Tiger Woods games generate $500 million in US

This week, EA Sports shipped Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10, the latest installment in its long line of licensed golf games to feature the titular athlete. Though US sales figures for the PSP, Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 games won't be available until mid-July, the game has apparently helped the series reach an impressive milestone.

Shortly after the NPD Group released its US game-sales figures for May--which showed an alarming 23 percent year-over-year decline--the industry-tracking firm's top gaming analyst sent out a more upbeat Twitter post about the golf franchise. "Tiger Woods video games have sold over half a billion $ at U.S. retail life-to-date," declared Anita Frazier.

The PGA Tour game series is just one of many sources of income for Woods, who, after being sidelined with injuries for much of 2008, has won two tournaments so far this year. According to a July 2008 Forbes article, the 33-year-old athlete was on track to rack up over $1 billion in career earnings sometime this year. In 2007, the magazine estimated he earned $115 million.