The videogame industry once again proved that it is recession resistant during November.

Software sales increased 10% to $2.91 billion in November, while hardware sales increased 10% to $1.21 billion. In comparison, U.S. retail sales fell 1.8% in November.

The U.S. videogame market -- including both software and hardware -- reached sales of $1.69 billion for June 2008, an increase of 53% from a year ago. Hardware sales were up 54% to $615.1 on the continued success of Nintendo's (NTDOY.PK) Wii and DS, as well as Sony (SNE) PlayStation 3's sales nearly doubling from May due to the release of Metal Gear Solid 4. Software sales increased 61% to $542.2 million on strong debuts from Metal Gear Solid 4, Guitar Hero On Tour, and Lego Indiana Jones.

The other big stories in hardware are that Nintendo Wii is now the best selling console in the US. Nintendo Wii leads life-to-date U.S. sales with 10.85 million units sold, compared to 10.49 million Xbox 360s and 4.85 million PS3s sold. The Wii also leads 2008 sales with 3.48 million units sold this year, compared to 1.61 million PS3s and 1.34 million Xbox 360s. The PS3 continues to widen the 2008 sales gap with the Xbox 360 -- it's currently outselling Microsoft's (MSFT) console by approximately 270,000 units compared to an 80,000 units lead at the end of last month.

NPD Group has released hardware and software sales for May 2008. As expected, the videogame industry is defying the current economic slowdown in the United States - combined hardware and software sales increasing 37% to $1.12 billion. Hardware sales are up 34% to $428.6 million, while software sales increased 41% to $536.9 million. The US videogame industry has generated revenues of $6.6 billion so far.

In terms of hardware sales, Nintendo's (NTDOY.PK) Wii and DS once again dominated the sales chart with sales far above the 200,000-300,000 units typically seen during the first half of the year. Life-to-date sales of the Nintendo Wii have reached 10.2 million, just shy below the 10.3 million units the Xbox 360 has sold despite the year head start; PlayStation 3 life-to-date sales stand at 4.5 million. However, in 2008, the PlayStation 3 has outsold the Xbox 360: 1.2 million to 1.1 million; Nintendo's Wii has sold more than both combined at 2.8 million units.

Nintendo's (NTDOY.PK) Wii sold nearly three-quarters of a million units—a number typically found only in the holiday months—during April. The Wii sold nearly 179,000 units a week in April (since NPD Group's April figures were a five-week cycle this time), up 24% from March 2008 and 98% from April 2007. In comparison, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 sold roughly 188,000 units each during the month-or roughly 47,000 units per week. For the Xbox 360, this represents a 10% decrease from March 2008 and 8% decrease from April 2007. The PlayStation 3's weekly sales represent a decrease of 9% over March 2008 but an increase of 128% from April 2007.

What does this all mean? Well, for starters, Nintendo's demand is reaching unprecedented heights. Further, we can see that the PlayStation 3 is improving its position relative to the Xbox 360. The PS3 outsold the Xbox 360 two out of the last four months, and was barely outsold by the Xbox 360 the other two. This is a sharp contrast from last year, where the Xbox 360 routinely and substantially outsold the console.

Activision (ATVI) has confirmed that three times as many Guitar Hero SKUs will be coming in the next fiscal year, as well as that Call of Duty 5 will be released for Wii, PS2 and DS, in addition to Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.

With regards to Guitar Hero, the company commented that there will be three times as many SKUs during the next fiscal year. An SKU refers to any particular platform of a game, so Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, released on Xbox 360, PS3, PC, PS2 and Wii represents five SKUs. The company hinted that other studios will be joining Neversoft in handling additional versions of the game. Vicarious Visions is currently working on the DS version of the game, Guitar Hero On Tour, and the company confirmed that it will be bundled in a Nintendo DS package by Nintendo (NTDOY.PK).

Take-Two Interactive Software (TTWO), which owns Grand Theft Auto IV publisher Rockstar Games, confirmed that the game has sold over 6 million copies since it was released on April 29, which generated over $500 million in sales. The publisher sold over 3.6 million copies of GTA IV during the first day alone, bringing in $310 million.

GTA IV's critical acclaim has matched its commercial acclaim. The online reviews aggregator Metacritic website's aggregate score for Grand Theft Auto IV is currently 99%, what the website calls "universal acclaim." It has received a number of perfect scores from outlets like IGN, GameSpot, GamePro, EGM, and our own PGNx Media.

Infogrames Entertainment S.A. and Atari (ATAR) announced that they have reached a definitive agreement to merge. Infogrames will acquire all remaining shares of Atari for $1.68/share or approximately $11 million total. Atari would then become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Infogrames, who will provide Atari with a loan of up to $20 million to cover any expected capital requirements.

Microsoft (MSFT) Xbox Division's Sales Increase 68%

Microsoft's entertainment division, which includes the Xbox, Games for Windows and Zune, posted a profit as sales increased by 85% during Q3. This is the third consecutive quarter that the division has posted a profit. Before this fiscal year, the division had only reported a profit during the quarter that Halo 2 shipped.

Nintendo (NTDOY.PK) has released financial results for the year ending March 31 2008. The videogame publisher's revenue increased by 73% to ¥1.67 trillion ($16.1bn) while profits increased 48% to ¥257.3 billion ($2.5bn).

NPD Group has released software and hardware sales for March 2008. The game industry reached $1.7 billion in combined hardware and software sales, up 57% from March 2007. The industry is up 27% year to date compared to the first quarter of 2007.

As expected, Nintendo (NTDOY.PK) dominated the month's sales. Its Wii console sold 721,000 units while the Nintendo DS handheld sold 698,000 units. Sony (SNE) had a strong month, as well, with the PSP selling 297,000 units ahead of Microsoft's (MSFT) 262,000 Xbox 360s sold. The PlayStation 3 wasn't far behind with 257,000 units. Overall, March's hardware sales surpassed $550 million and are up 46% compared to March 2007.

Nintendo (NTDOY.PK) Wii has sold over 18.4 million units, becoming the best selling current-generation console. Nintendo has confirmed that it has sold over 5 million units in Japan and over 6 million units in Europe. According to NPD data, the company has sold 7.4 million units in the U.S. since it was released in November 2005. Combining these numbers, the console has sold over 18.4 million units.

Microsoft (MSFT) has sold about 17.8 million units worldwide. The console is outselling the Wii in the US (9.2 million to 7.4 million) and Europe (an estimated 8 million to the Wii's 6 million), but these differences have been evaporated in Japan where the Wii has reached 5 million in sales compared to the Xbox 360's 600,000. Microsoft's numbers are slightly underrepresented since it excludes three weeks of European sales that have been included for the Wii.

Downtime with Xbox Live may cause Microsoft (MSFT) to post another Xbox-related charge. Microsoft’s Xbox Live service, its internet connectivity application for the Xbox 360, was down during the crucial end of the Holiday season. The service is back online as of Wednesday but the downtime - over three-weeks - angered the 10 million Xbox Live members, many of who pay $50 a year for the service. Microsoft announced that they will be offering a free Xbox Live Arcade game (valued at $5-$10) for each of these members. The company was also hit with a class action lawsuit seeking damages of over $5 million related to the downtime.