The Wall Street Journal has yet another great front-page article on one of the pitfalls of the videogame industry - the transition period that comes about every five years.

It came in 2001 and it’s hitting again now as the Xbox 360 launched. As new hardware is released, consumers save their money to purchase a new videogame machine. Of course console shortages can limit the number of consumers that receive new videogame machines immediately. Just as the PS2 had a severe shortage in 2000, the Xbox 360 is in very short supply now.

As gamers look forward to new machines, they hold back on purchasing games for existing (or old) platforms because they feel games on new consoles will be much better than games on older consoles. (As we know though, a lot of the time a console’s best games come near the end of its life-cycle.)

However, consumers are also holding back on buying games on the Xbox, PS2, and Gamecube this holiday season because they’re not very intrigued by the sequels we’re seeing. While last year’s two best selling games were sequels (Halo 2 and GTA: San Andreas), this year’s sequels just don’t match up in the eyes of most consumers.

At any rate, game sales have dropped a little this year but they should be way up within the next year or two as more consoles become available - not only more 360s but also a good amount of PS3s and Revolutions. Revenues are definitely set to rise.