After a turbulent and revolutionary 
year, the video game industry is bracing itself for 2010’s holiday and total-year retail sales figures.
Buoyed by continued strong sales of titles like “Call of Duty: Black Ops” and Microsoft’s Kinect, many analysts expect December sales to show more positive momentum when the numbers are released after the market closes this afternoon.
Any lingering fears about “Call of Duty: Black Ops” being 
overshadowed by its predecessor can now be dismissed—Activision-Blizzard announced Tuesday that the latest installment in the series has topped $1 billion in worldwide sales.
That’s nearly a month faster than “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2” hit the milestone, and it indicates the publisher could be on track to once again set entertainment and video game industry records.
Activision’s “Call of Duty” machine is showing no signs of weakness.
“Call of Duty: Black Ops” has hit $1 billion in sales in just six weeks, the company announced today. And the user engagement numbers are somehow even more impressive.
Read more at Variety’s Technotainment blog
The latest expansion to Activision 
Blizzard’s “World of Warcraft” franchise has sold more copies in 24 hours than many games sell throughout the course of their lives.
More than 3.3 million people around the world bought “World of Warcraft: Cataclysm” in its first day of availability — making it the fastest-selling PC game of all time, according to the publisher.
Last November, Activision’s annual “Call of Duty” release ruled the sales charts in a dominant fashion. This year, the story is set to repeat itself.
“Call of Duty: Black Ops” could lead the video game industry to its second consecutive month of year-over-year retail sales gains. If so, that will be the first time this year the sector has managed to pull off that feat.
After a year of disappointing sales figures 
and investor malaise, the video game industry is feeling some seasonal cheer.
The kick off to the holidays has been a boom time for game makers this year – with stellar sales for both hardware and software.
The question for investors, though, is whether this seasonal bump is the start of a turnaround for gaming companies – or just a short-term surge that will fade away by the end of December.
“Call of Duty: Black Ops” continues to break 
entertainment industry records.
Activision announced Thursday that the latest installment in its multibillion-dollar franchise has generated sales of $650 million in its first five days — an 18% (and $100 million) improvement over last year’s “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.” That makes the game’s opening the highest for an entertainment property — of any sort — in history.
Activision’s latest “Call of Duty” game continues to set records for the company. The video game publisher announced Thursday that in its first five days on store shelves, “Call of Duty: Black Ops” has generated sales of $650 million.
That’s $100 million better than last year’s “Modern Warfare 2,” which set a new bar for the video game industry — as well as the entertainment industry at large. Activision claims the opening is the biggest ever for any movie, book or video game.
Never underestimate the 
power of war and basketball.
Buoyed by strong performances by “NBA 2K11” and “Fallout: New Vegas,” the software side of the video game industry managed to push out of its slump in October.
While no one will mistake 
October as a joyous month for video game sales, there were a few nuggets of good news from NPD this month.
Retail software sales were up 6 percent – the first time the industry has seen growth since May. And the Xbox 360 saw hardware sales increase – the only console to do so. Otherwise… well, things weren’t so good.
Chris Morris: Journalist 