In a stark reversal of the trend on display just a few short months ago--when general retail sales were plummeting even as the video games industry was still showing growth--cautious optimism in retail is now being offset by many losing months in video games.

In July, according to industry analyst the NPD Group, video game sales fell for the fifth straight month, and the year-over-year numbers are striking: In July, the video games business posted sales of $848.9 million, down 29 percent from $1.1 billion a year earlier. Year-to-date sales, reported NPD, were at $8.16 billion, down 14 percent from the same time period a year ago.

And things are only getting worse. While the industry's June numbers were down a full 31 percent from a year earlier, they still topped nine figures, coming in at $1.17 billion in June. But that means that in July, sales were down 27.4 percent from just a month earlier.

More: http://news.cnet.com/8301-10797_3-10309560-235.html