1,128 gamers were polled (note: it was a self-selected survey, not a blind study), with 562 owning an Xbox 360, 473 having a PS3 and 591 a Wii. Obviously, some respondents owned more than one console.

The results found that a crushing 60% of 360s had died, while only 16% of PS3s and 6% of Wiis had suffered the same fate. Even worse was the rate of repeat failre: of those who have reported a busted console, 32% say it’s happened more than once, with 19% saying it’s broken three times or more.

Count me in the latter camp; I’ve had two red-ringed consoles, and recently got back from my honeymoon to find my third 360’s power brick had simply ceased to function, despite the console not being turned on.

Being a self-selected survey, it’s likely the actual numbers across the board would be lower, but still; a little less than awful is still awful.

CNET UK’s games console reliability survey: 60 per cent of Xbox 360s have broken [CNET]

That’s according to research by the Entertainment Software Association, who believe that 42% of all American adults will this Christmas either give or receive a video game.

We’d love to say that means 21% of Americans will be getting a game from Santa, but since so many of you will be giving and receiving, we’ll leave it at 42% going both ways.

What about you, are you asking for one? Or planning on giving one? I’m planning on neither; my Christmas ends with me either watching the Battlestar box set on Blu-Ray, or stamping my feet in the mother of all tantrums.

[via Dtoid]

That figure covers any and all games requiring a subscription, so don’t go laying all the blame at World of Warcraft’s feet. Spare a little for EVE, Age of Conan and LOTRO as well.

“Despite concerns that the recession would cause consumers to reduce spending on entertainment subscription services, most forms of subscription entertainment are doing just fine,” NPD’s Russ Crupnick said in a press release. “Consumers are clearly looking to the value offered by entertainment subscriptions and like what they get for their money.”

The American Library Association, realising what some of us have known for years, have decreed that games can be a positive force in the teaching of history, and that the medium should be celebrated with a special day commemorating that.

“We have found that by adding board and video game formats to library collections”, ALA President Dr. Camila Alire told Reuters, “we are providing users with tools to build strong literacy practices while sharpening technical and critical thinking skills”.

Before you scoff, remember: history isn’t always about dates and names. If a game can introduce a player to a period in time, let them see social and political forces at work (or give them an understanding of how those forces affect everyday people), that can be just as important as sticking a historical figure in a game, or having the player recreate an actual event.

Academics hope history in video games spurs interest [Reuters]

The group has released a report on the super-popular home fitness program, drawing on research performed by the University of Wisconsin. And this report has found that even Wii Fit’s most physically taxing workouts can’t hold a candle to actual exercise.

Wii Fit’s boxing, for example, burns only one-third of the calories of actual boxing, while the other four most intensive modes — Free Island Run, Super Hula Hoop, Advanced Step and Free Step — only burned between 100 and 160 calories for every 30 minutes of exercise. Considering a cheeseburger has around 300 calories, you’ll be on Wii Fit all day if you want to really burn some fat.

Perhaps most damning/hilarious, however, is the report’s finding that while Wii Fit burns more calories than a regular game — where you’re doing nothing — it’s not as good for you as a session on Nintendo’s own Wii Sports.

Ah, the power of marketing.

American Council on Exercise Charts ‘Underwhelming’ Wii Fit Health Benefits [Gamasutra]

The list provides only the single, top-selling, must-have item for the year. No room for second place here. And it shows that seven times in the past 34 years — beginning with Pong in 1975 — a video game or games console has come in at #1. Bump that number up to eight if you count 1999’s Pokemon, owned by Nintendo, as a gaming product.

Gaming gear really starts to pull away in the past decade, with the PS2 topping 2001’s list, followed by the DS, Wii and PS3 in 2004, 2006 and 2007 respectively. Hrm. Wait a minute. The PS3 outsold the Wii for Christmas 2007? It most certainly did not.

Makes you wonder whether Permuto got anything else on the list wrong. We hope not, though; 1993’s Genesis Mortal Kombat looks just fine where it is, thanks.

The Most Popular Christmas Toys, By Year Since 1960 [Permuto]

The New-Brunswick Telegraph Journal reports the findings of Economics student Ryan MacLeod, who has crunched some demographics numbers to determine that, the more men play games, the more their income drops.

He’s put a number on that, the paper reports:

The effect is so notable that for every minute a video game is played, MacLeod’s research suggests gamers can expect a 0.4 per cent decrease in income.

