Technology Word

NEW YORK (AP) - U.S. video game sales - including hardware and software - jumped 34 percent in February to hit $1.33 billion, even with two top-selling consoles in short supply, according to data from market researcher NPD Group.
Nintendo’s Wii and Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360 have been in such high demand stores are having a hard time keeping them in stock. Microsoft spokesman David Dennis said the company moved up shipments during the holidays and hasn’t been able to catch up since.
He added “we should be in good shape” by the time “Grand Theft Auto IV,” the highly anticipated latest installment of the Rockstar Games franchise, hits store shelves April 29.
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.
February is normally a slow month for video game publishers coming off holiday highs, and consumers have also been cutting back spending amid economic worries. Still, with “several marquee titles still to come in the front half of the year, the industry is poised to achieve another year of record-breaking sales despite difficult economic conditions,” said NPD analyst Anita Frazier in an e-mail.
The sales figures surpassed what many analysts were expecting. Game hardware sales rose 19 percent during the month to $480 million, NPD said late Thursday. Of this, the portable Nintendo DS was the best-seller with 587,600 units, followed by the Wii at 432,000. The Xbox 360 sold 254,600 units even amid supply constraints.
“It appears that Wii and DS shortages abated in February, likely in anticipation of strong March software launches,” Pachter wrote in a note to investors.
Going strong since its launch in 2000, Sony’s PlayStation 2 continued to outpace its successor. The PS2 sold 351,800 units compared with 280,800 for the PS3.
February’s software sales grew 47 percent to hit $668.7 million, with Activision Inc.’s first-person shooter “Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare” at No. 1 with 296,200 units sold for the Xbox 360. Capcom USA’s “Devil May Cry 4″ and Nintendo’s “Wii Play,” which comes with a remote and includes games like pingpong and fishing, also did well.

via AOL

SAN FRANCISCO - U.S. sales of video game hardware and software hit $1.33 billion in February, up 34 percent from a year earlier, with Sony Corp’s <6758.T> PlayStation 3 topping Microsoft Corp’s Xbox 360 for the second month in a row.

Nintendo Co Ltd’s <7974.OS> Wii was still the best-selling console, moving 432,000 units and topping the 281,000 PlayStation 3s and 255,000 Xbox 360s, according to market research firm NPD.

“With several marquee titles still to come in the front half of the year, the industry is poised to achieve another year of record-breaking sales despite difficult economic conditions,” NPD analyst Anita Frazier said in a statement.

Software sales in February were up 47 percent year-on-year while hardware sales rose 19 percent, NPD said.

Microsoft, which outsold Sony every month up until January, blamed its weak showing on inventory shortages caused by stronger-than-expected demand over the holidays.

“Our manufacturing team guesses five months out. They made their forecast and didn’t have as high a forecast as they should have,” said Microsoft spokesman David Dennis.

“We’re doing everything we can, pulling all the levers” to boost output, he said.

Microsoft said it expects to have a healthy supply of Xbox 360s by April, when Take-Two Interactive Software Inc’s “Grand Theft Auto 4″ hits shelves in what is widely expected to be the biggest game of the year.

But the company, which earlier this week cut Xbox prices in Europe to boost sales, may feel pressure to take a similar move in the United States if it continues to trail the PS3, said Jesse Divnich, an analyst with The simExchange, an online prediction market for game sales.

“Given these past two months and the momentum that the PS3 has gained, Microsoft must react quickly as the PS3’s momentum will only get stronger,” Divnich wrote in a note.

Sony’s PlayStation 2, which uses 8-year-old technology but costs just $130, about one-third of the cheapest PS3, saw surprising strength, selling 352,000 units, 19 percent more than a year ago.

Military shooting game “Call of Duty 4″ from Activision Inc was the top game for a single console, moving 296,000 copies for the Xbox 360, NPD said.

“Devil May Cry 4,” a demonic-themed fighting game from Japan’s Capcom <9697.T>, sold a combined 529,000 copies for the Xbox 360 and PS3.

The top games for Nintendo’s Wii were its “Wii Play,” which came in at number three with 290,000 copies, and Activision’s “Guitar Hero 3,” with 223,000 copies.

“Our momentum has not let up since the holidays and we expect it to continue throughout the year,” Cammie Dunaway, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Nintendo of America, said in a statement.

via MSN