Sales of video game equipment and software in the United States tumbled 19 percent in October to $1.07 billion, research group NPD said on Thursday, troubling figures as the industry heads into the most important selling weeks of the year.

Following a disappointing quarterly report card from gaming giant Nintendo, Hiroshi Kamide, gaming and software analyst at KBC Securities, believes the firm will do better next year.

Nintendo plans to launch a new version of its DSi hand-held videogame player with a larger screen in Japan as early as this year to kick-start sluggish demand, the Nikkei business daily said on Tuesday.