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 | | The NPD Group reports that sales of consoles, handheld gaming devices, and software for these gadgets topped US$10.5 billion, which beats 2004 by 6 percent, and the previous record, 2002, by three percent. |
 | | On the software end, the console game dollar total was down 12 percent at $4.7 billion, portable software gained 42 percent to $1.4 billion, and the overall effect was a small downturn, from $6.2 billion to $6.1 billion. |
 | | If history is any indication, 2006 should be a pretty flat year for video game sales, as the three new consoles build up their user bases, and the new users start putting nickels in their piggy banks for games after dropping the old stash on hardware. |
| arstechnica.com /news.ars/post/20060115-5983.html (734 words) |
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