The console wars can get really ugly sometimes, but there's one party who benefits no matter where the blows land: the retailers. Lazard analyst Colin Sebastian believes that GameStop, the world's largest video game retailer, will be the "key beneficiary" of both hardware and software sales for the holiday season.

His first estimates of sales made by GameStop was US$ 1.41 billion but he raised the bar to US$ 1.42 billion. He also raised his predictions for total sales for the fiscal year from US$ 6.44 billion to US$ 6.5 billion. His predictions are based on the success of Halo 3 and the anticipation surrounding the release of Grand Theft Auto IV next year.

His estimates are also taken from the anticipation of a "healthy lineup" of games. Major releases he predicts will be an uber success for the video game industry are: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Xbox 360, PS3, PC), Assassin's Creed (Xbox 360, PS3, PC), Rock Band (Xbox 360, PS3) and Super Mario Galaxy. He also believes that the PlayStation 3 might introduce a price cut by the end of the year.

It looks like it's going to be a white Christmas this holiday season. Better warm those consoles up.