Gaming officials and analysts have conflicting predictions for 2008 sales

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Paul Nelson reporting Sales of video games and gaming consoles were sky high in 2007. Some industry officials say that momentum will carry over into this year, but some analysts say 2007 was so good, and 2008 will pale in comparison.

Gaming industry officials say games like "Hannah Montana" and "High School Musical 2" for the Nintendo DS are flying off the shelves, which is good for Utah game makers. Games like these are actually made right here.

Disney has two game studios in Utah. "They've created games based on ‘Chicken Little,' ‘Meet the Robinsons,' [and] the upcoming film ‘Bolt,'" explained Disney Interactive Communications Vice President Angela Emery.

Both Avalanche and Fall Line Studios will be working on the game for "Toy Story 3," which comes out in 2010.

Emery says they had an epic year in 2007. "I think NPD (a national retail market research firm) just released data that the industry revenue was up 43 percent to nearly $18 billion, and that's just in the U.S. alone," she said.

Because 2007 was so good for the gaming industry, some analysts say 2008 won't match up. But Emery says she can see a lot of momentum heading into the new year. "I guess what happens is, if you have a banner year, what's to follow? How can the industry sustain itself?" she said.

The Consumer Electronics Association says software sales will actually go up, but fewer people will be buying game consoles because they're so established.

However, retailers say they don't know if they see it that way, especially for the Nintendo Wii. "They've increased production up to over 300 percent of what they originally started with. The demand is still ridiculously high, but that is a worldwide demand," Best Buy gaming specialist John Davila said.

There was a rumor that Nintendo kept Wii production low so demand would be high, but Davila says it's not true. As for the Playstation 3, people will likely buy new consoles and new games. "The PS3, the 40 gig models, don't do backwards compatibility whatsoever," Davila said.

Davila says if new games in 2008 are good, console sales should be good as well. In 2007, games like "Wii Play," "Call of Duty 4" and "Guitar Hero 3" sold a combined total of 9.8 million units. "Halo 3" sold nearly five million units just by itself.