With the amazing software sales that are going on, 2008 is set to demolish 2007's record setting figures in the U.S. With this news, analysts are now raising their predictions for this year.

When analysts first predicted the software sales for 2008, they were very conservative. Colin Sebastian thought the sales would only go up 30% from last year, Michael Pachter and Jesse Divnich almost predicted the same percentage, with 43 and 44%. Evan Wilson has been the closest, predicting that sales would be up 60%.

As for the hardware sales, both Pachter and Divnich think the Xbox 360 will be in second this month, with the Wii in first. Why? Because of Microsoft's decision to cut the price of the 20GB model to $299.

Last year saw record gaming sales at US retailers, but 2008 is on pace to crush those numbers. Heading into the back half of the year, the industry has already posted six straight months of double-digit software sales growth, and analysts are unified in expecting a seventh later this week when the NPD Group releases its US retail sales figures for July.

Lazard Capital Markets' Colin Sebastian was the most conservative of the usual NPD-prognosticating suspects, suggesting US software sales would only be up 30-35 percent over July 2007's take of $419 million. Wedbush Morgan Securities' Michael Pachter and EEDAR's Jesse Divnich were in virtual agreement, predicting 44 percent and 43 percent, respectively. Topping all comers was Pacific Crest Securities' Evan Wilson, who suggested US retailers sold $670 million in games last month, a 60 percent jump year-over-year.

tyranitar24 via gamespot.com »