One of the complaints sometimes heard in the homes of gamers is that too much electricity is used when gaming–the combined total cost of using the game console, the television set, and sound system must cost a pretty penny to use per hour.
But this concept–while sounding quite reasonable–may be headed to the junk pile of busted myths, thank to the results gathered in an experiment carried out by one enterprising Xbox 360 gamer who decided to find out how much it really costs to play games. The outcome was published in a special feature on planetxbox360.com, and validated the argument that gaming doesn’t cost nearly as much as some might think.
According to the informal study, a gaming session that lasts one hour, utilizing an Xbox 360, 25" television, stereo amplifier, USB wireless adapter, and wireless headset, produces a cost of only 2.139 cents of electrical power per hour of gameplay (if the kilowatt per hour price is 7.13 cents from your local electric power company). But even if the electricity price is double this rate, it will still cost only a mere nickel an hour to game. Although the study wasn’t done under laboratory conditions, the rough figures should act as sufficient ammunition for those who have been told to cut back on gaming activities because of high electrical bills.
