"It can play games?"

The PlayStation 3 may be a games console first and foremost – but North American consumers spent more time using it for non-gaming activities than anything else in 2012. The news comes courtesy of a study conducted by Nielsen, which analysed the responses of more than 2,500 consumers across the USA.

According to the research, the amount of time that consumers spent streaming content to the console increased from 15 per cent to 24 per cent last year. Respondents also spent about 15 per cent of their time watching DVDs and Blu-rays, four per cent viewing downloaded content, and eight per cent doing other things.

When playing games, the report showed that consumers spent around 28 per cent of their time offline and a further 18 per cent online. Overall, PS3 owners spent 46 per cent of their time with the console playing games in 2012, while they used the remaining 54 per cent for non-gaming activities. That’s a pretty enlightening statistic.

Last year, Sony revealed that the PS3 was the most popular platform for Netflix in the world. How much do you use your system for non-gaming activities? Let us know in the comments section below.

[source uk.gamespot.com]