As many industries continue to buckle down during a struggling global economy, the video game industry is thriving during the current recession, according to recent news reports.

The "core gamers" -- avid gamers who wait in long lines on a game's launch night -- have helped the video game industry seem rather "recession-proof."  According to analysts, core gamers are thought to purchase around half of all total video games sold.

Why video games?  Rather than invest in movies, which last only a couple hours, video games often offer 45+ hours of original game play, plus the ability to play video games online.  Furthermore, core gamers are going to make fewer trips to restaurants and bars to help pay for a new video game, which will give them a longer duration of entertainment.

"As long as hard-core gamers have a job, they will continue to buy games," IDC video game analyst Billy Pidgeon told the Associated Press. 

In addition to catering to hardcore gamers, the video game industry is evolving and adapting when new markets become available to them.  The simplicity of video game for the Nintendo Wii has given developers an incentive to create and market games designed towards families and young girls -- a sector of the industry that wasn't as relevant a few years ago.

NPD research indicates there was a 10 percent increase in November video game shopping compared to the same period last year -- $4 billion was spent on video games during the month.

Despite the influx of casual gamers, the hardcore gamers will be the ones who continue to purchase the games they want to play, regardless of how the economy is doing.  Games such as Call of Duty:  World at War, World of Warcraft:  Wrath of the Lich King, and Gears of War 2 are designed specifically for avid gamers, with video game studios anticipating core gamers willing to purchase $60 game titles even if the economy is struggling.

"If the core gamers and the avid gamers are with us through these very unpredictable times, that's a very, very good sign for us," GameStop chairman Richard Fontaine said during a conference call.