Video Games Continue to be Sold at a Fast Pace

February saw a 34% increase in the U.S. sales of video game hardware and software than the previous year, according to data released by the NPD Group.

Nintendo continues to be the best seller in U.S. video-game console sales with 432,000 Wii players being sold last month. PS3 was next with 281,000 units followed by 254,600 units of Microsoft’s Xbox 360. Nintendo's console sales increased 29 percent from a year earlier, while Sony's more than doubled. Xbox 360 sales gained 12 percent.

The spree of video game console selling has continued even after the festive season, during which these were in great demand. Even Sony's PS2 registered the first increase in sales since November 2006 as it sold 351,800 consoles, a 19 percent increase from the year earlier.

According to the earlier estimates market researcher NPD Group, in November the video game software sales increased by almost 62% touching the sales figures of $1.3 billion whereas the sales of the industry also increased by 52% on the whole. These sales continued to increase with big festivals like Christmas and New Year coming in the month of December.

NPD analyst Anita Frazier feels that the global recession does not seem to affect the video games industry and with several marquee titles still to come in the front half of the year, the industry is poised to achieve another year of record-breaking sales.

Microsoft, which had outsold Sony every month up until January, suffered because of inventory shortages caused by more-than-expected demand over the holidays.

"Our manufacturing team guesses five months out. They made their forecast and didn't have as high a forecast as they should have," said Microsoft spokesman David Dennis.

"We're doing everything we can, pulling all the levers" to boost output, he said.

Microsoft expects Xbox 360 supply to be improved by the time of the key "Grand Theft Auto 4" release in late April.

Xbox 360 product manager Aaron Greenberg said that Microsoft, which supported the HD-DVD format, isn't currently in talks with Sony or the Blu-ray Disc Association about integrating Blu-ray into "the Xbox 360 experience.

"We really feel like games are what will continue to sell consoles. We don't think Blu-ray will have any material impact on the market in regards to console sales, relative to us, or to the PS3," he said.

``Devil May Cry 4'' from Osaka, Japan-based Capcom Co.'s U.S. unit sold a combined 528,700 copies for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 to be the top-selling game title. Activision Inc.'s ``Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock'' had combined sales of 406,700 for the Wii and PlayStation 2.

Military shooting game "Call of Duty 4" from Activision Inc was the top game for a single console, moving 296,000 copies for the Xbox 360.

Amongst all the competition between Microsoft and Sony, Nintendo seems to be concentrated on maintaining the top spot.

"Our momentum has not let up since the holidays and we expect it to continue throughout the year," Cammie Dunaway, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Nintendo America.