A new report from the NPD Group shows that online gaming is up, PC gaming is slightly down, and the Xbox 360 is sitting on top of the console heap for online play. Of the 20,000 people polled for the report, 25 percent played games online, versus 19 percent the year before. That's quite a leap, and one the NPD Group calls "statistically significant." But what is everyone playing on?

The PC is the most popular online platform by a large margin, as last year 90 percent of online gamers were playing on the PC. This year? Down to 87 percent. The Xbox 360 is surging, with 50 percent of online players using Microsoft's system—and Xbox Live—to play games with friends.

The number three slot is where we go into the twilight zone: last year 18 percent of online gamers played on the Wii, and this year it's 29 percent. That's quite the leap, and it puts the Nintendo Wii above the PlayStation 3 for online play. With numbers like this, it's time for publishers to start taking the Wii much more seriously as an online platform, as gamers are already comfortable bringing the system online.

The report also points out that online gamers represent a much wider variety of gamers than traditional retail games. "Online gaming is enjoyed by a diverse group of players," said Anita Frazier, industry analyst, The NPD Group. "The sheer variety of content and ease of access makes online gaming attractive to a much larger demographic than what we typically see in retail."

This is why the online space is such a good excuse for experimentation; a diverse audience brings variant tastes. Is it any wonder many of the truly exciting games in the past few years were smaller, digitally distributed games?

Online gaming has also become more popular among younger gamers: online gaming increased five percent in gamers aged 13 to 17, while it decreased slightly among older gamers. "These shifts indicate that online gaming may have become more appealing to 13 to 17 year olds compared to last year, a theme that is echoed by the growth in teens using a console system for online gaming, and a relatively proportional decline among adults, especially ages 25-34, across several systems," The NPD Group explains.

While the PC still sits far above its console competition, the Xbox 360 and Wii show just how powerful gaming consoles can be in the world of online gaming. While none of these numbers show anything approaching a large shift—the biggest surprise is the large jump in Wii online gaming—there are several trends at work here: console online gaming is likely get bigger by eating at the PC's share of online time. They're easy to bring online and may be bringing a younger market to online gaming.