Lazard Capital's resident video game industry analyst Colin Sebastian is optimistic that software sales have risen by about 35 percent during the past month. Sebastian's projection comes just a few days short of the upcoming NPD group results.

Sebastian credits the spike in numbers to titles like the Nintendo Wii's Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Army of Two for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The launch of Ubisoft's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 is also seen as a positive factor.

"Based on our retail and industry checks, we expect software growth to meet, and perhaps exceed, our original 35% estimate with the Easter/spring break shift boosting a solid release schedule," he says.

Sebastian says that April should also spell good tidings to the software scene. Rockstar Games is expected to score some five million copies of its much-awaited Grand Theft Auto IV (Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3) within two weeks, while Nintendo's Mario Kart Wii is projected to keep the Wii competitive.

Interestingly, Sebastian sees the split for the GTA IV fortune as a 60-40 affair for the Xbox 360 and the PS3 respectively. Whether that proves accurate remains to be seen.