JULY 24, 2007 • According to NPD Funworld data, for the first six months of 2007 U.S. console hardware sales were up 98%, console software was up 21%, portable hardware was up 27%, portable software was up 35%, and video game accessories were up 56%. Sales of the Wii during the first half of the year were 2.1 million, 1.2 million Xbox 360s and 760,000 for the PlayStation 3s.

Impact: The real story is the increase in software sales.  Hardware sales were expected to soar with new system releases.  However, there was concern that consumer spending on hardware may not leave a great deal of money lying around for software purchases.  Per capita game spending continues to grow at a solid pace and that is very good news for such a relatively established business as video games.