Nintendo’s Wii and DS software will account for over 50 percent of all games sold in December across America, saving the game industry from the “full wrath” of the recession.

This was the conclusion made from analyst group Electronic Entertainment Design and Research (EEDAR) in its US December sales preview.

Speaking ahead of the upcoming NPD results for December, Jesse Divnich – the group’s director of Analytical Services – adds that “in terms of pure dollar and unit growth, Nintendo’s systems are expected to lead the way by an unprecedented amount.”

Nintendo’s Wii is expected to have sold 3.2m units in a single month. If NPD confirms, it would be the highest monthly unit turnover for any single console since records began. Divnich believes that, had supply met demand in the US, sales for the Wii would have been north of 4 million. The DS follows closely behind, with EEDAR projecting it will have sold around 3 million units.

That boost in Nintendo hardware sales has helped the industry grow by some 14 percent in 2008, according to the group, foretelling an exceptional rise in the game market in the face of a global recession which has paralysed numerous other business sectors. “We expect software sales for December 2008 to come in at $2.7 billion,” Divnich says. 

And though Microsoft's Xbox 360 is expected to also enjoy a rise in sales (up 19 percent over last year), EEDAR predicts that both of Sony's systems will experience a drop.

PS3 sales could fall as far as 12 percent from last year, Divnich calculates, leaving the console with 700,000 units sold throughout the lucrative Christmas month; less than half of what the 360 is expected to take. The PSP, meanwhile, should sell some 880,000 units; less than a third of what the DS is thought to have sold.