Despite the economic woes that have crippled other industries, videogames are on a pace to beat out 2007’s record year. Total U.S. game sales through April are $5.47 billion, which is up 31 percent over last year’s total at this juncture.

Videogame sales got a major boost from Grand Theft Auto IV and Mario Kart Wii in April with a $1.23 billion take. Software sales of the aforementioned GTA IV on Xbox 360 (1.85 million units sold) and PlayStation 3 (1 million units sold) and Wii titles like Mario Kart Wii (1.12 million units sold), Wii Play (360,000 units sold) and Super Smash Bros. Brawl (326,000 units sold) raked in $654.7 million. That’s a 68 percent increase over last April’s take.

GTA IV has been driving hardware sales, as well. Microsoft’s version, which includes expansion missions that will be available for download beginning later this year, accounted for 64 percent of all sales at the nation’s top game seller, GameStop. Sony said that since GTA IV shipped April 29, PS3 sales increased 50 percent worldwide.

For the month of April, Hardware sales accounted for $426.2 million, up 26 percent over last year, fueled by not only strong Wii sales but boosts in PS3 and Xbox 360 (thanks in large part to GTA IV. Nintendo sold 714,200 Wiis while Microsoft just edged out Sony with 188,000 Xbox 360s sold to 187,100 PS3s. Sony’s PS2 sold 124,400 units. On the portable front, Nintendo continued to dominate with 414,800 Nintendo DSs sold. Sony sold 192,700 PSPs. Accessories sales also grew 39 percent to $154 million, thanks in large part to Nintendo Wii controllers.

To put April in perspective, this is normally a very slow time of year. Every other GTA game has shipped in the fall. And analysts are predicting that this installment can sell upwards of 10 million units worldwide by the end of this year. More game companies, especially Nintendo, are launching big games throughout the year, driving sales.

In addition, the gaming audience is much larger thanks to Nintendo DS and Wii, which are going into new gaming homes. And Sony’s PS2 continues to attract new gamers. All of this hardware, coupled with the reduction in game sales—especially for older consoles like PS2—means that this trend, which we saw throughout last year, should become a regular occurrence.

Even local developers like the new EA Sports studio will release NASCAR 09 next month. That’s followed by NCAA Football 09 in July and Madden NFL 09 in August. And those are just some of the big games that will release before things really get cooking in September.

The following are the Top 10 Game Sales in the US in April:

1. GTA IV – Xbox 360 – 1.85 million*
2. Mario Kart Wii – Wii – 1.12 million
3. GTA IV – PS3 – 1.00 million*
4. Wii Play w/ remote – Wii – 360K
5. Super Smash Bros. Brawl – Wii – 326K
6. Gran Turismo 5: Prologue – PS3 – 224K
7. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness – DS – 202K
8. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time – DS – 202K
9. Guitar Hero III – Wii – 152K
10. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Xbox 360 – 141K*
* includes bundles, collector's editions, Game of the Year Editions