According to recent figures from a study released by the Nielson Research Group for the US market, the majority of gamers are connected to a HDTV, be it LCD, plasma or something else.

The study was carried out on a sample of gamers owning PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii (which does not support HD) gaming consoles.

The study also revealed that 40 percent of all American households have at least one console, which is not only used for gaming, but for watching movies and listening to music as well. 51% of PS3 users watch movies on their consoles, as opposed to 47% of Xbox 360 users, and in fact, 36% of console owners indicated that home entertainment options, was the motivating factor in purchasing a console.

What is also interesting, is that 54% of Xbox 360 consoles are located in the living room or den, compared to 55% for Wii and 44% for the PS3, which is another indicator that the console is becoming the entertainment hub in the American household.

More than 54% of PS3 and 48% of Xbox 360 consoles are currently connected to multi-channel (5.1 or greater), home theatre systems. In fact, more gaming consoles are now connected to surround sound systems than traditional stereo television speakers.

The figures showed that 71% of PS 3 owners are hooked up to a HD display, compared with 66% for Xbox 360 and 65% for Wii owners. Nielson has also supplied a breakdown of the display technology used, with 32% using LCD, 17% plasma, 9% rear projection and 6% CRT.