Gaming industry worth $22 billion in 2008

we spent a lot of money on video games last year. Hey, just because
we're blogging all serious like doesn't mean we don't buy our fair
share of games. We're as responsible for this as you are! How much of
that money do you think belongs to Nintendo?

The ESA was kind enough to break down the data further, showing us
that we spent $11.7 billion on software alone, a 22.9% jump
year-over-year. A lot of the sales, both on the hardware and software
side, can be traced back to December, where consumers spent $5.3
billion, breaking the coveted $5 billion mark in a single month for
the first time.

"While industry growth has not continued at the blistering pace we saw
during the second and third quarters, December's 9 percent increase
over last December brings the year in 19 percent ahead of last year,
and sets a new record for total industry sales," said NPD analyst
Anita Frazier in an e-mail statement.

December marked the first time that the gaming industry's revenue
topped $5 billion in a single month, she noted. In comparison, it took
all of 1997 to hit industry sales of $5.1 billion.

While the Wii, with its easy-to-use motion controller and playful
titles, has been basking in the spotlight since its 2006 launch,
Nintendo's portable DS was the best-selling gaming system in December,
topping 3 million units. The Wii, meanwhile, sold about 2.2 million
units, up roughly 5 percent from November's levels.