More than half of US adults play video games

"Independent of all other factors, younger adults are considerably more likely than older adults to play games, and the likelihood that an adult is a video gamer decreases significantly with age," according to the report.

Pew conducted phone interviews with approximately 2,050 adults between Oct. 24 and Dec. 2, 2007 for the study.

Older Americans are not completely out of the loop, however, with about 23 percent of adults age 65 and over reporting that they played games.

A third of those adults also played every day, more than the 20 percent of younger gamers who reported daily gaming activity. Pew attributed this discrepancy to the fact that older gamers are likely retired and have more time to devote to gaming.

Computer-based games were popular among most age groups, with 73 percent of adults and 76 percent of teens reporting that they used their desktops or laptops to play games.

Teenagers, however, were more likely to use consoles like the Nintendo Wii, Sony PlayStation, or Microsoft Xbox. While 53 percent of adult gamers said they used consoles, 89 percent of teens were console enthusiasts.

Teens were also more likely to use portable gaming devices like the PSP, DS, and Gameboy than adults – 62 percent to 25 percent.