Port Washington, N.Y. - The percentage of U.S. HDTV owners aware of the next-generation Blu-ray Disc format has grown to 45%, from 35% in June 2007, but just 6% of all consumers and 9% of HDTV owners said they plan to buy a Blu-ray player in the next six months, according to a survey conducted by market research firm NPD Group.

New York - Sales of Blu-ray standalone players plummeted 40 percent from January to February, then rose only 2 percent from February to March in spite of winning the high def format war, according to a report by research firm NPD Group. This is bad news for the home entertainment industry, which has put its hopes into a drastic increase in adoption of the next generation high def DVD players after Toshiba dropped its support for the HD DVD format earlier this year in favor of Sony's (NYSE: SNE) Blu-ray format.

Port Washington, N.Y. - U.S. video game sales were $1.18 billion in January, a 6% drop from a year ago -- attributed primarily to an extra week of sales reporting last year -- with Sony's (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation 3 notably overtaking Microsoft's (NASD: MSFT) Xbox 360 for second place in hardware sales behind Nintendo's Wii. Overall hardware shortages after the holiday shopping rush pushed sales down 25% from a year ago, to $378 million; Nintendo moved 274,000 Wii consoles, while Sony sold 269,000 PS3's and Microsoft 230,000 Xbox 360's.

New York - U.S. video game sales jumped 43% in 2007 to a record $17.9 billion, fueled by strong growth in every product category, including a 54% rise in hardware sales for the year and a 28% overall increase in the key month of December, according to sales data compiled by market research firm NPD Group. "While hardware sales realized the greatest percentage growth over 2006 due to the closely scrutinized console hardware transition, each category under the video games industry umbrella reached their own 'personal bests' in terms of annual sales," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier.

San Francisco - U.S. video game sales topped $1 billion again in October, rising 73% from a year ago to $1.1 billion, according to data from market research firm NPD Group. Nintendo's Wii reclaimed the top console spot, after last month when the release of "Halo 3" pushed the Xbox 360 ahead for the first time this year.

New York - U.S. sales of video game consoles, software and accessories rose 33% in March, to $1.1 billion, with Nintendo's Wii leading all next-generation console sales and the company's DS handheld far outpacing sales of all other game devices, Reuters reported, citing sales data from market research firm NPD.

New York - Nintendo's Wii video game console outsold both Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3 in the U.S. during February, according to sales data from market research firm NPD Group cited by Reuters.

San Francisco - Nintendo's Wii was the top-selling video game console in the U.S. in January, followed by Sony's PlayStation 2, Microsoft's Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing sales data from market research firm NPD Group.

Port Washington, N.Y. - U.S. video game sales rose 18% in 2006, to $13.5 billion, bolstered by top-selling PC title "World of Warcraft" and the release of new hardware from Sony and Nintendo, according to a report from market research firm NPD Group.

New York - Brisk hardware sales in December helped push total U.S. video game sales for 2006 up 19%, to $12.5 billion, according to sales data from market research firm NPD Group.