OK, the Nielsen report (the third annual Active Gamer Benchmark Study) must be purchased. That we can’t read the details is problematic, but let’s say it does not totally invalidate the findings.
From what I’ve found the report concludes that
- There are 117 million Active Gamers (one who owns a console and spends at least one hour per week playing it) in the
U.S. in 2006 - 56% of those play games online
- 64% of those online gamers are women
… by surveying 2200 active gamers between July 3rd to July 9th. I take it this means asking them to fill out a questionnaire, i.e. they were self-selected.
See for instance DailyTech – Women Outnumber Men in Online Gaming; Nielsen Talks About the ‘Active Gamer’; Report: Social Aspects of Gaming Increasingly Important
I’m going to e-mail Nielsen to see if I can get more methodology details. To be continued.