When Doug referenced the video game industry a few days ago in terms of possible weak sales, I agreed. Are Americans really ponying up hundreds of dollars for consoles and approximately $50 a pop for video games with all the financial hurt many citizens are going through? You would think not, but they are.

Thanks to video game console makers Nintendo Ltd., Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE), video game sales growth in November was up about 10% compared to the year-ago period. That's right -- we spent $2.91 billion last month on video games. Perhaps savings in gas prompted the upswing?

NPD indicated that a broad range of games for all the major gaming consoles was the reason for the solid uptick in November. In addition to the nearly $3 billion on video game software, Americans spent another $1.21 billion in hardware sales. Forecasts are for an industry rake of nearly $22 billion for 2008.

Instead of DVD rentals, iTunes downloads and actually -- gasp -- going out to the movies, video games seem to be taking market share from other forms of entertainment. I would posit that those pulling money from the market stash some of that cash into video games, lest you play a roller-coaster type of game rather than ride the real thing on Wall Street.