Video games have come far since the days of 8-bit Mario. Reports from DFC Intelligence - a consulting firm for the video game market - show that there are now 11 countries that have an annual video game revenue in excess of US$ 1 billion. By 2009, the industry is expected to reach US$ 57 billion.

The reports continue to say that among the three consoles that make up this generation, the Wii is expected to rank in first when all is said and done. DFC analyst Jeremy Miller says that:

The Wii not only has unique features and a broad demographic appeal, but Nintendo is dominant as a software publisher. For many third party publishers this means they will have much greater success on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, even if Wii sales continue to be strong.

So is the Wii a fad, as many others have claimed before? Not according to sales. In fact, analyst David Cole says that: "The Wii does not appear to be a fad and it has the chance to be one of the best selling systems of all-time."

On Sony's camp, analysts from DFC believe that the PlayStation 3 will equal the Wii in annual software sales by 2012, which would be more than halfway into its 10-year cycle. They make no mention of how it would do with hardware sales though.

They note that the Xbox 360 is still the leading platform in "some of the top markets, most notably in the US and UK." In this report, they make no mention of the 360's future, but David Cole did comment last month that the 360 will come in third place in this generation.

So which is the most profitable platform for games in 2007? Amazingly enough, it's the PC. According to a report, PC online game revenue alone passed US$ 7 billion that year, not including retail sales. That amount is expected to reach US$ 19 billion by 2013. I'm guessing these revenues come from MMOs, but DFC wasn't clear on that account.