Rousing Debut for Wii

The video-game sector appears to be off to a strong start this holiday season as industry sales including hardware, software and accessories reached $1.7 billion in November.

The results, tallied by market research firm NPD Group, are of particular interest because last month saw the introduction of two big consoles, Sony's (SNE Quote) PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii.

Round one in the battle has gone to the Wii, which sold 476,000 units in the month, while Sony's PS3 sold just 197,000 units in the U.S., NPD said. Pricing may have had something to do with it -- the Wii retails for $250, whereas the PS3 is sold as a $499 standard model and a $599 upgraded version. ...