After all the hype of Sony delays on the PlayStation 3 gaming console, the company announced that it sold 490,700 in the U.S. in December, or 687,700 at year end, which was lower than competitors Xbox which has sold 1.1 million consoles since launch, and Nintendo Wii, which sold 604,200 in the U.S. in December. Xbox has had an advantage in the numbers so far because it came out a year earlier (and is cheaper than PS3), but overall, analysts are watching the sales of the 3 giants closely, as figures add up to an estimated $3.7 billion in video game software and hardware in December—up 28%. The top game so far has been Xbox “Gears of War,” however we’ll see if this tops the list among young people in North America in our next wave of research (as often the top listed game overall, is not the top game among 13-24-year-olds).

One reason to watch top platforms is that it indicates where things are headed in terms of preferences. As we’ve pointed out in our North America, European, Japan, and China Youth Culture Studies, new markets, including younger demographics of 13-18-year-olds, and young females in particular, tend to have higher percentages that prefer hand-held gaming devices, mobile phone games, and online games, vs. console games. All of which were hot devices over the holiday season.