Christopher Zinn, a spokesman for CHOICE, said in an e-mail that this study, which also ranked plasma TV sets and an average desktop PC as the top energy guzzlers, has had a surprising effect on the public.

“The widespread interest in the revelation of this study is indicative of just how underappreciated relative levels of energy consumption are,” Zinn said. “We would hope (this study) would make people think twice about the effect on their utility bills of keeping devices on for too long.”

The study did show that devices kept on standby could cost only $15 per year.

Ted Wilson, owner of Replay Entertainment Exchange, 317 M.A.C. Ave., said these results weren’t unexpected to him.

“I’m not surprised, personally, about the energy use. Those games are energy hogs, using four or eight cell processors each. They keep chugging out more detailed graphics, too, and that needs a lot of energy,” Wilson said.

The energy costs of playing those extra rounds of Halo 2 may not be enough to stop them from playing. As Wilson said, the cost is part of a gamer’s way of life.

“For these players, gaming is their major source of entertainment, so the money isn’t an issue,” Wilson said.

For Steve Phillips, a marketing junior, the cost of supporting a powered game console would be an issue.

“I was in the dorms before, so energy wasn’t a big deal, but this year I’m moving into a house,” Phillips said. “And when I do, my roommate’s PS3 is going to be bringing the energy bill way up.”

He said that even if the high prices wouldn’t change his roommate’s playing habits, Phillips would still say something.

“I’ll tell him, no amount of killing hookers in video games will do anything to help the environment, so go outside and play some football or something,” Phillips said.

Wilson said the cost of running game consoles could be compared to that of gas prices.

“Gas prices keep increasing, but we all keep paying for it,” Wilson said. “People are all for being energy efficient, but not on reducing the use of their products … I think these gamers would be willing to adopt using solar panels to power their products someday, but not shutting things off more often.”

Though gamers may not be keen on cutting into game time by turning off the consoles, Wilson said people are not unaware of the energy required to run the games.

“I think people are pretty knowledgeable about their systems in that they don’t want them to overheat or break,” Wilson said. “The Xbox 360, for one, gets so hot it can overheat from all the power being used. Some even melt the chips inside, causing other problems.”

With options for saving power beyond solar panels, Zinn said CHOICE had advice to give to people on how to conserve energy and avoid the big bills.

“Put devices like TVs, amplifiers, DVD and CD players, game consoles, speakers and others into standby mode when not in use,” Zinn said. “Better still, turn them off at the wall. As our testing showed, some devices even in standby mode can still consume moderate amounts of power.”

Zinn said there are more ways to consume less energy in relation to appliances and power use.

“A key part of saving power is knowing how much you use — this is where we have a gap,” Zinn said. “Smart electricity meters could help one day, but until then information and labeling … and using multi-switch power boards, which allow you to turn off individual devices, can help.”