WebProNews

First quarter of 2005 sees massive financial gains by makers of video games, hardware, and accessory components.

The video game industry continues to keep pace with US movie box office sales, thanks to strong showings from Nintendo's double-screened DS portable and Sony's PlayStation Portable console.

Games for consoles like the Xbox and Playstation 2 earned more than $1 billion USD in sales. The best-seller for the first quarter of 2005 was Gran Turismo 4, a racing simulator developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. GT4 sold over one million copies. No other game sold more than half that amount.

Much speculation about future console games and hardware keeps gamers guessing. An updated Nintendo Gameboy Advance SP device has been rumoured for an end-of-year release, and next generation consoles from Microsoft and Sony are in development.

Industry analysts expect the entire video game sector to finish the year with about 5 percent growth over last year.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.