And more from MacLeod:

“My work confirms that, in general, the more income a person has, the more time they spent playing video games,” MacLeod said. “But that playing video games could also have a negative effect on a person’s income.”

I’ve long wondered how much money avid gamers commit to their gaming hobby each year. When you add and subtract all your game purchases, trade-ins and whatnot, what’s the tab at year’s end? And, as the story notes, if your income is lower, is it because of some subtle effect playing games has on earning power? Or is it simply that you played games so much, you cost yourself time that could have been used to make more income?

Mt. A student’s research finds playing video games can lead to lower income

[Pic]

Writes the Los Angeles Times:

Military researchers have found that two groups of personnel are particularly good at spotting anomalies: those with hunting backgrounds, who traipsed through the woods as youths looking to bag a deer or turkey; and those who grew up in tough urban neighborhoods, where it is often important to know what gang controls which block.

Personnel who fit neither category, often young men who grew up in the suburbs and developed a liking for video games, do not seem to have the depth perception and peripheral vision of the others, even if their eyesight is 20/20.

Note, this isn’t explosive ordnance disposal, they’re talking about riding in a humvee and picking up details that someone might have buried explosives in the road. This is important because, of bombs discovered before they went off, like 90 percent of them were found because someone’s spidey-sense went off.

The story quotes a sergeant major who finds the research fits with his own observations. “The gamers are very focused on the screen rather than the whole surrounding,” he said. Country boys and hood rats have a more finely-tuned radar – that head on a swivel mentality when you’re potentially in a dangerous situation.

Some Troops Have a Sixth Sense for Bombs [Los Angeles Times via Game Politics]

Deniz Ince, 11, is the lead author on the study, to be presented Monday in Philadelphia at the annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology. Ince, who enjoys playing the Wii, found his fingers ached when he squeezed oranges. He set about researching the matter to determine if video games were linked to it.

The study surveyed 171 of Ince’s schoolmates, aged 7 to 12 years old. Eighty percent said they played consoles or handhelds, and half of those said they played less than an hour a day. A third said they played one to two hours daily, and 7 and 6 percent said they played 2 to 3 or 3 or more hours a day, respectively.

The study found that each additional hour of use increased the likelihood of experiencing pain by 50 percent. It also found a higher pain incidence in younger children than older.

The study’s senior author, Dr. Yasuf Yazici of New York University, said “the younger the kids, the more significant the pain.” Why exactly couldn’t be proven by the research, although the researchers believe it might be because muscles and tendons in younger kids are still developing.

The survey respondents said the pain they felt was “generally mild,” although some 22 percent found it enough to limit how much they played. Interestingly, playing a Wii exclusively resulted in more self-reported pain, regardless of the player’s age or how much he or she played per day.

Video Games Can Play Havoc With Kids’ Joints [HealthDay on U.S. News & World Report]

The original “Gaymer” survey was created to “quantify the existence of an invisible minority.” Now that we know that they do indeed exist, it’s time to find out what they like. Paul Nowak, a masters student at DigiPen, has created the new survey in order to make an in-depth study of what “gaymers” want from their games.

Ideally, I want to learn what exactly it is that gaymers want from their games and how that differs from their heterosexual counterparts. I’ll take that information to develop guidelines the industry can use when trying to make gaymer inclusive games that don’t become offensive or insulting to any gamer regardless of sexual orientation. If someone had done the same kind of research when the industry was trying to reach out to female gamers, girls wouldn’t have had to suffer through the wildly unsuccessful attempts of games like “Mary Kate & Ashley’s Winner’s Circle” pony racing. I’m hoping to help the industry avoid the same mistakes as it reaches out to gay gamers.

I’ve gone through the survey myself, seeing as it is open to gamers of all sexual orientations. Aside from the initial question about sexual orientation, it mainly concerns itself with questions about content, genre and game features, before slipping into more specific questions about homosexual content, using games like Enchanted Arms, Bully and The Sims as examples.

As for the survey’s motivation, I find myself a bit conflicted. I’ve just never thought of gaming as a pastime that sexual orientation figures into. Nowak makes a valid point about the industry’s stumbling first attempts at reaching a female audience, but are homosexual gamers that much different from everyone else that they need to be catered to specifically? I’m not saying they shouldn’t be…I suppose I am asking if they really want to be.

New Gaymer Survey [Full Sail via Joystiq - Thanks Alexander]