Video Game Culture

With the economy in the dumps these days, I've seen on the news and in magazines some reports that the success or failure of the video game industry lies in step with the U.S. economy. But its not clear which way this trend goes. When the economy goes down, then do video game sales go up, meaning more people are staying home and playing games instead of spending money outside the home? Or does the correlation show that the video game industry drops as discretionary spending drops?