As a part of Nielsen’s round-up of the biggest of 2008, the research firm has published a list of the years most played consoles.

The list takes its information from a range of public surveys and reflects the most played consoles across North America between the months of January and October.

The statistics refer to total minutes spent by all users on each console. 

1. PS2 – 31.7%

2. Xbox 360 – 16.2%

3. Nintendo Wii – 12.4 %

4. Xbox – 9.7%

5. PS3 – 8.3%

6. GameCube 4.6%

7. DS,PSP and Game Boy – 16.2%

Interestingly, the PlayStation 2 was the most played console of 2008 in North America, with more collective minutes being spent on the console than any other.

Although the Nintendo Wii was the highest selling console of 2008, their more “casual” fan base obviously spent less time gaming than the PS2 or Xbox 360 crowd.

While Sony can be proud of their aging PS2 for taking top honors, it wasn’t all good news as the PS3 came in at fifth place with just 8.3 percent; almost half the gametime that the Xbox360 experienced.