U.S. Video-Game Hardware Sales Hit 3-Year High on Consoles

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U.S. spending on video-game hardware surged to its highest in three years in December, as consumers snapped up new consoles from Microsoft Corp. and Sony Corp.

Hardware sales increased 28 percent to $1.37 billion from a year earlier, Port Washington, New York-based NPD Group Inc. said yesterday in an e-mail. The tally, the highest since spending hit $1.84 billion in December 2010, drove total retail sales for the industry to their fifth straight monthly gain. Sony and rival video-game maker Nintendo Co. fell in Tokyo.