Lower Prices Boost Video Game Sales

Sales of video games grew 7% in November from a year earlier, fueled by lower prices and an increase in consumers who own game consoles, a report by investment firm Harris Nesbitt Gerard says.

Games such as "Mario Kart: Double Dash" and "WWE Smackdown!" helped drive November sales to $764 million, bringing game sales for the first 11 months of the year to more than $4 billion, the report says.

Including consoles, however, industry sales were down 1% last month compared with November 2002. That was primarily because Nintendo Co. cut the price of its GameCube console to $99 from $149, the report says.

Up to 45% of the game industry's revenues historically are recorded in the last two months of the year.

-- Alex Pham