Life-to-date unit sales of Nintendo's Wii in its second year are now very near the life-to-date sales of Sony's PlayStation 2 at its two-year mark in 2002, says Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter.

Through November 2008, the Wii has sold 15.4 units cumulatively, and Pachter says December hardware sales results will show that the pace of Wii sales has surpassed the PlayStation 2's.

Pachter foresees double-digit hardware growth for December, and maintains that, since hardware sales are the key bellwether for consumer demand, this growth indicates the industry is "resisting the effects of a recession."

Despite this, Pachter believes that investors will actually continue to see the Wii's major successes as an area of concern for the traditional game industry, and says they're unlikely to feel less anxious regarding shares of major software publishers until Wii audiences begin to embrace "mainstay" and third-party titles.

Conversely, says Pachter, expect major publishers to focus more on Wii strategy: "We believe that most of the publishers we cover will manage market share gains on the Wii over the next year," he says.