Titles for new handheld game systems from Sony and Nintendo helped drive video game industry sales up 21 percent to $4.1 billion in the first half of 2005, compared with $3.4 billion during the same period last year, according to a report from market research firm NPD Group. Losing ground were game consoles, which saw a 6 percent sales decline, from $631.6 million last year to $594 million in the first half of this year, and PC games, whose sales revenues were down 10.5 percent, to $405.4 million. Overall, however, video game sales for consoles, handhelds and the PC were up 9.2 percent to $2.8 billion; the top-selling title for the period was Sony's "Gran Turismo 4." Driving game sales were titles for Sony's PSP and Nintendo's DS and Game Boy handhelds, which were up 81 percent in the first half of 2005; handheld hardware sales also grew 74 percent. "The robust performance of the portable market certainly contributed to the considerable sales growth of the industry but another significant contributor to industry performance is software," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier.
What was once a simple, unidirectional flow of electricity from centralized power plants to passive consumers is evolving into a complex, intelligent network where millions of distributed resources actively participate in grid operations. This transformation, powered by smart grid technologies, represents one of the most significant infrastructure shifts of our time. It promises to reshape how we generate, distribute, and consume energy. At its core, the smart grid represents far more than mere digitization of existing infrastructure. This bi-directional capability is fundamental to understanding why smart grids are becoming the backbone of modern energy systems, facilitating everything from real-time demand response to the integration of renewable energy sources. Smart Grid Market Development By 2030, smart grid technologies are projected to cover nearly half of the global electrical grid, up dramatically from just 24 percent in 2025. This expansion is underpinned by explosive gr...