The $10 billion video game industry, which generates more revenue than Hollywood, has never released so many highly anticipated blockbuster titles in a single season.

It started in August with the game title Doom 3, followed by The Sims 2 in September, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas in October, then Halo 2, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and Half-Life 2 last month.



In November, sales of video games rose to $849 million, an 11 percent increase from the same month last year and up 77 percent from October, according to the industry research firm NPD Funworld.



The industry set a milestone last month when Microsoft’s Halo 2 — a sequel to a futuristic game with an elaborate plot that pits humans against invading aliens — surpassed Hollywood’s opening-weekend movie box office record in just one day of sales.



The software giant reported it had sold 2.38 million copies in the first 24 hours, translating to about $125 million in sales, surpassing Hollywood’s biggest weekend opening, that of “Spider-Man” at $114 million.



At an EB Games store in San Francisco, opening-day sales — which began at midnight — drew a crowd that wrapped around the block.



“We created something that … hadn’t been seen before,” said Peter Moore, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of worldwide marketing and publishing for Xbox.



With new big titles now out for the PC and all three game consoles — PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube — this is a rare occasion in which no gamer gets left out.



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