I explored a few of the more recent posts and havent seen a thread dedicated to the effects of our current spiraling economy on Video Game holiday sales.  There are scattered posts throughout various threads but wanted to try and consolidate it into 1.

Apparently, there looks to be 2 parties people tend to fall into at the moment:

1.  Since video games are part of the entertainment industry and provide immense value per dollar, it is resistant to the effects and will continue to sell well through the holiday season.

2.  Nothing escapes this current crisis and video game sales will crash just like everything else.

I fall more into the 1st viewpoint and seeing the economic crisis having a little impact on the current Video Game market and sales rates.  Do other people follow the same view point ... or #2 viewpoint ... or a 3rd/4th/etc viewpoint I am currently unaware of.

gift cards will be the highest selling thing like last holiday....

Sign me up for viewpoint number 1

Less money will be spent this holiday season.
That means fewer $60 games or consoles.
It means more bargain games.

This bodes better for those with cheaper prices or that run well on older TVs.

This is not the environment to be hawking HD or BR.

This is being viewed as a possible Depression -- not Recession.

Mike from Morgantown

I agree with point 1, but with a bigger focus on economic options. I think the XB Arcade and the Wii will do best where the more expensive systems will do ok, but not beating last Christmas season's sales.

I agree with point one. Video games are a relatively cheap form of great entertainment so I don't think it will be affected too much.

The big problem I see is that there are too many games being released at the same time combined with a bad economy. While one game at $60 doesn't sound like a big deal, the chances of buying multiple games are reduced significantly. Also, the consumer will be more patient and wait for discounting or buy older games.