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Bill Radke: Meanwhile, the media’s version of military service continues to sell, and sell well. The latest version of the video game “Call of Duty” hit the shelves just a few hours ago. It may become the best-selling video game of all time, bringing in about half-a-billion dollars in the next couple of months. Marketplace’s Jeff Tyler plays along.

Jeff Tyler: “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2” is a computer fantasy that plays out in virtual war zones. The video game is the latest installment in a popular series.

Jesse Divnich: They call it a first-person shooter. They’ve been able to evolve this genre to levels not seen before in this sector.

That’s Jesse Divnich with the market-research firm Electronic Entertainment Design and Research. He says strong demand for “Call of Duty” could boost sales of other video games.

Divnich:We play a great video game and we instantly start to think, “Hey, what else is out there that I can play?”

But it seems other video game makers don’t want to rely on a consumer tail-wind. Divnich says some rivals unveiled competing games months ago
and others are planning to hold off their releases until after the holidays, thus avoiding a fight with the shoot-’em-up game.

I’m Jeff Tyler for Marketplace.