Analyst: Video game industry continues growth

Market research group NPD has released its latest tally of sales in the video game industry, which continues to grow despite worsening economic conditions.

Last September, MIT professor Henry Jenkins III called video games some of the "great equalizers" in digital media. He referred to video games as "convergent transmedia," or a single medium made up of other media: graphic design, music, coding, voice acting, script and dialogue writing, and so on.

Similarly, this generation of video game consoles is a convergent entertainment solution by default, allowing users to watch movies, play games, use the Internet, and so on.

While this doesn't mean it is a recession-proof industry, as many are wont to say, it means that video games as product have diversified value that persists. During January, Americans spent $445.4 million on video game hardware and $676.6 on software, according to NPD's numbers. Hardware sales represented a 17% increase, and software sales represented 10% growth.

Console sales were led yet again by Nintendo's Wii and DS, selling 679,200 and 510,800 units respectively. The Xbox 360 sold 309,000 units, and PlayStation 3 sold 203,200.

Eleven of the top twenty best selling titles in January were on Nintendo consoles, but most of them were games from the first half of 2008 and before. The second best selling title Wii Play (which is frequently shipped with a spare controller) has been available in the US market for two years. Only two of the top 20 games in January were new releases: Skate 2, and Lord of the Rings: Conquest.