The Games News

Who stated that the Xbox 360 topped the list of popular Christmas toys, over Apple’s iPod? According to Steve Jobs, Apple had sold more than 14 million iPods around the world, while CNN reports, that “Microsoft Corp. has only sold 600,000 of its new Xbox 360 video game consoles in the United States since its November launch”.

Apple’s iPod music player continues to be popular, in the last three months of 2005, helping to almost double its quarterly profits. Meanwhile, the sales of Apple’s computers totaled 1.25 million during the quarter, below market expectations.

The sales of video game hardware, software and accessories hit a record $10.5-billion in 2005, the NPD Group research firm reported. Apparently the sales are getting higher, as the old record of $10.3-billion set in 2002 was 6 per cent higher than the $9.9-billion reported in 2004.
Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance and Sony’s PlayStation Portable jumped 42 per cent to $1.4-billion in 2005 and Game Boy Advance programs made up 52 per cent of total sales.

According to the news, Electronic Arts Inc.’s “Madden NFL 06″ for Sony’s PlayStation 2 was the most popular title of the year and tt was followed by Nintendo’s “Pokemon Emerald” for Game Boy Advance and Sony’s “Gran Turismo 4″ for the PlayStation 2.