With an increase of 28 percent, the computer and video game software sales reached $9.5 billion in 2007, setting a new record according to final data compiled by the NPD Group and announced by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA).

"The video game industry set the pace over all others in 2007, with record-breaking sales, off-the-charts consumer demand, and innovation reaching from galactic exploration to guitar simulation," said Michael D. Gallagher, president and CEO of the ESA, a U.S. association representing computer and video game software publishers. "On average, an astonishing 9 games were sold every second of every day of the year."

And, according to the Activision reports, Call of Duty was one of those 9 games sold per second. Still, the ESA considers that the economic impact is illustrated further by Halo 3(R) first day sales of $170M (per Microsoft) beating records set by the Spider-Man 3 movie's opening weekend at $151M (per Sony) and final Harry Potter book first day sales of $166M (per Scholastic). So, yes, video games are finally starting to get what they deserve. Hopefully the gamers will keep receiving the same, too.

According to the NPD Group data, the US citizens have spent no less than $6.6 billion for console software sales and "just" $910.7 million for computer games. In terms of total units sold, approximately 267.8 million computer and video games were sold in 2007. Among these, the ESA cited data showing that the industry sold over 13.4 million portable game units in 2007.

"Expansion was an overarching theme for the industry last year -- from the types of games sold to the people who bought them," said Anita Frazier, industry analyst, NPD Group. "NPD's consumer demographic data verifies that two non-traditional consumer groups grew over-proportionately to the whole: females and individuals over the ages of 35."

We're curious to see what will happen when 2008 will end. I'm really sure that this year's sales will be even bigger. It's just how stuff happens, you know?