This holiday season is going to be trying for the videogame industry. Though video games are now bigger than the movie industry, and last year the largest game publisher grossed more than $2 billion, but this year companies are fighting to push the bottom line in an expensive product category.

The holiday season “officially” starts with Black Friday, and sales growth is not expected to cover inflation; nevertheless shoppers hunting for a bargain have turned up.

For Best Buy, flat screen TV sets and the latest cell phones and digital cameras are still the top sellers. Game consoles however aren’t doing so well. Where once they were must-haves, now they aren’t leaving stocks.

"This is the first holiday where we haven't had a major launch. They've settled in and the units may be out there and there's not that high demand for them," said Chris Strange, a Best Buy store manager.

The National Retail Federation predicts holiday sales to rise just 2.2 percent, the slowest growth since 2002.

The Nintendo Wii has sold more than 13 million units, making it the best-selling game console in the country, nevertheless seeing a stock drop of 36.77 percent between September 2 and November 17, showing that even it is not immune to the effects of the recession; nevertheless they put on a brave face:

"We do believe that the continued popularity of our products, even during these tough economic times," said Denise Kaigler, the vice president of corporate affairs for Nintendo America, "are evidence that consumers are judging us as a good value and a great way to engage in social interaction."

That statement could be applied to the industry in general, which will have to work harder to appeal enough to appeal enough to the impoverished American customer to make good sales.