Quote Originally Posted by TinCow View Post
In any case, the days when the console was something for children only is long gone. It's an adult/family device now...
I've been working at Target in the electronics department for nearly three years and my personal experience, with no numbers to back me up, is contrary to some of the stats presented and TC's comment about adults and consoles. Most consoles sold at our store were parents buying them for their kids - school aged (5-6) and up for the Wii and pre-teen and up for Xbox/PS3. Similar experience with games - parents buying games for school-aged kids and most of the rest in the 18-25 year old range. Of course, I'm guessing ages, but in my particular situation (retail/department store), a 30 year old average gamer age seems high. Also, most parents are clueless about the consoles and are purchasing them under the direction of their teenager or with our (store employees) guidance for younger kids. As for female gamers, most of our games purchased by/for female gamers are fitness, dance or family oriented (to play with their young kids).

As for the XBone (like that name too) and the battle for the living room, I'm skeptical about the tactic. An all-in-one device for the living room isn't a bad idea, but this could lead to problems with family members competing for the TV. I have a PS3 hooked up to our TV in the family room, yet I rarely play with it (issue with using a controller aside) because the wife wants to watch TV or a DVD, my son, his girlfriend and her kid want to watch TV/DVD too and my son wants to play with his Xbox. Fortunately, my daughter has a TV in her room or things could be worse. Hence I rarely get TV time to watch/do what I want to unless it is very late at night after everyone else has gone to bed. I image the situation with the XBone will be similar - gaming dies or TV/video watching dies or everyone gets a small slice of time to do their thing on the shared device and no one is happy. And with an XBone in the living room, who is going to buy a second one for another room in the house if the price is too high? Perhaps Microsoft should be commended for their attempt to bring the family back together, but I'm not sure how that is going to fly in this day of everyone doing their own personal thing.