Industry analysts may be good sources of information, especially when you get to throw tough questions at them. Fortunately, OTX's Nick Williams, The simExchange's Jesse Divnich and Screen Digest's Ed Barton took the time to answer the following questions:

1. Do you think the video game industry will be recession proof this year?
2. Do you believe, or project, that game consumers will spend less, more, or about the same this year?
3. How do you think the various game consoles and handhelds will fare in the market throughout this year? Is any one of these platforms going to face sales challenges because of the slowing economy?

Williams remarked on the resiliency of the industry that will likely last well into 2008, citing NPD Group statistics and Nintendo's mass-marketing strategy. He admitted that it would be a mistake to say that the industry would be completely recession-proof. In the event that one should hit the gaming industry hard, Williams said that Wii titles could end up struggling.

For his part, Divnich echoed Williams statement regarding a 100% recession-proof industry. He also said that gamers may cut back on expenditures depending on whether they're core gamers, casual gamers or hardcore gamers.

According to Williams, casual gamers may cut out video games altogether; their hardcore counterparts may prioritize the games they really like. Core gamers may attempt to cut back expenditure on things like movies and vacations before they do the same with video games.

Finally, Barton noted the entertainment value that video games provide, even during times of recession. He cited the robust sales of such games as Sonic the Hedgehog 2 during the economic malaise of the early 1990's as an example. The important things to industry growth, Barton said, are the hardware cycle and games release volume and pipeline.

After all's said and done, Williams, Divnich and Barton agreed on one thing: the video game industry is one tough nut to crack. If you want the full report, feel free to head on over to the source via the link below.