by Art Young

Created on: January 23, 2009   Last Updated: July 07, 2011

Dude! Your mom's hogging the Playstation, again.

If you've been watching entertainment trends, you knew this was going to happen. According to "Packaged Facts," an independent marketing research company, more than half of the U.S. adult video gaming population is made up of moms, dads and even grandparents.

Besides shooting a big, virtual hole in the theory that most computer gamers are skinny, pale boys who wear black fingernail polish, this new data suggests that video games are quickly overtaking all other forms of media. This phenomenon will have big implications for computer gaming and the entertainment industry in general.

The number of video game enthusiasts is astounding to everyone but the companies who design and manufacture these games. They're too busy counting their money.

There are an estimated 114 million regular video game players. Of these players, 22% are over the age of 55 and 40% are over 45. These gamers spent $6.7 billion (excluding hardware) on video games in the U.S. in 2008.

Not only are there more adults grabbing those joy sticks, but there are as many women as there are men playing. The research strongly suggest that women and older adults are expected to "fuel much of the segment's future growth, with the number of male gamers in the 55-64 year old range increasing by 34% by 2013, compared with only 7% for the 18-34 year old demographics." The company predicts the growth rate among women to be 17%, versus 12% growth rate of men.

There are several reasons for this shift in entertainment spending, including the nose-dive of the economy. As families are forced to curtail their spending on movies, dining out or shopping, they stay home. This has been called "cocooning" and it is a perfect situation for video gaming. This home-based entertainment is made even more compelling by the fact that gaming has become a very popular group activity.

An increase in the popularity of "active gaming" is also fueling this dramatic change in video gaming demographics. Gaming systems such as the "Wii" allow young and old to use hand-held controllers to participate in virtual sports and physical activities. To see how popular the Wii has become, just drop by any senior citizen recreation room and notice how many residents are whooping it up playing Wii bowling and golf!

Another popular active gaming piece of equipment is the plug-and-play "GameBike." This is a stationary bicycle, with a patented steering mechanism that allows the rider to become one of

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