In 2005, the total U.S. sales of video game hardware, software and accessories rose 6% over 2004 to $10.5 billion USD ($9.9 billion, 2004) breaking 2002's $10.3 billion record for the industry.

The increase is largely due to the portable game market which counterbalanced sluggish console game sales. Delays, hardware shortages, and anticipation of next-generation video game consoles have been cited as reasoning for slow sales for both console games and console hardware. Console games and hardware dropped by 12% and 3% respectively.

The portable market of the video game industry rose to $1.4 billion, the second time sales have broke the $1 billion mark in the industry's history. Mostly due to the release of the Nintendo DS and the PlayStation Portable in North America, sales for portable hardware rose 96% over 2004. Although the release of the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP aided in spurring growth in the portable market, the Game Boy Advance still represented 62% total portable software units sold and 52% of total portable software dollar sales.

A video game is an electronic game that involves human interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. The word video in video game traditionally referred to a raster display device, but following popularization of the term "video game", it now implies any type of display device. The electronic systems used to play video games are known as platforms; examples of these are personal computers and video game consoles. These platforms range from large mainframe computers to small handheld devices. Specialized video games such as arcade games, while previously common, have gradually declined in use. Video games have gone on to become an art form and industry.

The input device used to manipulate video games is called a game controller, and varies across platforms. For example, a controller might consist of only a button and a joystick, while another may feature a dozen buttons and one or more joysticks. Early personal computer games often needed a keyboard for gameplay, or more commonly, required the user to buy a separate joystick with at least one button. Many modern computer games allow or require the player to use a keyboard and a mouse simultaneously. A few of the most common game controllers are gamepads, mice, keyboards, and joysticks.

Claudia Lee Black (born 11 October 1972) is an Australian actress and voice actor, known for her portrayals of Aeryn Sun in the science fiction television series Farscape, Vala Mal Doran in the science fiction series Stargate SG-1, Chloe Frazer in the Uncharted series, the witch Morrigan in Dragon Age: Origins and squadmate Samantha Byrne in the game Gears of War 3.

Black was born and raised in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. She was educated at the Kambala Girls School, in Sydney, NSW. Black has spent most of her life in Australia, New Zealand, and North America.

Claudia has acted in Australian and New Zealand television and movies. She portrayed a hermaphrodite named Jill Mayhew in the Australian television series Good Guys Bad Guys. She also had a leading role in the New Zealand soap opera City Life playing the role of Greek lawyer Angela Kostapas.

For her roles in Farscape, Black was nominated for a Saturn Award in the Best Actress category in both 2001 and 2002, and won the award in 2005. She has appeared in the feature films Queen of the Damned and Pitch Black. Black also appeared as Vala Mal Doran in Stargate SG-1 as a regular cast member in the tenth and final season, and previously had a role as a recurring character in season 8 and season 9. Her first appearance was in the episode "Prometheus Unbound". Black has starred in two Stargate SG-1 Direct-to-DVD movies, Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Stargate: Continuum. In 2004, she was voted "#7 Hottest Scifi Babe" by Scifi WorldNet.