A massive boost in console and games sales in the US during October has pushed gaming revenue past the $1.1bn (£540m) mark, according to research outfit NPD.
The Christmas rush seems to have well and truly kicked in, with all three major consoles selling well, and improved games sales also funnelling money to the pot.
After the discounted, Halo 3-boosted Xbox 360 stole the stole the show in September, Nintendo is now back on top of the pile after it shifted 519,000 Wii consoles throughout the month.
Compared to that, the Xbox 360 was bought by 366,000 budding gamers while Sony managed to flog 121,000 of its PlayStation 3 machines.
Nintendo back on top
"What this demonstrates is that we are putting more and more product into the marketplace and we continue to sell out as soon as it hits," said Nintendo US president, Reggie Fils-Aime.
Nintendo can hold its head high because with every single Wii it sells, it makes a profit. Whereas Sony and Microsoft both make a loss with every PS3 and Xbox 360 hardware unit flogged.
However, Microsoft still has bragging rights in terms of revenue, because it sells as many games per console as the other two major players put together. There are 7 games bought for every 360 sold, compared with 3.44 for every Wii and 4 for each PlayStation 3.
Microsoft's bragging rights
"Software continues to be a real highlight for us. We had more software sales in the month of October than the Wii and PS3 combined," Aaron Greenberg, group product manager for Xbox Live, told Reuters.
Third-party games have proved crucial to Microsoft's recent success. "Gamers continue to show preference for third party titles on Xbox 360," Microsoft told Next Generation. "Of all third party US software revenue in October, Xbox 360 generated more than double that of the PS3 and Wii. Xbox 360 weighs in at 57 percent with $130 million, compared to Wii with 28 percent and PS3 at 15 percent."
Things also bode well Sony's much-maligned PS3 as well. In the seven days to November 11, Sony shifted an impressive 100,000 PlayStation 3 consoles, which is a big improvement on previous weeks. So next month you can expect to see Sony post some impressive monthly figures for November.
All these impressive numbers are what have established the games industry as a more lucrative enterprise than the movie business in recent years.
