Thanks to an unpopular, open-ended war and an apparently inevitable recession on the horizon, people are struggling to fill their cars with gas, pay the mortgage on their homes, buy groceries without food stamps, and hold down any sort of job. And yet, for some inexplicable reason, the video game industry is thriving.

Now, as I’m sure everyone here is aware, just about everything to do with video games is outrageously expensive. So, exactly how are they surviving? How and why are they doing better than before in this massive economic downturn? Because, let’s be honest, it isn’t just the bourgeoisie playing.

Is it due to the “perceived high value” of video games? Is the innovation and advent of the new that irresistible and exciting? Is it the wide proliferation of computers? Is it thanks to cheaper, higher bandwidth? Because of generations X and Y are gaming consoles now a more widespread and accepted everyday electronic appliance?

Sorry, I’m all questions no answers on this one. The article doesn’t really have any answers either, but it’s still an interesting read.

Times are good, with double digit growth expected for sales of games this calendar year as well as for the hardware that’s used to play those games.

But even among the winners in the game sector there is one that stands to gain the most–the nation’s biggest specialty retailer of games and game-playing consoles, GameStop.

In a perfect storm of technology, demographic shift, and pricing, the retailer is bucking the general trends in the broader economy and stands to profit like it has never before.

“As we analyze our sales deployment, we can’t find evidence of the economy affecting our business,” company officials said recently. “In fact, like we did after 9/11, we’re seeing [comparable] store growth as consumers travel less and stay at home more, as well as trade in more games on new game purchases.”

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