http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5gSFAzhIL48DgUBMeke1sxnyvszHA
Wii still flying off the shelf as 2008 video game sales near $2 billion in
6 hours ago
TORONTO — Canadians are on track to spend more than $2 billion on video games in 2008.
The NPD Group, which tracks the video game industry, reported Monday that 2008 sales in Canada including hardware, software and accessories were $1.6 billion through November - up 36 per cent from the $1.1 billion over the same period a year ago.
Considering that Canadian cash registers rang up $396 million in video game sales in December 2007, the $2-billion mark seems very reachable this year with figures from the holiday rush still to come.
Those totals do not include PC game software.
Sales in the industry have soared in recent years. In 2005, the total amount spent on video games in Canada was $765 million. That figure climbed to $933 million in 2006 (up 22 per cent) and $1.531 billion in 2007 (up 56 per cent).
The Nintendo Wii continues to help drive the market. In November alone, Canadian consumers bought 123,000 Will consoles - up 40 per cent over the same month last year. That's more than the Xbox 360 (74,000 units) and PlayStation 3 (41,000) combined in November 2008.
"It's still the dominant force out there," said Matt Tattle of the NPD Group.
The Wii has sold 695,000 units so far in 2008, compared to 343,000 for the Xbox 360 and 326,000 for the PS3.
"For a year, it's seeing some of the best sales we've ever seen for a console," Tattle said.
Nintendo's handheld DS leads in hardware sales with 717,000 units so far this year, already exceeding the 2007 number of 711,000.
"Gears of War 2" (Xbox 360) topped the November game sales chart ahead of "Call of Duty: World at War" (Xbox 360). The PS3 version of "Call of Duty" came in at No. 4, sandwiched between "Mario Kart" and Fit (both Nintendo Wii).
The limited edition version of "Gears 2" (Xbox 360) ranked seventh.
The Canadian sales chart featured nine titles for Nintendo (seven for the Wii and two for the DS), six for the Xbox 360 and five for PlayStation (four for PS3 and one for PS2).
