据市场调查公司Parks Associates最近的报告显示，2010年第四季度美国用户有十分之一的上网时间用于玩游戏。

Parks Associates调查分析师Pietro Macchiarella表示，由于网速加快、技术发展，以及在线游戏种类的增长，互联网用户拥有了更多在线游戏选择，所以他们现在更容易为游戏投入了大量时间。美国网民目前的在线游戏活动共占其上网时间的10%。

游戏邦认为宽带网速的提高，电脑、游戏机、掌上游戏设备、智能手机等硬件设备的发展，确实为用户创造了更多体验游戏的机会；用户将十分之一的上网时间用于玩游戏，已表明游戏正成为一种主流趋势。当然，iPhone、iPad以及Android等移动设备的出现，也是游戏玩家数量急剧增长的重要动力。除此之外，社交游戏崛起所发挥的作用也同样不容忽视。

该报告针对不同游戏平台进行了分类，调查结果显示PC和游戏机打成了平手，这两个平台的玩家每周平均游戏时长均为5至5.5小时，超过了掌上游戏设备、MP3播放器/iPod、手机这三个平台的玩家平均游戏时间。

hours-per-week-per-platform

这种结果有可能与社交、休闲游戏玩家的游戏习惯有关，他们一般会在午餐间隙或者下班后玩游戏。而在线FPS（第一人称射击游戏）、TPS（第三人称射击游戏）、RTS（即时策略类游戏）粉丝总是熬宵达旦地玩游戏的这一特点，也推高了PC、游戏机用户的游戏时间平均值。我们可以看出，早在任天堂3DS、Xperia Play或NGP发布前，用户就已经在体验便携式游戏，而这类游戏也已相当受欢迎，游戏邦觉得这种现象主要应归功于多个版本的任天堂DS、索尼PSP功能的持续更新。

不过在下一代便携式和手机游戏平台兴起后，DS和PSP的销量很可能锐减，因为其设备制造商正着力打造比以往版本更为不同的平台，但这种情况会对用户的游戏时间造成多少影响我们暂时不得而知。预计多种移动设备和游戏平台的大量涌现，将持续推动这一数据的增长，但它们应该不会影响电脑/家用游戏机平台的使用率。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

10% of Online Time Used to Game in US

According to the Online Gaming Global Outlook Q4 2010, US Internet users game for up to 10% of their Internet usage time.

“Because of increasing average Internet speeds and advances in technology, a large number of game genres are now playable online,” said Pietro Macchiarella, Research Analyst, Parks Associates. “With these new online gaming options, people are spending a larger share of their online time playing games. Playing video games currently amounts to ten percent of the time spent online by American consumers.”

I don’t know how ’new’ online gaming is as we have been doing it online for some 15 years. But I understand what me means. It’s far easier now to do so. With broadband speeds and computers, game consoles, handheld gaming devices and smartphones, we’re becoming an almost-always-connected society. That is great for games. We already proved that games are mainstream. Now they consume one-tenth of Internet usage time which really shows their recent growth. Certainly devices like the iPhone and iPad have helped as have operating systems like Android which has a rapidly growing game developing community as well. Couple that all with the rise of social games and you’ve got the makings for a lot of online game time.

The report also breaks down gaming by platform and some of you might be shocked to see that PC gaming is alive and well and tied Game Consoles for the most time at about 5 to 5.5 hours per week.

Again this is most likely due to those social and casual games where the average gamer is playing on their lunch breaks, after work at home etc. That’s not to discount the online FPS, TPS and RTS fans who are certainly raising that average as they can play several hours in a single night. It seems that even before the Nintendo 3DS launched and long before we see the Xperia Play or NGP, gaming is still portable and fairly popular. That’s most likely due to several versions of the DS and the PSP still being in the market and their updated features kept them mostly relevant.

However, with the next round of portable and mobile gaming platforms it’s quite possible that those old DS and PSP units might fall to the wayside as the manufacturers are now making devices that are far different than the previously incremental changes in the previous versions. How that affects the amount of gaming time remains to be seen but with the convergence of mobile and game platforms I can only see those numbers increasing but not really cutting into the computer/home console usage.（source:gamersdailynews）