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Analysts Foresee Another Banner Year For Videogame Industry

Posted by Zonk on from the banner-that-says-money-money-money dept.

Analysts observing the videogame industry forsee 2008 being another blockbuster year in sales. Sales during the month of February were considerably up, according to the NPD group. Early in the year is historically a very slow time in the game sales calendar, making the 34% jump for the month highly significant. Grand Theft Auto IV is likely to be an engine for sales throughout the year: "The game, which will be available on the Xbox 360 and Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3, is expected to boost sales of both consoles. Pre-orders have been better than expected, according to its publisher, Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan, expects the game to sell about 9 million units during the company's fiscal year, which ends in October. Roughly 6 million of this, he added, will be to Xbox 360 owners."

5 of 205 comments (clear)

  1. Re:mgs4 and brawl must also be an engine by junner518 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I believe Brawl will be one of the best games of the year. Nintendo has consistently had blowout sales on its super smash bros. franchise, and Brawl is definitely the best yet. It's way better than melee(no wavedashing, etc.) and brings a gameplay more similar to the first one. The characters are well balanced, but lend themselves to certain styles of playing. The graphics, although not what an Xbox 360 or PS3 fan would consider good, are still impressive. It is definitely evident that nintendo took some time to make this one perfect, even if it meant months of delays. And as far as I can tell, its pretty much everything I hoped for and more.

  2. Could be by 7Prime · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Could be... or it could mean the 360 is just hacking into Sony's former mindshare. I think it's probably a combination of both, actually. The continued success of the Wii is probably the #1 indication that HDTV adoption (or should I say, SDTV abandonment) isn't going as planned.

    --
    Multiplayer Gaming (defined): Sitting around, discussing single-player games with my friends, at the bar.
    1. Re:Could be by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Please.

      HDTV loses out on:
      1. Cost.
      2. Standard definition picture quality.
      3. Cost of content.
      4. Amount of content.
      5. Cost of accessories.
      6. The fact that I already own an SDTV.

  3. Economic Conditions by NuclearError · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's interesting how high sales are despite a stalled economy. Maybe it's cheaper to sit at home and play video games instead of going out, given the price of gas.

    --
    Nuclear engineers build weapons. Civil engineers build targets.
  4. Re:no spore? by Evangelion · · Score: 5, Funny

    Why? Do you plan on mangling your fingers and eyes out of boredom?