A couple days ago you could sense the excitement in the air. The gaming world hit pause on their latest adventure (or simply pulled up another screen) to watch gaming’s biggest names in hardware and titles step up to the microphone and show their latest wares. While the event is still ongoing, we thought we’d take a look at conversation thus far (specific to the UK) and see how gamers (and non gamers increasingly as gaming systems look to take over home entertainment) are reacting to news from Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, and others.

As happens with events, much of the conversation (that can be easily monitored) is happening on Twitter – 92% of it in fact. 

With the launch of gaming consoles from Microsoft and Sony, it’s no wonder ‘Xbox’ and ‘PS4’ are showing up in the top layers of the word cloud. Nintendo, the other major gaming console maker shows up much smaller, which follows recent trends for not only conversation about the Wii platform, but also for excitement and sales. 

One important thing to mention is the domination of the web by console-related conversation. While past E3 events have had small hardware announcements, this combined Xbox One and PS4 cycle is the most hardware-heavy event for some time. Still though, games and studios have their time in the spotlight still as E3 pushes on and game titles (especially exclusives with large followings) will continue to propel console conversation (and sales) leading up to holiday 2013.

The demographic breakdown of those discussion E3 and the brands associated with the event becomes incredibly interesting… The sub-twenty category is noticeably abuzz with talk of the event, which is definitely to be expected. The mirror split between the 21-35 and 35-50 age group is a little more shocking as typically the 21-35 group actually rates higher for gaming. One thing console brands may want to pay attention to, given the shift from stricktly focusing on console gaming to the idea of consoles are more of a media hub is the gender split. With such a lopsided ratio between male and female participation in the conversation, it may indicate a struggle to move the needle in perception of consoles as a family-focused product and not just a product aimed at younger males. Look for brands (hardware and software alike) to continue their push into new demos.

Disclosure: Microsoft, the maker of the Xbox, is an IPG Mediabrands client. This post was written without any information from Microsoft and with no indication of any future Microsoft marketing, hardware, software, or company actions.