Port Washington, N.Y. - Bypassing the current troubles in the overall economy, U.S. video game sales hit $1.7 billion in March, up 57% from a year ago on strong sales of Nintendo's Wii and "Super Smash Bros. Brawl," according to industry sales data compiled by market research firm NPD Group. "You'd never know that the U.S. economy was under distress by looking at the video games industry sales figures," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier.

Tokyo - Nintendo's "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" has become the fastest-selling game for the Wii to reach 1 million units in Japan, Reuters reports, citing Japanese game magazine publisher Enterbrain. The game reached 1 million in sales just 11 days following its launch on Jan. 31, besting both "Wii Fit" (7 weeks) and "Wii Sports" (11 weeks) to the milestone. The anticipated game is slated for release in North America on March 9.