Probably because it was still running after 10 years
Take it from someone who worked with LaserJets for a couple of years. The rest are even worse (42/4350′s were work horses too tho).