US retail sales of video game hardware, software and accessories hit a record $10.5 bln in 2005 as strong demand from portable gaming gadgets offset weakness in console players, says NPD Group  The old record was $10.3 bln in 2002.  6% higher than the $9.9 bln of 2004.

Big movers were portables like Nintendo Ds, GameBoy Advance and Sony PSP. Up 42% to $1.4 bln it was a second straight year of sales above $1 bln.

Microsoft have sold 600K XBox 360 consoles since the Nov 05 launch. And 2 mln users of the original XBox now subscribe to XBox Live, say 10% of the potential. Microsoft plans to reach 50% of XBox 360 users for its XBox online service.

But Electronic Arts has suffered. They report the lack of consoles means consumers have waited to buy 50 dollars games. Profit there was down 31%.

So, we see a growing expanding market with new generations of gamers joining the old. But, they are selective, and this year its all about PlayStation3; Xbox 360 and Revolution. There should be another record fall. But only if there consoles are in the marketplace, the games are available and there's a new dimension to the play.